wowowow. i just started playing Crysis Warhead yday.. and it's really fun!
It's basically a FPS mission based game, something like Ghost Recon , but it's much much more fun as there's alot of environmental interaction and the game's attention for details is just amazing.
Firstly, the graphics are almost real-life real. everything is drawn in so much detail that it feels like you're actually THERE, running through the jungle and flanking the enemy and kiling them.
http://www.breakitdownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/crysis-warhead-screenshot-6.jpghere's a sample of it. look at how detailed the grass, weapon model, explosion.. etc is.
The downside is obviously you need to have a high-end or fairly decent graphics card to run the game without lag. Mine's Geforce 9800 GT, and i have no lag at all, even with x4 antialias (i'm not quite sure what this is but i heard it's to sharpen the details. so x8 will be even sharper, etc)
Next, the gameplay is easy to grasp but complicated enough to not bore the avid gamer - You play as Psycho, this guy who wears a nanosuit, which is a special suit that allows you to powerup in different modes, such as Stealth, Strength and Speed modes.
For instance, there's an enemy roadblock up ahead. How do you clear it?
To be an extremely boring person, you can just play in Defence mode all the way, and play it CS /COD style, just shoot and kill the enemies with your precision shooting.
Or, imagine this: Switch to Speed mode and dash up the side and into the jungle. When within their proximity quickly switch to stealth mode and sprint up to them from behind. They're totally unaware - they're still manning their gun systems, whistling, or even peeing. Go up close to one of them, grab him by the throat, pull back , drop him and kill him with your pistol (equipped with silencer beforehand of course)
Sneak up to the next guy and do the same thing, or just outright open fire in the back of his head.
With this variety of strategies to approach every encounter, you're sure to enjoy the experience of deciding what to do and actually executing it.
Like just now i just cleared an entire building of enemies by using Stealth and Speed mode.. you can actually hear them say 'Enemy!' then 'where did he go?' then i creep up behind and kill them silently =)
You also get to control various vehicles and operate their gunnery systems. Yes, you can also run over enemies with your vehicle =)
Lastly, it's the attention for details that amaze me the most, as it makes the game extremely realistic.
As mentioned above, enemies have different 'alertness levels', which is triggered by your actions. For example if you open fire at them obviously their alertness level hits the max and they're quickly scrambling to take cover and returning fire.
However if you stealth up undetected as decribed above, they'll be doing casual stuff like whistling.. walking around with their weapons resting on the floor, even peeing! haha. i ever grabbed a guy while he was peeing and killed him.
Talking about AI (artificial intelligence.. or rather the computer's brains la. ), the enemies are pretty intelligent! They will try their best to take cover the moment they're under threat. Also when you throw a frag grenade towards them, they have the common sense to try to run away from the grenade.
Oh and they do TALK also. for instance when you pop out and fire they'll shout 'enemy! ' "return fire!" and other speeches would be like "where did he go!" "grenade!" etcetc.
There's also the idle chatting, e.g. when their alertness level is low.
Other details would be if a frag grenade lands near you and you're close enough, you get temporarily dazed and your screen goes blurry. Same goes when you take alot of enemy fire and you're wounded, your vision gets blurred and your firing becomes unsteady. I think i recall falling to the floor once too after getting heavily wounded, and i had to jump back up and run back to take cover.
Down to the minor details which normal games dont have - e.g. in a snowy terrain , you find the scope of your weapons frosted with snow! you have to quickly switch to the iron sight or rear sight to aim.
You can actually put more bullet holes in an enemy you've killed ^^
This game is extremely realistic and its attention for details has sucked me in. It has crashed twice so far though. Once when my Antivirus started scanning yday, and the 2nd time was before i started this blogpost.. seemingly at a random time.
Maybe graphics setting too high already ha. oh well. still funn.
I'll give it a 10/10 ! haha. go try it out if you can man. Crysis rocks.
