Crackdown

Well, here we are - a next generation Grand Theft Auto-style game that was actually developed by the creator of GTA, David Jones. The legacy of GTA blew up when GTA III was released for PS2 by offering gamers an almost limitless number of gameplay possibilities. Crackdown for the Xbox 360 keeps the near limitless gameplay possibilities but ditches the whole gangster/mafia theme of GTA. Instead of being the bad guy, Crackdown has you snuffing out the three gangs of Pacific City. You’re not the bad guy anymore but you won’t miss it because your Enforcer should have more than enough machismo to keep you entertained.

The three gangs, the Los Muertos, the Volks and the Shai Gens, have taken over the three islands of Pacific City. You play the role of an Enforcer for The Agency; a government group trying to eliminate the gangs from Pacific City. But you’re not just a regular guy pitted up against the hopeless odds of cleaning up Pacific City. Instead you are a super-enhanced soldier that actually has the helps of the cops. I would describe this as GTA with a superhero as the main character.

The core premise of the game revolves around you taking out the multiple bosses of the various gangs. Each gang is broken up into several different levels with each level being assigned to a particular boss of the gang. The game loads a breakdown/itinerary of each boss scattered throughout the various areas in Pacific City. These itineraries include the name of the boss, what the boss is in charge of for the gang and a tactical readout of that boss’ hideout. The tactical readout offers several different tactics for getting inside of the hideout. When you get near a hideout the game even provides a percentage of how successful you will be in taking out the boss and his minions.

Just like GTA, how you tackle these missions is entirely up to you. If you want to go gung ho and run into the heart of the hideout then you can. Or you can try to find a secluded entrance to the complex and take out the bad guys with a sniper rifle. Usually the stealth approach will only work for a little while before someone discovers you and bad guys are chasing after you in packs.

The gang’s members never seem to miss and can always hit you from hundreds of feet away. I didn’t like that in GTA and I still don’t like it in Crackdown. The boss compounds are littered with hundreds of gang members so taking out a boss can sometimes be a chore. Besides their uncanny sharp shooting skills the AI of the gang members and bosses is limited. They will usually chase after you with guns firing and would rarely seek cover. Even the bosses would rather stand still and let you unload into them instead of running away or seeking shelter.

You might be reading to this point wondering “Well this game doesn’t seem that impressive” but I’ve only touched on one part of the game. Don’t get me wrong the boss encounters are the “main” part of the game but there is so much more to do in Crackdown. The game doesn’t limit you to fighting the bosses in any particular order. If you want to try and take out the leader of the entire gang first, you can. If want to skip Los Muertos and try the Volks first, you can. The somewhat restrictive nature seen in some of the GTA missions don’t apply to most of Crackdown. You don’t have to escort someone from point A to point B, only to repeat the mission if the escort character dies. Your mission to take out a gang boss is over only if you die. The only real mission of the game is to take out a gang boss, what you do in the rest of the game is almost entirely up to you.

Now before I move on I should comment that this isn’t a game with limitless freedom to do whatever you want. That would be almost impossible for a single game to offer since programmers can never anticipate the limitless possibilities that gamers can come up game. Crackdown provides you freedom in how you fight the gangs, how you develop your agent and how you explore Pacific City. But this “freedom” is where Crackdown really shines.

Your agent starts off with limited abilities that you get to develop during the game. You have driving, explosive, athletic, fighting and shooting abilities for your agent to develop. Actually spending time developing these skills is a vital part of the game that no one should overlook. You will find athletic medals scattered all over Pacific City. Once you have collected enough medals your agility skills will increase letting your agent jump higher and farther. Big deal, right? Actually it has a huge impact on the game. Your agent starts off as just another character but if you spend time developing these skills the agent will soon transform into a freaking super agent. I’m talking jumping from rooftop to rooftop, picking up cars, driving up a building - actions that are incredibly gratifying.

