Crysis Warhead, the follow-up to last year's sci-fi shooter Crysis, takes the fight to a couple of different fronts. The first takes place on the Pacific island marked by a N. Korean military presence and the strange new threat they uncover. The other is targeted at gamers' wallets and minds as this stand-alone expansion won't require the original game to play and is expected to retail for only $29.99.

Click here for more screenshots of Crysis Warhead.

The story moves parallel to events from the main game but players will experience it from the point of view of Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes. Those who played the original game will remember him disappearing for a long period of time before meeting up with the main character, Nomad, again near the end of the game. Warhead fills in that time gap to let players know what happened during his absence.

Gameplay looks much the same as Crysis, with massive explosions and its signature Nano Muscle Suit and all its amazing capabilities. Some new vehicles add to the damage, but the overall difficulty, look and feel is largely the same. Computer controlled soldiers fire from encampments and will try to outflank you and the game itself still has very impressive graphics. However, the game's programming has seen some major strides. The Crysis developers want to overcome the game's reputation of needed incredibly fast, high-priced, computer systems in order to run acceptably. With the latest optimizations in place, Warhead should run nicely using medium to normal graphics settings on a low-priced PC. To prove their point, the developers will be partnering with a computer manufacturer to produce a $600 computer that will run game Warhead perfectly.

So gamers who want to slip into a nano suit but remain hesitant because of high system specs can rest easy. Warhead will also include Crysis Wars, the Crysis multiplayer component. When it releases, Crysis will deliver high action and fantastic technology at a very low cost, leaving players with no excuses not to pick up the open-ended shooter. The game is expected to release in September of this year.