Crysis: Warhead Review
Crytek’s Crysis Warhead is the standalone expansion to the original Crysis. Unfortunately for console gamers, the game is only for the computer at this time, but who knows? Crytek may plan to port the game over sometime this year. But for those of you who have the PC rig powerful enough to handle the game, Warhead is an essential buy for PC gamers.
The game follows Psycho from the original game instead of protagonist, Nomad, and follows a pretty similar storyline. You’ll find yourself running through lush, jungle environments, ice vistas, and fighting off plenty of Korean and flying alien baddies.
There isn’t much to be found here that doesn’t stray from what you got with Crysis, but the game definitely packs in a more cinematic, action packed experience than before in a more tightly wound, linear experience. It was disappointing that there was less freedom to explore and approach your combat situations in practically anyway I saw fit, but when I was out in the thick of it all, I didn’t really have that much time to notice the loss before all chaos broke loose and I was under attack.
Unlike in Crysis where it really took some time until we got a good look at the aliens and the opening levels focused more on the fights between you and the Korean army, Warhead brings the aliens onto the scene far quicker. Yes the Koreans are still there simply just to be a pain in your ass, but they aren’t at the center of attention anymore.
Warhead was a lot like a modern Call of Duty game than it was a Crysis game. It was one roller coaster ride from start to finish, with relentless firefights breaking out every few minutes or so against one of the many glowing, little aliens.
And as with Crysis, the key to your success in practically every mission of the game was your Nanosuit. As before you can increase you speed, improve your armor, buff up your strength, or even turn invisible for a short period of time. The ability to switch between these abilities on the fly make for some pretty cool, unscripted action scenes as well.
The only clear problem I found with Warhead was how short it was. It almost seemed like the game was over in the blink of an eye. Cough, cough, Modern Warfare. If you enjoyed the extensive amount of hours you probably put into Crysis and were hoping for a similar experience, you’ll probably be disappointed.
I beat Warhead in about six hours and I probably could have played through it even quicker if I had the difficulty setting tuned down a bit. But if you think about it, the game is just an expansion, not a sequel to the game. If this were Crysis 2, it probably would have been longer! Or at least I hope so.
And for those of you who fell in love with the graphics in Crysis, you’ll be right at home with Warhead, I just hope you’ve got a system that can run the game. The game is once again a gorgeous benchmark that all games should look up and really shows off what can be accomplished with a speedy graphics card.
Crytek also shipped the game with Crysis Wars, which boasts an improved multiplayer mode that allows up to 32 people to play with each other at one time. And with 21 maps to choose from and a few game modes to play around in, Warhead should keep the competitive online gamer satisfied for a while. And even though the game has already been out for a long time, I never had much trouble finding a server to play on!
Closing Comments
Warhead is a fantastic expansion to one of my most favorite open world shooters to date and the expectations I had for the game did not go to vain. The story is enticing one again, the graphics are beautiful, and the chaotic firefights at every corner of the game was a blast to experience. The game may not be as explorable as it once was, but I found it to be a small sacrifice for the joyous experience I got out of the game.
