Review – Crysis: Warhead

Now, I've been playing FPS (First Person Shooter) games for longer than any other style of game. I remember the first Quakes, Half-Life 1, and even Unreal 1, with its Tournament companion. So I think I can safely say I can tell whether an FPS is good or bad without insulting too many people.

Crysis Warhead is definitely on my good list. Although the beginning of the game doesn't offer much explanation about where you are or why (I'd imagine this is explained in Crysis) it does drop you straight into a brief tutorial. The emphasis here is on brief. Too many great games are hampered by long, dull tutorials that you have to play through even if you've played the game before. With Warhead, You can switch straight into speed mode (I'll come to that in a moment) and dash through most of the tutorial in a few seconds.

Warhead has lighter system requirements than Crysis, but still looks as good.

The main attraction of Crysis over other FPS's is not the fantastic graphics, nor the interesting weapons, but the nano suit your character wears. This suit has several modes which can be switched in and out of very quickly.

Firstly, Maximum Armour mode. This does what it says on the label - your suit's energy is converted into health, doubling your HP so you can last for longer under direct fire. A good one to wear when merely roaming around.

Next is Maximum Speed. Again, does exactly what it sounds like - your running speed is increased at no cost, and your sprint is ridiculously fast, however, it does burn out your suit's energy in about 2 seconds.

Maximum Strength is a little harder to guess, although some aspects you'll probably work out. The most obvious benefit is the added melee bonus, increasing your punches or weapon butt smashes to almost always a kill in one. But Strength Mode has other uses - it steadies your aim while firing and it allows you to jump much higher, and to throw objects and enemies quite far.

Cloak Mode is your basic invisibility. Enemies not right next to you will not see you, although they can still hear you. It can be great fun sneaking up to a tank and attaching C4 without anyone noticing. The energy your suit uses for this is determined by the speed you're going - a sprint will shorten the cloak time to 10 seconds (If anyone cares to correct me, I don't mind - I'm just guessing in retrospect), while a crawl in prone will take some time longer - although your cloak still decreases if you stand still.

As you can imagine, you can combine the strengths of these different modes to make fun combat maneuvers all over the place. My most intricate one was to cloak towards a group of enemies, switch to Speed Mode and jump from a ramp, switch to Strength Mode and bash one's head in, and switch to Armour Mode to protect me from the somewhat startled others.

Warhead is great fun to play, and your character, nicknamed "Psycho" is a fun, British man who has more personality than Mr. What-about-the-mission Nomad. His retorts and emotions throughout the game are interesting to watch, and actually make sense. Psycho will never go back for the cat (If you don't understand that, watch a few horror movies, or even BBC series about fiction. You'll soon catch on).

BANG! AND THE ENEMIES ARE GONE!

Of course, it does have a few bad points which undermine some of the fun stuff. The stealth, for instance, is one of the worst parts of the game. Unless you're cloaked, or behind a wall, almost every enemy on the battlefield knows exactly where you are. They can see you even if you're prone on top of a hill. In fact, they can see you through about half a mile of trees, and get an accurate shot in.

The game is also too short. I completed the whole thing in about 4 or 5 hours, doing all of the Secondary quests - which, in actual fact, don't really help with anything, unless it's to find a secret munitions depot.

Now, as yet I haven't mentioned the multiplayer. I probably should - although this will be brief, as it turns out the multiplayer is in fact a game in itself, named "Crysis Wars". Basically, it's a lot like any other FPS multiplayer, except you have the use of your suit as well as a few vehicles. Your suit has been redone a bit though to even the odds. Cloaked player's shadows are visible, as well as a shimmering in the air if you get too close, although it lasts much longer. Strength Mode punches won't kill in one, and Speed Mode won't run quite as fast, but lasts longer as well. The Armour Mode is pretty much the same as ever. I do like this multiplayer though, it's quite fun to run around with dual pistols or SMGs (left one for left mouse button, right for right).

I definitely recommend this game for a fan of anything from COD4 to Half-Life 2. If you don't enjoy it, then you're welcome to leave a comment explaining the intricacies of the game's, and my review's, failure.

Nometet.com says:

+Fun suit

+A British character with personality

+Dual weapons = double the fun!

-Too short

-Needs better stealth