The sandbox gameplay, lets you go about missions the way you please. You can go all gung-ho with guns blazing, or slide quietly like a snake, it's your" decision and the game is smart enough to" allow for the variation in play. The first thing that sets the game's heavy action tone is the intro: unlike the first game, this time around you see the action from a third person's perspective which adds a cinematic touch to it. Psycho is a crazy man, he packs more punch than Jason Statham and he loves blowing stuff up. The weapon's" arsenal" hasn't changed a lot but they have added a few more explosive add-ons. You also get a super-cool grenade launcher that packs six grenades at a time. I played the game on Normal and was surprised to see Crytek has made the game slightly easy. The first game was fairly difficult as it took more than one bullet to take care of most enemies; long range battle were an even bigger pain.

This time around the hit-box has been improved so you won't end up using an entire clip to kill one enemy. As mentioned before most other weapons were present in the first game and so don't expect any big surprises there. The shotgun is still my favorite weapon, combine that with a nice long range rifle and -- boom -- they make perfect partners. The enemy AI has been improved -- I noticed that every time I used cloak, the enemy would retreat behind cover, whereas in the first game they" would" aimlessly wander around.

There are a few more cinematic" sequences" than before, the frozen levels have more depth and you get to cruise along the snow in a hovercraft this time. The cinematic" sequences" I talked about are basically timed elements in the game that add some extra oomph. For example I remember jumping off a ramp in my hovercraft and two alien sentinels popped out at the exact same time, it was super-cool. It's evident that Crytek has gone through a lot of action flicks for setting up this game: explosive barrels are always placed at key locations; you will find" yourself" cornered too often with a bunch of missile launchers nearby and so on. This clearly indicates that Crytek wants to make sure you get the most out of the game, posing a threat yet providing a solution, if you are up for it." The nanosuit remains unchanged, your most" reliable" weapon is amazing and unique enough to make your FPS" experience different.

The game is short and can be completed in one sitting, it's roughly 5-6 hours, but on the higher difficulties you make take more time.

Crysis Warhead also packs an add-on called Crysis Wars. This is a multiplayer only add-on that provides a new gamemode as well as more maps than the original game. There are about 21 maps this time around, up to 32" players" can play at one time. The original had Power Struggle as well as Instant Action, this time we have a new game mode called Team Instant Action. The new game mode and maps make Crysis Wars a great addition.

Now for the most" important" bit: Crysis Warhead looks better than the original and it plays smoother. There are 4 different graphic settings, I played on Very High at 1400x900, and was able to" achieve" a very comfortable 30fps; although it would drop a little during multiple explosions, but that's acceptable." The explosions, world details and post-processing" effects make this the best looking game out there. You just can't compare this to any game out in the market. The sound effects deserve a mention as they make your sound system come alive. My guess is that anybody with a decent PC should be able to run the game at smooth frame rates and enjoy it to he fullest." These were the specs of my rig:

> E8400 Core 2 Duo( 3.0 GHz)
> 4GB Ram
> ATI" 4850

There are a few issues though: there is the occasional glitch in textures or a dumb move by the enemy AI, but they don't hamper your" experience, although I can't get over the fact that frozen enemies can withstand your bullets but touch them and they fall down in pieces. The battles are more grand and have a" lengthy" build up, it adds to the" excitement" of facing an alien the size of a building.

I said it before and I will say it again, this is the game EA should have brought us" the first time around -- it beats the original in every aspect, while keeping your PC as happy as a smurf.