Crysis Done Right

Crysis Warhead is the pseudo-sequel to the beautiful-but-not-quite-awesome-game Crysis. It takes place alongside the original, plopping you into the robotically-enhanced boots of Psycho, one of your buds from the original game that took off to perform his own acts of badassery about half-way through. And acts of badassery they were, indeed.

To me it feels as if Warhead is Crytek's way of saying "alright, we know we did some things wrong, let's try again." They have addressed many problems that were in the original game and at the same time improved upon things that were already solid. For starters, no time is wasted giving you enemies to crush, and it doesn't stop until the game is over. Groups of enemies are much closer together, and if you prefer running and gunning over sneaking, you'll probably find the end of one battle blending right into the next. One of the best things Crytek has managed to pull off with the level design of Warhead, however, is that you don't have to be run-and-gun. Like Crysis, you have the option of taking it slow, examining your surroundings, and quietly taking out baddies without a single one hearing you. I found myself using the nanosuit a lot more extensively this time around as well since there are so many different opportunities to do so. They have managed to add more a lot more action without getting rid of the brains behind it, and in some cases have added more than there already was.

Speaking of brains, the enemy AI seems to be improved. It still isn't perfect in that you'll occasionally find a lone KPA guard just sitting there doing nothing or running into a wall, but for the most part, they seem to be much better at getting cover and attacking realistically than before. Aliens are a much more common foe this time around, and as such their AI has improved immensely. In Crysis, you didn't fight many aliens out in the open; it always seemed like it was during a linear progression in a vehicle, a narrow canyon, or a series of anti-gravity tubes. In this game you'll find them coming up on you while traveling through the frozen jungle landscape, and they are much tougher, faster, and generally more formidable than the typical Korean trooper. On top of your normal baddies there are some boss battles that are as cinematic as they are intense, which to me are the best part of the game. I don't want to spoil anything for you, but just know that they are there, and they are friggin' sweet.

Obviously I couldn't talk about anything having to do with Crysis without mentioning the graphics, so here you go: they are incredible. I'm lucky enough to have a machine that can run Warhead maxed out, and never before have I seen a game have such awe-inspiring visuals. From the leaves on the ground to the huge alien robot death machines that come stomping through the mountains, it all has an amount of detail and realism that you simply won't see in any other game on the market today (even Crysis!). On top of adding more eye-candy on the high-end, Crytek has also further optimized the engine, allowing a multitude of people with more meager PC's to get an enjoyable experience out of the game.

Now, with all the praise out of the way, Warhead does have its faults. For starters, the weapon selection is boring at best. Even though a few weapons were added along with dual wielding, there is nothing here out of the FPS norm. While weapon customization does add a bit more variety, you'll probably end up using the same few weapons throughout the entire campaign. Another thing that bugged me was that although Warhead is marketed as a stand-alone game, it provides literally no story recap from the original, leaving anyone that doesn't already know the story in complete confusion. While there probably won't be too many people playing this game that haven't already played (or at least read up on) the original, a quick summary before the game begins would be nice.

Overall Crysis Warhead provides a very solid PC shooter experience in a very small (and cheap) package. It definitely builds upon the original and proves that Crytek is listening to the criticisms of the original and taking them to heart. While it's still not perfect, I would recommend it to just about anyone that has a PC good enough to play it. Here's hoping the inevitable Crysis 2 is even better!