Crytek today announced that its Crysis-derived multiplayer game Crysis Wars will be free to play through April 17.

To participate, grab the four-part trial client, install the 1.4 patch, and follow the instructions at mycrysis.com to generate a CD-key.

The trial serves as a hook for the upcoming Crysis Maximum Edition, a compilation of Crysis, Crysis Wars and Crysis Warhead. The pack will sell for $40 beginning May 5.

Crytek has released a wealth of fixes and new tools for Crysis Wars, the multiplayer portion of its graphics-intensive PC first-person shooter Crysis Warhead.

The patch adds enhanced DirectX 9 support, resolves some memory leaks, and bring mod support. As for the Mod Tools SDK, that's got everything the name implies. There are also some new dedicated server files, in both Linux and Windows form:

• Crysis Wars v1.4 Patch
• Crysis Wars Mod Tools (Part 1 of 2)
• Crysis Wars Mod Tools (Part 2 of 2)
• Crysis Wars Dedicated Server 1.4 (Linux)
• Crysis Wars Dedicated Server 1.4 (Windows)

The third patch for Crytek's Crysis Wars is now available on FileShack, bringing two new maps to the game and fixing the loading of custom assets in downloaded maps.

Along with the patch, the developer announced that the PC multiplayer shooter will be free-to-play for 10 days, from December 19 through December 29. Crysis Wars is the multiplayer half of Crysis Warhead, and normally requires a copy of Warhead to play.

As with the last free weekend, wanna-be players can grab the four-part Crysis Wars trial from FileShack, and must register at mycrysis.com to generate an access key.

After downloading the trial, players will only need to apply the patch released today, as it contains all the fixes, upgrades and additions of the other two patches.