Crysis Warhead

Saying 'pictures don't do this game justice' is like saying 'people with no nipples are strange'.

...

Well what i mean by that is that you really have to see crysis warhead in motion to comprehend how amazingly beautiful this game is.

Im playing on everything high (not very high) and shaders on normal and the effect is the pictures below.
Putting shaders on high basically puts on 18 different types of bloom and HDR at the same time. The result is a much brighter crysis where the sun shines through leaves and the shadows seem alot more contrasted.
The performance hit is of course rather big , at 1920x1200 i was getting 80fps with shaders on normal , and then 25-35fps with it on high.
I think ill take my silky smooth frames over a little extra sunlight.



The game is Sykes (Psycho)'s version of the original Crysis. This takes you on a different route completely but under the same events. Im not too far in (about 2-3 hours) so i dont know if you get to see Nomad (the guy you play in the original Crysis) or not.



I do question whether crysis warhead should be an 'expansion pack' or not , since it only really expands on the story. All of the gameplay elements are more or less identical to the original Crysis. Infact if you've played Crysis already, this is essentially the same game with more polish.



The fine details are certainly all there. When you get into the frozen area for example , your reflex sight has condensation over the front of it and your gun becomes all frosted.
Walking through frozen plants causes parts of them to shatter.
The sounds are all amazing , walking on ice and snow are exactly how you would imagine it to be.

There are a few issues with enemy AI , but for the most part they work well (occasionally they wont notice you - on other occasions they shoot you through 8 miles of shrubs and foliage)



Other little things like debris landing on the camera , blood on the camera , blinking when you get shot by a rocket or something - really makes you feel like you're in the game rather than playing it. Little things , but big effects. Blurring is also used very nicely in the game which is nice , for example when changing stuff on your weapons , the background becomes blurred out and emphasis is focused on the weapons themselves (whcih are all stupidly detailed by the way.)

I really liked the original Crysis , and thus Crysis Warhead is the same stuff but with more visual flare and better optimization (or maybe ive just gotten a 8800GTS since i played the first Crysis)