Crysis: Warhead PC game review
A score will land you this unimpressive re-hashed shooter
It looks like it's the season for sequels, what with Far Cry 2, Mercenaries 2 and the highly anticipated Fallout 3 all out within weeks of each other. It might then come as no surprise that EA's highly rated Crysis wants in on the action.
With a price tag of under £20, it's safe to assume that Crysis: Warhead is not a full-blown successor to Nomad's first clash with aliens in the South Pacific. Instead it's an episode-style telling of one of the supporting characters' stories during the events of the first game. Think of it as a digital, all-action version of 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead', with a touch more tight-fitting costumes.
You occupy the skin of tough guy Psycho, and fill in the blanks that your comrade left behind. Voiced by Sean Chapman, who will forever be known as the guy who isn't Jason Statham, Psycho is a no-nonsense, apples and pears, bubble and squeak South Londoner. And while it's lovely to have a bit of British representation in big budget action games these days, his overblown mockney scripting can feel a little bit like a slap across the Chevy Chase.
If you've already played the first game, then Warhead will be familiar territory. But where Crysis won serious brownie points for its breathtakingly unique environments and diverse gameplay, this chapter stumbles badly at both hurdles. You'll revisit curiously similar landscapes from the first game with much of the same action set-pieces, only this time with a thoroughly out-dated 'rail shooter' level, where you're literally riding on rails (albeit painfully slowly) atop an armoured freight-train. Why developers refuse to knock these sorts of banal levels on the head is thoroughly beyond us, though it's a relief to be allowed to get off and tough it out on foot if the mood strikes.
The fact is that objectively, Warhead still retains most of the elements that made Crysis such a great experience. Sneaking around in dense jungles, rip-roaring firefights with the North Koreans (yes, one of the only viable real world 'bad guy' countries not yet already razed to the ground), and whacking chunks of C4 on speeding Hum Vees before cheekily diving out as it careers into a petrol station - our personal penchant. But there's a distinct lack of 'wow' factor that was ever present in the original. Remember the epic harbour assault where the sun slowly rose over the mountains as you battled down the hillside? Remember the riotously fun tank battle that had you chewing half a forest to the ground? Unfortunately there are no comparable moments in this offering. They've all been replaced with some laughably melodramatic cut-scenes involving our grizzly but sensitive cockney hero. Other than that, it just feels a lot more like a straight run-and-gun. And while this is fine for purveyors of flying body-parts like Serious Sam, the Crysis franchise feels deserving of something a bit more cerebral in its approach.
It's apparent that EA have done a little tinkering under the hood, as the AI of your enemies is a fair bit cleverer. The aliens react to their environment more inquisitively and they'll often work in packs to try and take you out. But whatever tweaking they've done beyond that is marred by frequent bugs that make it feel unnecessarily rushed.
Despite all its problems, Crysis: Warhead will still keep you entertained for the brief time that it lasts. We guess it's made for the fans who loved the first experience and wanted just a little bit more. It's a shame then, that EA couldn't spend a little more time making sure it measured up to its predecessor.
Link: Crysis: Warhead
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Posted by Aidan Sansom on 2008-11-11
You need to 
His overblown mockney scripting can feel a little bit like a slap across the Chevy Chase.
| RATING | PRICE |
|---|---|
 |
£19.99 |
WE LOVE
Awesome graphicsA couple of new guns to play with
Online multiplayer support with 'Crysis Wars'
WE HATE
Lacks some of the originality of the first gameBogged down by numerous glitches
Rail shooter level? how old are we, nine?
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21|12|2008 20:12
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