Crysis Warhead

"An expansion that realizes the potential of it's predecessor"

Crysis overwhelmed people prior to it's release; amazing graphics and superb looking game play. Crytek seems to land awfully inconvenient release dates, originally going against Halo 2, Half-Life 2 and Doom III in 2004 and now Halo 3, the Orange Box, Call of Duty 4 and BioShock in 2007.

Upon release Crysis was an underwhelming experience. Squandered game play, frightfully high system specs if you wanted to actually see the game look decent and a story line that felt like a contrived hybrid of Predator and Independence Day led by a painfully naive protagonist.

Almost a year later comes Warhead, the expansion to the original game, and in short, it measures far beyond it's predecessor. Crytek did well and listened to their critics and developed the analogous story led by a much more likable protagonist with a better directed story, more optimized system specs and game play that doesn't let up.

Different styles
Crysis always boasted a good game play system; you have a variety of powers and weapons to choose from and a broad environment with which to let them play out. While the original had level designs that usually forced only one style Warhead becomes more flexible and grants more opportunity to exploit different tactics.

Action-packed
The expansion starts in familiar territory but begins to shake the game play the further you progress. Every level is full to the brim with chances to fight and take out hundreds of enemies by end game.

Great atmosphere
It's hard to mention Crysis without saying how good it looks, particularly with outdoors and foliage. Warhead does a good job of showing visual progression through the game by changing the look and feel of each level, most of the levels change while playing through them. Some levels have such an epic feel to them that they remind me of some of the fun I had watching Iron Man or Dark Knight his year.

Story
Warhead, as you probably know by now, follows Psycho's campaign on the island as Nomad is off wandering around. Time-wise his campaign begins and ends during the course of the original game. Psycho must be guided through the island to find a container that always remains just out of reach, always a good setup for some nice game play. Added to this there are some interesting cut scenes (done in third person, this time), better characters with a little more depth to them and a better told story all around.

Speaking of characters, Psycho certainly has more of that then Nomad from the original. Where Nomad constantly wonders what's going on Psycho maintains the idea that if aliens and a sudden winter aren't part of his directive then he doesn't really care about them.

Falls short
Sadly while Warhead is a game far better orchestrated than the original it doesn't last very long. I purchased mine on Steam and after my first play through (on Normal) I only clocked in at 4.2 hours. Fortunately given it's improvements over the original game it's definitely worth play over again at least once if not a few more times.

Bad resolve
Really the only disappointing part of the game to me was the last five minutes. The last boss must have been glitched because he only decided to start fighting back right before he died, otherwise completely ignoring me. Even the main antagonist you chase around throughout the game who humiliates Psycho in a few cut scenes is dispatched in a cut scene at the end instead of a fight.

Worth the $30?
Very much so. I would have paid $50 for this game as much fun as it was. Not to mention it comes with Crysis Wars. All around a much more fun experience that runs better than the original. And don't forget; it doesn't require the original game in order to play it, so not technically an expansion pack, but I suppose it's not really a sequel either. All in all though, a great buy.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/08

Game Release: Crysis Warhead (US, 09/16/08)