Crysis Warhead

PC gaming can be a real bitch at times – you upgrade your rig to get it up to par, blink an eyelid, and a game releases that’ll bring it to its knees. Crysis was that sort of game for most of us, since it sucked every drop of juice out of even the most powerful machines, giving them an immense inferiority complex. Developed around a modified version of the same engine, Crysis Warhead should have been equally unforgiving, right?

It’s quite the opposite, actually. Crysis Warhead justifies every penny you’ve spent to soup up your machine. The CryEngine 2’s been tweaked so that even mid-level gaming rigs can play Warhead at decent frame rates, at respectable settings.

Before I get too carried away by the game’s optimization, let me give you the lowdown on the premise. Warhead plays out on the other side of the island that Crysis took place on, at about the same time. In the original you played as Jake ‘Nomad’ Dunn of the Raptor team; this time you play as his teammate – Sergeant “Psycho” Sykes. While in Psycho’s boots, your mission is to track a North Korean container that’s suspected of carrying a nuclear warhead. 

Along the way, Psycho unites with his old squad mate O’Neill, who tried out for a spot in the Raptor team but failed. While O’Neill’s still a little bitter about the ordeal, he proves to be a valuable ally as he helps Psycho throughout his mission and works as his wingman.

Apart from this, the game’s storyline simply revolves around procuring the container while hell breaks loose all over the island. While the story isn’t deep in anyway (hey, it’s an expansion, not an entire game; what did you expect?) it more than makes up for it with some incredibly tight gameplay and pacing.