The latest entry into the Crysis saga has arrived, Crysis Warhead which takes the cutting edge Crytek gaming engine to new heights. Set mainly during the events of the first game, players play as Sergeant Sykes, A.K.A. Psycho who after being assigned to protect a convoy soon finds himself tasked with locating a container thought to contain a nuclear warhead in order to keep it from being used by Korean forces.
As players battle into the forest against all manner of enemy units, they eventually realize that the Korean units are not the main threat out there, as strange aliens and their imposing mechanical units quickly become a mysterious and deadly new faction for players to contend with.
With some help from fellow soldiers, players must face overwhelming odds as they battle to save the day.
Crysis Warhead does a lot of things right first and foremost offers gamers a top quality shooter that has plenty of action as well as a multiplay component for only $29.99. That being said there are a few things that really keep this game from taking off and being a timeless classic. First and foremost is the gameplay. While the graphics of the game are stunning especially if you are playing the game with Direct X 1o graphics, the Crytek engine is still hampered by long load times between levels and annoying lockups and hiccups that tend to popup from time to time. I do understand that cutting edge technology does at times have issues, but on a quad Core CPU with 4 Gigs of Ram, all the latest drivers, tons of HD space, and a High End Direct X 10 card, I do not expect issues that were in the original to pop up in the follow up.
To be fair, the issues noted were far less severe and rare than they were in the original game which 75% of the way through had an error arise that required me to wipe the game and start over.
I really enjoyed the game and got into the action but did note that the enemy A.I. Was still very uninspired as they made little attempt to evade my cover fire and became very predictable in their attack and defense patterns.
I also had some issues with the special abilities of my Nano suit as early in the game, I had a real difficult time getting the suit to change from one special feature to another which did hamper my enjoyment of the game as I was not able to use as much strategy as I was able to in the first game by mixing stealth, speed, and power to achieve my various objectives.
Multiplay was where I really enjoyed myself as the detailed maps, lavish graphics, and numerous weapons really made the gameplay shine and really showed off the versatility of the amazing Crytek engine.
As mentioned before, the graphics in the game are the best you will find in any game. The Direct X 10 graphics make for amazing water effects and I found myself at times staring at the detail of the water, beach, and jungle in amazement. The sound in the game is also very lavish and rich as everything from the crunch of your feet to the explosions and gunfire really stand out and make you feel like you are deep in the action. For my testing, I used a Razer Lycosa Keyboard, Lachese mouse, Piranha headset, and Destructor mouse pad which added to the enjoyment of the game as I found using vehicles to be much easier this time around as the control factor was much easier and really allowed me to take advantage of the versatility of the gameplay.
While many people have expressed concern over the copy protection EA has chosen to use in the game, I have not had any issues with it, and did not find it to detract from my security nor enjoyment of the game.
While the solo storyline is very short, Crysis Warhead offers a very entertaining next step in the Crysis saga and despite some issues is a great value for the money.
3.5 stars out of 5
