I originally backed the game even though I disliked the visuals, because it was said I can turn off the retro look. This is currently true only partially, as you can for example change monsters to 3D models, but any pickups or pre-placed gibs will still be 2D sprites. And this mix will make the game look weird. Also I initially played the Alpha on gamepad and it wasn't a great experience, mainly due to cumbersome weapon switching system. But for EA, I switched to slower computer with m+k and the experience changed drastically. Due to slower hardware, I was forced to pick up the retro visuals and reduce the resolution to 270p. From this point on, I had so much fun with the game! The "downgraded" visuals play into game strengths, obscuring the fact it uses only three colors most of the time (grey, red and white - I cannot describe how much I miss colorful monsters from Doom Eternal). Mouse is really a must have for this game since nailing headshots is essential, so you won't run out of ammo all of the time on medium difficulty. This is even more pronounced by the fact that pistol is essentially powerful as a sniper rifle, while shotgun works as expected only if you showe it directly in the demon's mouth. Weapon switching still cumbersome, but you have the number keys to your help. Apart from normal levels, you can also try particulary clever and addictive time trials and of course community maps that add a lot of extra hours to the gameplay. As for the level editor itself - it is far more complex than SnapMap or classic DoomBuilder, but given the ambices, that isn't a bad thing, it just requires way more dedication to get into it over the two mentioned. Overall, this is a great buy, even in EA, even with 5-6 hour campaign so far. If you can play on m+k, love classic Dooms and disliked Doom Eternal and SnapMap, buy this. But be prepared for sort of boring color pallete, weird level and weapon switching, weak-feeling shotgun and complex editor.
I loved the first Crysis, namely the levels BEFORE entering the mines. I loved the freedom, the feeling of being the hunter, moving through shadows, planning my attacks from the tops of the hills... From the trailers I though the Warhead will be similar, but no. Warhead is much more straightforward experience with more animations, scripts and explosions. All I wanted were couple of compounds to infiltrate, decimate and escape. Instead of that I got escort missions, chase missions and horror like adventure in mines. Be wary before you buy: If you loved the "jungle" part of the Crysis 1, it's not for you. But if you enjoyed the "alien" part, then Warhead is what you want.
Another <insert_name> Souls game? You will certainly feel this way at the beginning. Pixel art font is hard to read on a FullHD monitor, and even with the tutorial I felt lost and I was dying often. But later, as I unlocked some additional characters and recipes for the weapon forge and as I managed to collect money (note that you will not get money at the EASY difficulty, some character unlocks won't work either) to forge those weapons and to buy some crucial passive bufs, I started to think a little bit more about the tactics and I fell in love with this game. Everything from the attack system to the inventory/potion/active item handling is very simple, yet hard to master. You will have almost always insufficient potions with you and remember - ranged characters are always in a great advantage. As in Spelunky, the gorgeous dungeons are filled with traps that will easily kill you if you're not careful enough. It's worth to mention that pretty much often you'll find yourself in a room full of money/enemies/both with no idea whatsoever in which corners are the traps. That's a bit of a problem, because money glows, attack effect glows and you can see literally nothing in that mess. But you'll get used to it. You'll be like "one more dungeon" and nothing will stop you. In overall, this game is fun to play, has a nice learning curve, features a lot of items, enemies, tactics, bosses, even secret levels, some level of grinding. And since it's still in EA, we can hope that character balancing and rendering mess will be taken care of in a next update ;)
