Crysis Warhead

Crysis Warhead updates and refines the gameplay of the original game through a side-plot parallel to that of the original Crysis game. The story follows Sergeant Michael "Psycho" Sykes, an ally of Crysis protagonist Nomad, as he faces his own trials and challenges on the other side of the island during the time period of the first game. It features new fully customizable weapons, vehicles and enemies, along with new multiplayer content. It also showcases a new, enhanced and optimized version of CryEngine 2 and is the first game developed by Crytek's Budapest studio.

Psycho's arsenal of futuristic weapons builds on those showcased in Crysis, with the introduction of Mini-SMGs which can be dual-wielded, a six-shot grenade launcher equipped with EMP grenades, and the destructive, short ranged Plasma Accumulator Cannon (PAX). The highly versatile Nanosuit, which confers various superhuman abilities upon its wearer, returns.

In 2020, an ancient alien spacecraft is uncovered on the North Korean-occupied Lingshan Islands, east of the Philippines. S. soldiers outfitted with advanced nanotechnology. Sykes splits up with his team following a raid on a North Korean-controlled harbor.

S. Navy fighter jets. Leaving the shore, he joins a Marine vehicle convoy driving through the jungle, and defends it as it is attacked by North Korean soldiers. The convoy is destroyed and the Marines fight into the night.

Crysis Warhead was announced on 5 June 2008 and was announced as a stand-alone expansion pack to Crysis. Crysis Warhead retails at less than normal games' recommended retail price though the game's feature set is close to those featured in full-priced games.

The developers claimed that due to optimizations of CryEngine2, Crysis Warhead performs better than the original Crysis. Like Crysis, Warhead uses Microsoft Direct3D for graphics rendering. Nevertheless, Crysis Warhead looks better graphically and runs better than the original Crysis.

Crysis Warhead received largely positive reviews. Most reviewers praised the improvements over the original Crysis in areas like AI and gameplay pacing, citing the original game's criticism that battles were few and far between. The new protagonist, Psycho, was also received better than the original's less developed Nomad. The revamped multiplayer mode, Crysis Wars, was also praised for adding a team deathmatch mode, the lack of which most reviewers criticised in the original game.

Criticism of the game by reviewers includes the short story mode and a lack of new features over the original game. Some continue to cite the game's high system requirements as unacceptable even a year after the original game, which has the same requirements. Indeed, some reviewers did not see any significant performance improvement with Warhead compared with Crysis, stating that only high-end GPUs could handle the game comfortably at decent frame rates.