Crysis Warhead

"What a Ride!"

As you know, Crysis Warhead (CW) is the stand alone expansion to the award winning game Crysis. CW is like playing Crysis but beefed up and in fast-forward. Its a non-stop ride into a crapload of turmoil and you will love almost every minute of it.

Sound: 8/10
There have been a few tweaks to improve sound effects. Some added KPA speech, more sound coming from the aliens and some new explosions. The guns sound the same but that's a good thing: nice and powerful. Same goes for the new weapons in CW. The sound track is the biggest change in the sound department. Gone is the oriental music as it has been replaced with more action movie music. It fits very well into the game but the default is a little loud so you may want to turn it down if it is distracting you. Voice acting fairly well done too. You will find Psycho a funny guy to listen. One thing I noticed in CW and in Crysis is that the characters know when to curse. It makes for great dialogue.

Graphics: 10/10
Just when I thought that it couldn't look any better on Windows XP, Crytek has outdone themselves. CW looks AND runs better than Crysis. The same "attention to detail" has been put into CW to bring very real environments. From the beach resort, to the swamps, to the inside of the frozen energy sphere, CW a technical wonder. And like I said, this is on Windows XP with a single 8800GTX! Explosions and gunfire are a significant improvement from Crysis while textures and facial animations are unchanged. In my opinion, the Half-Life series has always set the bar for graphics in all FPSs of that year. But Crysis and CW have taken that title with a KO so Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and and Half-Life 3 will have some pretty high expectations. Valve: you guys have some work to do!

Story: 8/10
CW runs parallel to the to events of Nomad in Crysis. The story has a faster pace and has some cool cut-scenes to show you not only Psycho was actively fighting (because he didn't do squat to help in Crysis) but that he was also better than Nomad. On a side note, there are more radios to listen to so you can hear how the world is reacting to the events on the island.

Gameplay: 9/10
GOOD: CW has almost non-stop action compared to Crysis. Because of this you will make good use of almost every weapon in the game. Most of the the new guns are a blast (pun intended) to use. Of course you still have the nanosuit which adds a whole level a fun by itself with all its features. And CW will be more challenging as the AI for the aliens have been improved so mind your health when fighting them . The same goes for the KPA nanosuits as there will be plenty of them to fight off as well. BAD: Since CW is so much shorter than Crysis, the levels are shorter and more linear. Sadly, only first and last levels are the traditional large "sandbox" like in Crysis so the stealth approach is rarely an option. Although you get to drive most of the land vehicles, you cannot access a tank anywhere in the game. That's a big loss since the tank run (Onslaught) is the best part of Crysis. But the vehicle run and train sequence are pretty good.

Overall 9/10
CW is a worthy successor to Crysis. CW is well worth the 30 bucks it cost to have this game in your collection. The game seems fairly stable as it has never froze on me (although it has shut itself down twice). I look forward to Crysis 2.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/08

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