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IndianVideoGamer Review: Crysis Warhead


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IndianVideoGamer Review: Crysis Warhead

 

Crytek have finally pandered to the requests of Crysis fans everywhere and released the stand alone expansion to their FPS hit Crysis in the form of Crysis Warhead. Warhead is set in the same time line as the original game and follows the branching storyline of Psycho, one of the squad members from the original Delta squad of Crysis. To sum up the experience, if there ever was an energy drink equivalent in gaming, this is it.

 

Similar to the branching storyline of Ada in Resident Evil 4 (the PS2 and Wii versions), in Warhead, the player takes the role of Nomad, who split from the group early on in the original game to follow separate mission directives. You are tasked with retrieving the body of a fallen alien warrior, which surprisingly didnt self destruct as the others did when killed. Standing in your way are the North Korean KPA led by General Lee who are after the same thing.

 

Gameplay

The game plays itself out in an identical manner to Crysis but does away with the filler sections of the original game and focuses on delivering one action filled set piece after another. Therefore its a pretty short experience with around 5-6 hours of gameplay. The nanosuit powers, weaponry, etc. are all the same so there is absolutely no learning curve involved for veterans of the original. The locations also mirror the sequence laid out in the original so expect firefights in lush forests, snowy wastelands, small undeground mine sections and topping it up with a large air base. The action is intense, ammunition is aplenty and enemies galore, so there never really is a dull moment in this game. Its action FPS at its purest.

 

Graphics

Warhead is based on a beefed up version of the Crysis engine - CRYENGINE 2, so you have unparalleled visuals. Warhead has the best explosions ever seen in a game. PERIOD. One thing I did notice though was that contrary to some other reviews, the game wasnt consistently smoother across all levels over the original game. In some cases the frame rates were higher, while in other levels the frame rates were actually lower than the original game at the detail settings. And the snow levels continue to be rig-killers. So its kinda sad that two years on and Crytek havent yet managed to optimise the engine to run consistently on mainstream rigs.

 

Sound

Even better than the original thanks to the constant flow of action. This is a game that really justifies a good surround sound setup with amazing positional audio, excellent sound effects and a thumping soundtrack. The voice acting is fun thanks to the British accented protagonist.

 

Another though that popped into my head while playing this game is that playing as Psycho made for a much more fun-filled experience than the wimpy Nomad from the Original game. I now wish that Crytek had made Psycho the main character in Crysis as I can recall several situations in that game where the arrogant demeanour and brilliant dialogue of Psycho would have been much more approporiate than Nomad’s whiny voice. So here’s a thought Crytek, make better main character decisions in your future titles.

 

Multiplayer

The game includes a new multiplayer experience in the form of Crysis Wars which expands on the MP offering of the original game. This is included on a seprate DVD in the same packaging. I havent had a chance to try it out yet, so expect an addendum to this review in some time.

 

Final thoughts

Warhead is a game that concentrates the action FPS genre into a single, intense serving that will get your adrenaline flowing and make you wonder why more game arent this much fun. At INR 999/- you get a short but brilliant single player experience and an expanded version of the awesome Crysis MP experience. While possession of the original game is not required to play Warhead, it is highly recommended that you play through the original or a lot of the story will not make any sense.

 

Verdict: 9/10

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LOL! It's a long running joke that when it comes to any official news/reviews/previews on the blog or forums of GI, that it's been done by Sam, you know, what with being the one man army of game writers and all that...

thanks for clarifying Sam

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Care to elaborate on res and other technicalities such as AA and AF? You're running SLI yes?

I was running the game at 1024x768, no AA. Started off at the Enthusiast (Very High) detail level, then had to come down to the Gamer (High) setting. Bu the snow levels forced me to resort to the Mainstream (Medium) setting.

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I was running the game at 1024x768, no AA. Started off at the Enthusiast (Very High) detail level, then had to come down to the Gamer (High) setting. Bu the snow levels forced me to resort to the Mainstream (Medium) setting.

Are you serious and that too with SLI setup wow.

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Playing this game on my MBP

 

Resolution @ 1440x900

 

Proc - Intel C2D 2.5Ghz

Ram - 2 GB Ram

Graphics - Nvidia 8600M GT @ 512mb

 

I am playing it at the highest resolution, i have switched everything to mainstream but i have increased the water detail to maximum ;). Lets see how it goes. I played for 10 mins and it didnot lag as such, i still need to fine the settings to come to an optimum one.

The problem right now is that I am still searching for proper drivers because mine are old. There is something rather very stupid which is that OEM has the complete right to update the drivers as Nvidia doesn't release any drivers for mobile instead OEM does it.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I was running the game at 1024x768, no AA. Started off at the Enthusiast (Very High) detail level, then had to come down to the Gamer (High) setting. Bu the snow levels forced me to resort to the Mainstream (Medium) setting.

iam running at same resolution , with enthusiast level ,AA 8x ,using 4850 ,framerates are stable at snow levels ,must be wrong with ur setup :ph34r:

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iam running at same resolution , with enthusiast level ,AA 8x ,using 4850 ,framerates are stable at snow levels ,must be wrong with ur setup :ph34r:

My processor is a bottleneck. E6600 (2.4GHz) running at stock.

 

Also I only have 2.5GB of RAM in my rig.

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