The new focus on over-the-top action means that your kill count will get to an absurdly high number even for a first person shooter. But you can also pick up a duck and throw it at a Korean soldier. Or roll logs down a hill. Or watch your APC rollover and catch fire. There is less emphasis on stealth partly because the central character, Sikes, is the type of person who likes it when things explode.

Still, Crytek’s mission to make some of the best looking FPS games on the market seems to be the big message here. With an early fall release planned, there is only some fine tuning left to do. Warhead looks even better than Crysis did, and it allegedly runs smoother in spite of that. People who liked the relatively more open play of Far Cry may be disappointed in the new turn towards constant shootouts. But in a Crytek game, almost anything is possible. Even driving your truck into an off-limits area.

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