Introduction

Mariyana Vasileva December 15, 2008

Almost a year after the Crysis release, Crysis Warhead is already a fact in e-shops. Regardless of the assurance that the game will be the second part of a trilogy, Crytek reached a decision to make it a stand-alone expansion. Unlike its predecessor, Crysis Warhead can be played only in single-player mode. If you prefer multi-player game, you will have to wait the Crysis Wars. Under this title you will receive 3 multi-player modes. In addition to the old modes of Crysis: power struggle and instant action, there is a new mode: team instant action, which mixes fast-paced action in a team-based environment. Actually, Crytek split one game in two separate games for marketing reasons: to minimize the number of the pirate copies and increase the number of the purchases.

The game company also made new improvements in CryENGINE 2. The parallax occlusion maps, the metallic and glassy shaders, as well as the high quality 3D ocean technology are only a part of them. For instance, subsurface scattering simulates the diffusion of light transmitted through translucent objects, like ice and this option can also be used to create natural looking skin or vegetation. Call your attention to your body shadow when you are into a water pool. You really will get a real sensation that your body casts a shadow. But in spite of the big resources of CryENGINE 2, the game still does not show its full beauty because of the hardware performance of the today's computers. After the outcry about the same problem in Crysis, Crytek made changes for Crysis Warhead, and the game requires less powerful computers then before. For example, "Very High" and "Enthusiast" are highest settings, respectively in Crysis and Crysis Warhead. But they have different requirements. The first game can be set to Very High only on Windows Vista and DirectX 10 mode, and the new game can use Enthusiast with DirectX 9 and Windows XP. As for the improvements in the graphics quality, you can decide for yourself, comparing the following screenshots:

	Page 1 of 4	Crysis Warhead engine and the new things