Crysis Warhead Review

Written 09/02/2010; Updated 2/20/2011

Note: All screenshots and videos were taken from my machine.

Back in 2007, Crytek wowed PC gamers with the stunningly beautiful Crysis. Though it had a sort of typical military story at the beginning that took some pretty interesting and otherworldly twists toward the end, the real stars of the game were the gorgeous visuals, open environments, and your Nano-Suit. Both the good and the bad are mostly back in Crysis Warhead, a stand-alone expansion that puts you in the Nano-Suit of Sergeant Sykes, A.K.A Psycho and tries to fill in some of the blanks from the original Crysis story. Does it succeed? Eh, sort of.

Visuals and Presentation

If you've played Crysis (and if you haven't, why not?!), you already know what Crysis Warhead looks like; lush jungles, snowy wastes, and caverns. Unfortunately though (SPOILER ALERT), that expansive alien ship you explored in the original Crysis is nowhere to be found; so no zero-G for you! The environments that are available are just as beautiful and polished as in the original Crysis, though the best eye candy is definitely the jungle. It's not that the snowy areas and caves look bad by any stretch of the word, but that the CryEngine 2 really shows its graphical prowess best in the way it renders the trees, underbrush, and lighting together to make something truly worth beholding...if your system can run it that is.

If you played the original Crysis back in 2007 you probably hung your head and cried when you read the at-the-time outrageous system specs needed to run the game at any respectable graphics settings. Crysis Warhead requires the same amount of horsepower, but the engine was optimized to run a bit smoother than its predecessor. This makes the system requirements for Warhead just a smidge (and I really mean a smidge) more reasonable. Considering the power of today's consumer level gaming PCs though, finding a machine that can run the game at medium or high settings shouldn't be too difficult.

The character and weapon models are almost all the same from the original Crysis, but there are a few enemy retextures and a few new weapons to add a little variety. Animations and effects are also as solid as in the original, with no noticeable quality drops. My only qualm with the visuals is that the lighting is particularly flat in certain areas of the game, and thus removes some of the atmosphere from those scenes. That only happens in a few small areas that you don't stay in very long though, so I guess it works itself out. Still, you can't get a game to look much prettier than Crysis or Crysis Warhead at max settings.

Visuals and Presentation Rating:

Sound

Sound is another area largely untouched from the original Crysis, and that's definitely not a bad thing. Everything that can be heard is crisp, clear, and high quality. All of the voice actors I can remember from the original Crysis reprise their roles to great effect. I find that the weapon and explosion sounds are where things shine here though. It's just satisfying to pick up a gun and hear a full, rich, and accurate sound the first time you fire it. The sounds of the explosions coupled with the awesome effects make for some quite fulfilling moments. The music, while having some nice ambient and metal tracks, isn't all that memorable. Overall, a nice sound package, but not perfect.

Sound Rating:

Gameplay

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but the gameplay in Warhead is basically a carbon copy of the original Crysis. The level design at first is very open and encourages sandbox tactics to progress, and toward the end of the game the design becomes very linear. The real star is yet again your Nano-Suit, which gives you abilities that would make even Master Chief green(er) with envy. You can give yourself rechargeable armor, inhuman strength to jump extremely high or melee attack with enough force to throw a vehicle, a speed boost to run a quarter mile in two seconds flat, or make yourself invisible to your enemies so you can plan the perfect attack. Even when the game does get to the very linear areas, the Nano-Suit allows you to play your way. Do you sneak around and plan ambushes, go in with guns blazing while your suit takes all the punishment, speed in to grab an enemy by the throat and use him as a meat shield, or knock out everyone's lights with your bare hands? It's entirely up to you! Another very handy tool is the ability to customize your weapons on the fly. An area too dark? Attach a flashlight! Need to throw a grenade farther than usual? Equip the grenade launcher attachment! Hate iron sights? Add a laser sight! I could go on and on.

New with Warhead though is the multiplayer portion of the game called Crysis Wars. Basically, it just consists of the Crysis suit mechanics in a Free-for-All, Team Free-for-All, and objective gametypes. Of those three gametypes, only Power Struggle approaches any semblance of originality. It's basically a hybrid between an RTS with its resource gathering and building and Black Ops' Domination gametype. Each team is tasked with capturing and holding key points of the map until a nuclear weapon can be built which in turn blows up the enemy base. On larger servers, this can take quite a long time with each side struggling to control one or two points on the very large maps. It's also worth noting with the heavily modded nature of the game servers currently makes for some unbalanced gameplay, but it's still fun. Overall, Crysis Wars is enjoyable, but I also think the multiplayer in Crysis 2 will outshine it in nearly every way.

Gameplay Rating:

Story

WARNING! Spoiler Alerts!

Warhead begin at the point in the original Crysis where Psycho parts ways with Nomad, saying that he “had something to take care of”. Honestly though, this story made hardly any sense at all. You start out on a mission against the KPA, then the aliens appear, you chase a Korean general who's captured an alien for experimentation, blow up a lot of stuff, and look at credits. I feel like the story, if you can follow it, was just an excuse to blow stuff up. Considering how solid the gameplay in Warhead is, such an excuse doesn't bother me too much. If you're expecting a cohesive narrative when picking up Warhead though, prepare to be disappointed.

Story Rating:

Replay Value

Considering the game only took me 6 hours to finish and Crysis Wars' lack of gametype originality, Warhead's replayability is highly dependent on how much you enjoy the Power Struggle gametype. With the novelty of the suit powers and overall gameplay, another playthrough on a harder difficulty isn't out of the question if you enjoyed it the first time. So unless you really enjoy Crysis Wars, there's not much here to replay.

Replay Value Rating:

Final Thoughts and Overall Score

If you enjoyed the original Crysis, then Warhead is more of the same; and that's not a bad thing at all. Crysis Wars is fun with the Nano-Suit powers in a multiplayer setting, but limited in the gametypes available. Either way, if you enjoy Crysis or super soldier games in general, you'll likely enjoy Warhead.

Crysis Warhead Overall Score:

System Requirements

Minimum:

• Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
• Memory: 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
• Graphics: 256 MB
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
• DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c or 10
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Hard Drive: 15GB