Last year the team behind the first Far Cry game brought us Crysis, which well and truly set the bar for first-person shooters with its gripping story, fast-paced action and state-of-the-art visuals. The trouble was that it needed a state-of-the-art PC in order to play properly.

Twelve months on and the recommended requirements for Crysis Warhead – a standalone companion game to the original title – still look a little steep. However, the developers have redone the graphics in such a way that makes it possible to enjoy Crysis Warhead at lower quality settings on lower-end PCs.

It’s good news for anyone previously put off by the original game’s lofty demands and we can confirm that Warhead looks just as stunning as its forebear when running at full pelt, but should be very much playable on most computers bought within the last year or two.

The game’s storyline runs parallel to that of the first instalment. As before, you are part of a team of futuristic super-suited soldiers who are dropped off in hostile North Korea to investigate some unusual goings on. This time, however, you follow the fortunes of the squad’s endearingly foul-mouthed Briton, the entertainingly named Psycho, in an entirely new campaign.

In practice, Warhead plays a lot like the first game, though that should not necessarily be taken as a criticism. Warhead’s single-player campaign is also relatively short, although when you take into account the lower price and the inclusion of a completely separate Crysis-themed multiplayer game (Crysis Wars), the package starts to look a lot rosier.