Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Crytek GmbH announced the start of a free trial period for Crysis Wars*, the multiplayer game for Crysis Warhead, the award-winning first-person shooter originally released last Fall. Starting today, gamers can play all of Crysis Wars** online for free including each of the game's three action-packed multiplayer modes and all 23 maps. The free trial period runs until Friday, April 17, 2009.

This trial is designed to give players a sample of the signature action and visuals that only the Crysis series delivered. For those players that want more than just a sample, EA and Crytek will release Crysis Maximum Edition, a compilation of all three Crysis games in one box (Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars). Available beginning May 5th for the MSRP of $39.99, Crysis Maximum Edition is the ultimate Crysis experience.

"When Crysis Wars was released seven months ago, one of our biggest goals was to be able to deliver continued support to our growing multiplayer community," said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. "We think we have delivered on that promise, not only by releasing new content, fixes and our powerful MOD SDK, but also by continuing to offer these types of free trials."

Crysis Wars supports matches for up to 32 players and contains three distinct gameplay modes; InstantAction, frenetic deathmatch enhanced by the power of the nanosuit, PowerStruggle, a hardcore team-based mode and TeamInstantAction, a mix of fast-paced action in a team-based environment.

Also available now is Crytek's powerful MOD SDK editor tool, which allows gamers to tap their inner game designer to make maps and mods for Crysis Wars both multi-and-single player. All player-generated maps for multiplayer will be accessible to the entire community during this free trial period.

Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars are all rated 'M' for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ by PEGI. For more information about everything Crysis, please visit www.mycrysis.com.