E3 08: Crysis Warhead Hands-On Preview
July 17, 2008 19:53
One of the biggest games of 2007 is getting a sequel this fall. And this time, PC gamers may have a much easier time running it.
Crysis: Warhead will be hitting store shelves sometime this fall, and so far the game is looking as good as its predecessor. Coming out of Crytek's newest studio in Hungary, Warhead promises the same gameplay fans are used to with even more to look forward to. Like the original, Warhead takes place on an island swarming with Korean troops whose sole purpose is to mow you down.
The demo takes you a "typical" mission, starting you off in an armored APC with a heavy machine gun on top. The vehicle controls and the overall feel of driving around while tearing through enemy troops proves to be one of the best vehicle combat experiences in recent memory. If you decide to stop going it alone, you can hop in the gunner seat of your squad mates jeep and man the machine gun on top, although this method proved to be less effective at destroying oncoming fuel trucks and troop transports.
While the driving sequences feel linear at some point, most people will direct all their attention to the beautiful scenery and incoming helicopters, bombers and fighter jets to notice. Once you start hoofing it, the FPS experience truly begins, offering up a number of different weapons. From the SCARs to AK-47s to grenade launchers, the show floor demo had at least a half dozen weapons for you to wreak havoc with. The mission-driven gameplay is there as well, with the story progressing as you complete missions. The autosave feature is very smooth, and will get even better as the game goes through final development stages.
Crytek knows they had a hit with the original Crysis, but because of the steep system requirements and lack of true graphics scaling, many gamers were left underwhelmed by the 5-15 frames per second experience, and only the lucky few who threw down thousands of dollars for the elite systems were rewarded with truly flawless graphics and fluidity. The biggest improvement Crytek Hungary made over the original Crysis is the hardware requirement. Crytek gave the new studio a mission: Get Crysis: Warhead to run on High settings using inexpensive and readily available technology.
Warhead now looks just as good as the original, uses the same (but slightly tweaked) engine, and can run on high using an 8800GT. The showroom machine being used to show off Warhead ran off a Core 2 Duo E6750, 2.5 GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 9800 GTX, all of which can be bought for about $450-$475. Include the rest of the mid-range components and you're talking about a Crysis machine that will cost well under $1000, which puts Crysis: Warhead within reach of the vast majority of PC gamers.
Improved scalable graphics aside, fans can expect the same plethora of guns, weapons, and soldier enhancements that made the original such a hit, along with a solid storyline that will keep users in the game. The expansion title is expected to launch this fall on the PC for a retail price of $29.99.
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