However, the big fly in the ointment is that Warhead is still just as hardware intensive as the original. DirectX 10 mode performs dreadfully, to the point that unless your video card is top end as of less than three months ago or you have a beefy SLI you had better enjoy the thought of 20 frames per second or less at all times. The game can be forced to run in DirectX 9 mode which sacrifices some of the lighting effects, but offers a massive boost in frame rate. The tradeoff of massive performance for a little less visual fidelity makes DirectX 9 mode the way to go, and in doing so makes the game playable on a much wider swath of hardware.

Regardless, Crysis Warhead is still one of the most stunning games ever released when it comes to presentation. The graphics are easily some of the best ever despite how few changes it brings to the Crysis engine. Facial expressions and animations are very well done; a point that is often driven home by the cutscenes. Sound design is just as epic in scale, from musical cues that direct the tone of the action to small details such as how going into cloak mode makes all nearby ambient sounds muted while still letting sounds of enemies come through more clearly. Performance concerns aside there is no question that the engine is still in top form and shows no signs of age in the slightest.

Crysis Wars is a separate game unto itself but serves as the multiplayer side of Warhead, and is equally as enjoyable and disappointing depending on what part of it is examined. It is successful in how it takes up to 32 players, puts them in nanosuits with the same capabilities and advantages of the single player variant, throws in vehicles, and somehow makes it all work. Players are broken up into two teams or simply fight each other in a free for all battle depending on the map and game mode. The team battles are quite compelling and task teams with working together to capture vehicle factories and airstrips to capture vehicles but also forward spawn points and power stations which use alien technology to eventually let the team create a nuke tank.

Where the multiplayer falters is that once one side begins to win it becomes a slippery slope that the losing team has little chance of recovering from. Players start with 200 credits and a pistol, and for every kill they make they gain various amounts of them depending on if it was a single player, a vehicle, or a vehicle filled with players. The problem is that 300 credits are barely enough to purchase a decent weapon as well as a meager amount of gear, and if you die it must be repurchased. This means that for every life you should get at least three kills or help capture a point, and makes getting shot as you spawn and just buy your weapons as wasteful as it is frustrating. Once one team gets the upper hand they start purchasing tanks and VTOLs while the losing side must fight back using small arms and missile launchers, and even the smallest tank can shrug off at least one missile hit as if nothing happened. The multiplayer simply needs more balance, and additions such as players spawning with 200 more credits than they had when they died or getting anything from assists would help losing teams scrape together enough to form a proper fighting force.

Crysis Warhead does have some serious gates of entry to consider; as it has some exceptionally beefy hardware requirements and a multiplayer that will make you victoriously cheer and vehemently curse. Regardless of the frustrations, this is still one of the most solid games released this year and is a great choice for those who have the power to run it.

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