 Review By: Nick Arvites |
Developer: | Real Time Worlds |
| Publisher: | Microsoft | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 (2 online) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play), HDTV 720p | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Let’s be honest, how many people reading this would have heard or cared about Crackdown if it wasn’t bearing that cute silver sticker saying “HALO 3 BETA INVITATION INSIDE?” It may turn out that Crackdown’s legacy is forever tied to that sticker and currently grayed out menu option, and I’m sure many people have picked up this game just for the Halo 3 invite with no intent to actually play Crackdown. However, these people are missing out on one of the most genuinely fun titles to hit the Xbox 360.
If you haven’t tried the demo, Crackdown is set in a semi-futuristic city controlled by crime syndicates. You play as a Super-Agent who is aiming to take down the crime syndicates and restore order. The world is a fully open sandbox environment ala Grand Theft Auto or True Crime, so you can freely explore the city as soon as you drop in. Your character has a list of skills which can be improved through the game. Agility, which controls movement such as speed and jumping, is improved by finding agility orbs in hard to reach places (on top of buildings, mountains, etc) or by completing rooftop races. Strength is gained from hand-to-hand combat, and firearms skills are gained by using firearms. Driving skill is increased by completing street races, running over criminals, or hitting stunt circles. Explosives, which allows your explosives to have a bigger radius, is gained by using them. Sounds basic enough, right? Well, there’s a catch.
You start off being almost on the same page as the NPCs in the game. As your skills grow, your agent’s appearance changes (by getting bigger and sporting bigger hair, tattoos, piercings, accessories, or other aesthetics depending on your player model) and your abilities develop far beyond any other character’s abilities in the game. For example, you can eventually lift cars and chuck them down the block. You can leap 30 feet in the air and jump from rooftop to rooftop. Let’s put it another way: Crackdown manages to do something the Matrix titles never did. Crackdown makes it feel natural to leap from building to building, throw a car, and overall just perfectly captures the notion of a genetically enhanced super-agent leaping around a city leaving a path of destruction behind him.
The missions are extremely straight-forward. You start off in the centrally located agent headquarters, and from there you have to take back the three islands that encompass the city. Each island is controlled by one gang faction, and each faction has a kingpin and several underlings. While it is possible to just smash the Kingpin of that particular gang, wiping out the underlings brings different effects (less firepower, lower quality troops, etc). Each island has a number of Agency Safehouses, which act as supply dumps and warp points. When you start the game, you do not control any of them and you have to liberate them from gang control. If you bring a weapon a gang member drops to a Safehouse, you gain access to it for the rest of the game.
Your arsenal starts off small, consisting of the agency-issued rifle and pistol. Other weapons included in the game are a variety of grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, heavy machine guns, a sniper rifle, rocket launchers, and various pistols. Personal taste dictates these choices. I found myself carrying around a combo consisting of the shotgun or heavy machine gun and rocket launcher, though one of my friends almost exclusively sticks with a sniper rifle/shotgun combination. The key with the weapons is to remember to grab the ones the gang members drop and run them back to your Safehouse.
I never really liked the driving feel in the game. It’s pretty similar to other sandbox games in how it controls and feels, but I made it a point to start leveling up my agility early. Once I was able to jump across rooftops, I avoided the streets for most of the game. The available cars vary from island to island, and each gang has a distinct style. The Los Muertos have the stereotypical lowriders, the Volks have military and industrial vehicles, and the Shai-Gen Corporation uses almost luxury-styled performance cars.
Posted: 2007-02-26 20:47:47 PST