Crysis: Warhead

Scroll down for a Crysis Review in the next post.

Crysis: Warhead is not so much a sequel, or even and expansion, it's actually more like a gigantic patch with lots of stellar (excuse me for using that word) DLC. Except that it's completely stand-alone, and too much of an improvement from the original game to be a patch.

You play as Sgt. 'Psycho' Sykes in a parallel story line to the first game, but on the other side of the island. Although the storyline isn't memorable, it's enough to propel you through the game with moderate interest. The game play is tuned to just short of perfection, improving AI and general game flow from the original. Two new weapons include the dual-wield able SMGs, which replace your standard pistols while packing an amazing punch at close range. The other weapon is another prototype that doesn't require a lock-on to fire, which is fun for killing everything on a level in around 3 mins. The suit still functions the same, with minor tuning, and most of the guns have better skins, along with the enemies and vehicles. Two new vehicles are fun, but you don't use them more than once. The campaign runs around 8 hours, without dying once or getting stuck anywhere.

The game itself is optimized ten-fold over the original one, it runs better and looks better at the same time, but when cranking it up to max it still takes a monster to run. Shadows are more shadow-y, and the anti-aliaising even looks better. Other than that though, it doesn't look much different from Crysis.

The balance issues from the original are also mostly resolved, which makes the game much more enjoyable. You won't find yourself doing try-and-die fifty times in a row.

If you bought it at the store, Warhead gives you Crysis: Wars for free, which is the multiplayer element. Unlike the last game's multiplayer, Wars is actually a great game. It's two new modes, team free-for-all and plain FFA are fun, but those get old after several plays. The old mode, Power Struggle is polished and improved to the point that it really works well, where as the original's multiplayer was lackluster and boring.

Warhead really is the game that Crysis should have been, and if Crytek is smart they'll give the original Crysis a makeover and release both games-in-one for $50, for people who didn't play the games the first time around.

9.3/10 for improved game play and graphics, new campaign style, good multiplayer, amazing price of $30, still takes a beast of a system to make it run well
What I'm playing: Mass Effect PC, Crysis: Wars, TF2
Games I'm into: L4D, Mirror's Edge