Graphics

Unusually for us here at bit-tech, we aren’t going to spend a huge amount of time analysing the graphics from Crysis Warhead and the reason for that is really quite simple; they haven’t changed much from the original game.

They’ve been re-optimised to run on lower-end systems, sure. They’ve doubtlessly been tweaked a little bit too, but for the most part the graphics are all exactly how they were in Crysis, so you can check out our mammoth ten-page Crysis review and graphics analysis if you want the details.

In fact, the most drastic change to the graphics settings is that the settings themselves have been renamed to make them more accessible to those who are usually intimidated by this kind of thing. Now, instead of Low, Medium, High and Very High we have Minimum, Mainstream, Gamer and Enthusiast.

We see where the change is going, but to be honest we don’t like it. The titles make no sense and are much more confusing than they need to be. Does my brother have to go with a lesser setting because he’s a less enthusiastic gamer than me? P’ah.


What we’ve done then, to showcase the settings for those who want to see the graphical settings of the game at-a-glance as it were, is to look at the game with all settings set to Minimum through to Enthusiast. You can see the results on this page, both above and below..

While we’re on the topic, it’s worth mentioning that we played the game with under Windows Vista 32-bit with 3GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 clocked to 3.0GHz and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 and had suggested optimal settings of Mainstream by the game when running at 1,920 x 1,200. We were able to run things on Gamer meanwhile with a little bit of slowdown, but the best result came from a custom setup. This hardware running all-Enthusiast settings achieved a maximum of 16 FPS.

Of course, if you're anxious to get guaranteed performance on a budget then there is always the official Crysis Warhead PC from Electronic Arts. That thing is officially supposed to run the game on High detail (though what that means we now have no idea) without ever dropping below 30 FPS, though what resolution it will run at is still unknown.


Looking over the graphics settings screenshots on this page, though you might not believe it, the brightness hasn’t actually been changed. Instead, the reason that the game looks a hell of a lot darker on the lower settings is because the Shaders have been lowered.

Other differences that are especially notable include the overall texture quality of the mountains in the distance, plus the amount of snow and haze in the air. The amount of foliage is something which obviously has an effect too, with a lot more trees and bushes being visible on the Enthusiast and Gamer settings.

There’s also the amount of snow and frost on the gun too, much of which is also visible through the scope when you right click. Not only is this a pretty effect, but it’s pretty immersive too.

Naturally, the game looks best on the Enthusiast setting, but you might be thinking that the game actually looks OK on the Mainstream or Gamer setting too – and we’d advise caution there. While the game does look passable on the Mainstream settings, it’s worth nothing that the shaders and lighting reductions have an extra impact on some levels and playing through the ice tunnel sequences on Mainstream graphics is truly horrible. The game looks white, untextured, unlit and bland – not at all as it should look.