Frankly, I don’t feel very excited for Crysis Warhead. It’s quite an interesting expansion for Crysis 1. Warhead is pretty similar in its structure to Blue Shift and Opposing Force for Half-Life - it shows us the same story from the original game but from a different perspective. Of course, it has several differences from its parent. And in fact, it’s a very nice game, but with some problems…
GAMEPLAY
Like with Crysis 1, it’s one of the best facets of this game. In most situations it’s the same with Crysis, but not with Crysis Remastered. I haven’t seen Crysis Warhead Remastered yet, therefore there’s nothing to compare it with. Like in the original game and unlike the Remastered of it, the health points replenish gradually and pretty slowly. It explicitly would be easier if it was like in Crysis Remastered where you mustn’t absorb any damage for a few seconds and then the health restores completely in a moment. But in fact, you don’t need to acquire any special skills just to survive on a mission even with the current system. So, I don’t consider it to be a big deal.
Nonetheless, some similarities with Crysis exasperate me so much here. One of them is that North Koreans are clairvoyant sometimes, or it seems to be so at least. For example, when I had to follow a person because he had stolen one very important thing, I was going through a tunnel full of North Koreans. And a bit later they sent a car which for some reason always was following me in the tunnel as though the driver knew where I was although I constantly was under the Cloak mode. He just was riding beside me, pretending to patrol the location. But it looks more like trying to catch me when I’m visible.
However, aliens behave like they see everything too. Whereas it’s possible to hide from human enemies in bushes, it’s not so with big flying three-leg aliens. Consequently, it’s merely the random factor whether you’ll be noticed.
Warhead also increased the difficulty compared to Crysis 1. Hence, now you can save your game manually. Maybe it’s due to bad optimization, but I haven’t met any problems like this. What I have met is the freaking mission on the train. It’s impossible to complete it on the maximum difficulty level without this feature. The problem was that North Koreans were improbably precise when I was moving, so that I was dead every time I didn’t blow up a car with a gunner after ten seconds of seeing that car. It’s just your luck that matters on the highest difficulty option. Moreover, I couldn’t just hide under the Cloak and ignore all my enemies because the suit loses its energy according to the speed of your movement. Hence, 100% energy was enough for a few seconds and then I became visible and subsequently killed.
But in all other aspects the expansion shows its gameplay quite well. I like it since it brings some novelties besides making the game harder.
LOCATİONS
Even though Warhead has only 7 chapters, places where I’ve been were completely new. For some reason jungles make me feel like I’m playing a different game. The game’s filter makes it look like this. Anyway, every location is unique and creates its own atmosphere. Sunny beaches look very hot and glacial nature feels really cold. Level design is also built so that it’s your choice either to leave no witness everywhere you go, or to be silent and still leave no witness, but also leave no corpses except those enemies whom you have to eliminate. I decided to be stealthy whenever it was possible because otherwise I could have had a similar situation to that when I was accidentally seen by one North Korean who raised the alarm and I had to kill 20 of them sitting in one corner of a room. I was surprised that by some miracle I hadn’t died, but I guess it merely was my luck. All in all, both the level design and the sites’ vibes are good here. Even with aliens, the stealth option is possible.
WEAPONS
I think there isn’t much to write although there had been added several new guns and grenades. Most new firearms feel the same and they are effective against all my enemies too.
Nevertheless, some added things are really exciting! For instance, on the already mentioned mission with the train I was provided with a super fast machine gun. It didn’t instantly destroy any problem I had on my way, but I was quite quick anyway! And the last gun… The cannon given for the last boss fight is so cool! I can kill a three-leg flying enemy ship with one shot, and this’ wonderful!
There also were some new grenades added. As a result, this’ an amazing part of this expansion - it allows you to eliminate your enemies as effectively as you want, but still with some limitations, of course.
MİSSİONS
I have already said that Crysis Warhead’s level design is qualitative. But some problems may occur anyway. One of such is the “side quests”. The problem with them is some of them are compulsory. For example, on the last mission the last gun is displayed as an unnecessary point. But from my first playthrough I remember that it was improbable to kill the last boss with my usual firearms. Howbeit, the problems with quests aren’t so significant except the extremely high difficulty on the train, therefore missions are made well here.
PLOT
Unless this expansion was marked as made by the same developers, I wouldn’t believe that it’s really in the same universe, especially when it says that everything happens at the same time with Crysis 1. The protagonist from the original game was mentioned only once or twice. Yeah, I know that the local protagonist, Psycho, is on the completely opposite side of the island, as he said himself, but everything looks utterly different. The acting is pretty bizarre in this game. In cutscenes characters don’t make any sounds sometimes when they definitely must say something. Cutscenes at all look strange sometimes, as though it was made by fans with a budget equivalent to 2 burgers. I don’t know how to explain this, but it feels like this.
Nonetheless, the plot is good and has the main antagonist during the whole game - Colonel Lee. At the beginning his forces ambush the squad of Psycho. Subsequently, Psycho will be opposing Ji-Sung Lee’s plans and the exodus is explicit. The story is merely fine and shows the events on the Lingshan Islands from another perspective.
SOUND
What about the sound effects? They all sound well except the guns. It’s exactly like in the original game. There is nothing new.
As for the music, it’s awesome in Crysis Warhead. I even think that it’s better than in Crysis 1. This’ all I can say about it.
GRAPHİCS
So, it creates a slightly different vibe from the original game. Today it still looks beautiful and there’s no problem with it. At least I don’t see them. I’ve heard about bad optimization in this game, but I played with comfort on the maximum graphics settings. I think that despite its age, Warhead can be a pretty game even for people who genuinely can enjoy only super realistic games.
CONCLUSİON
And what is the result? I guess it’s obvious: it’s a qualitative expansion which provides a new perspective and a few gameplay changes which make this expansion unique even though it’s not an original game. It has a few difficulty troubles, therefore I suggest that you don’t play it with the maximum difficulty level. Anyway, I strongly recommend playing it.
