Game review: Crysis Warhead

When moments in a game have you shouting "that was amazing!" you know it's special. This is something that the half-priced standalone expansion to Crysis achieved, which is more than can be said for its predecessor. Crysis was good, but its open-ended nature meant that moments of mind-blowing action movie linearity were hard to come by. Warhead manages this by being a tighter and more free-flowing experience, but without losing the feeling of freedom that is so important to the game. Good job Crytek.

The moments I am referring to range from effectively using the über-cool performance-enhancing Nanosuit to waste a group of the frankly pathetic Korean enemy to driving past a heavily guarded fuel station and blowing the place to hell.

The secret to the significant improvement over Crysis seems to be largely in the level design, which for the most part is rather brilliant and free of the disorientating arrangements that plagued the original.

Set on a lush paradise island of greens and blues, the scope for graphical triumph reaches far above the greys of many shooters, and although Warhead's promise of less unforgiving system specs is barely apparent, it does look better than Crysis on medium settings, which is still all I was able to use despite running the game on a PC that runs other new games with ease.

You play as Psycho, the cockney stereotype who would have been everyone's last choice based on his appearances in Crysis. Miraculously, he's actually nowhere near as offensively irritating in Warhead. The over-zealous yelling is gone, replaced by measured dialogue and more suitably placed expletives.

Continuing with the modern trend in shooters, Warhead is a short game, even for an expansion, taking around four hours to complete. However, the multiplayer side has been beefed up considerably, highlighted by the fact that it has been distanced from the single-player by having a separate disc and its own name, Crysis Wars. It's good, with the Nanosuit, vehicles and weaponry adding up to a technically impressive affair, but the immersive and addictive qualities of the heavyweight online shooters are sadly absent here.

Musically, Warhead is as much of a sandbox of choice as the game itself. I'd say choose based on how you intend to play. Cloaking deviously before switching to maximum strength and pummelling Koreans in the jaw? You might opt for some atmospheric techno. Steaming in with all guns blazing? Your favourite brand of fast-paced music should combine well to deeply satisfy the anarchist in you.

I came away from Warhead feeling almost completely positive about the experience having raced through it one glorious sitting. You should do the same.

9/10