So how do these abilities connect with the “freedom” of Crackdown? Well it’s your choice which ability you want to develop and how much time you spend developing the ability. When I first started playing the game I tried to grab as many green agility/athletic medals as I could find. Once I went up a level I soon discovered I had more fun jumping from building to building looking for more agility medals than going after the gang members. To me I felt like I was creating a superhero, like the Incredible Hulk, who was being let loose inside of GTA. That’s when I started to pay attention to the abilities and what else was around in Pacific City.

I started noticing object scattered all over Pacific City that could be picked up, such as benches, trash can and other small objects. But then I started noticing larger objects, such as cars, indicated to me they could be picked up as well. However, I had to spend more time building up my strength in order to pick up the larger objects. Soon I was hurling large items at gang members during the heat of battle. After a while I started to notice that my explosive ability was still at a zero. So I made it a point to hurl as many grenades as possible, and use a grenade launcher as my main weapon. What started off as small explosions soon blossomed into large, spectacular shows of carnage.

The freedom to develop your character is nothing new to gaming but seeing these improvements in a GTA style of game turned out to be a blast. I couldn’t stop trying to jump from the highest part of the game, trigger a huge chain reaction explosion, or explore every small corner of Pacific City. I would car jack someone (yes you can still do that in Crackdown) and drive to all three islands just checking out the detail of the buildings in the city. From huge skyscrapers, small stores to hundreds of pedestrians moving about Pacific City felt like a city with endless possibilities for me to discover. Nothing seemed to be off limits since there was always a way to reach everything you could see in the game.

The game even did a great job of keeping the items you move in the game where you leave them. If you want to trigger an explosion at a gate but the explosive barrels were several streets over, you could move them without fear of the game “forgetting” about them. This is huge feature that I’m sure is happening due to the game being on a next-generation console. Now one feature that you won’t be able to do, at least without penalty, is to take out civilians. The cops will only chase after you if any civilians are hurt by your brand of peace keeping. The in-game narrator will even warn several times that civilians are not to be harmed. If any are harmed then you will start to lose ability points. So if you’re careless you can lose those precious abilities as fast as you earned them.

There are a couple issues that should be addressed so let’s go over them. The first is the camera angle. The camera angle is usually in a third-person view (but controllable with the second analog stick) but will switch to a first-person view when you’re close to walls. This can create some viewing problems when trying to perform certain jumps or if you go inside certain structures in the game. Second camera angle problem is the game doesn’t include a reset button to press to correct the camera angle. Another issue is the length of the game. If you run through all of the bosses quickly what else is there to do in the game? Downloadable content is planned but just how soon will it make it out to the Xbox Live Marketplace?

If you’ve been burned out on the whole GTA experience, like I was, then you really should take an opportunity to play this game. Crackdown really takes the sandbox gameplay experience and turns it up to 11. The game shines in letting you take your agent from meager rookie to rooftop jumping superhero in a painless and easy manner. You’re not pressured into building up your character just because you can’t access certain parts of the game. If you’re skilled enough you can usually find an easier way to take out a gang boss without having a jacked up super agent. Crackdown isn’t a gaming revolution but it’s a game I’m sure most of you will get countless hours of enjoyment. For me I get great satisfaction from jumping from the top of a building down to a street and leaving cracked pavement behind me.

Gameplay: 8.5
The controls during most of the game are tight and responsive, from gun combat to driving, jumping and picking up items. There were a few quirks where the game would try to engage hand-to-hand combat if I was too close to a railing when firing a gun.

Graphics: 8.7
The graphics have a similar look to GTA but with a cartoon-style cell outline to the characters. The game has hundreds of buildings spread out across the three islands of Pacific City. To really appreciate the gorgeousness of the graphics you need to see a view from atop one of skyscrapers. You get to see all of Pacific City and it’s hard not to be impressed. Besides the camera angle problems I mentioned earlier the game would never hiccup or stutter during gameplay.

Sound: 8.3
There are a variety of licensed songs that can be listened to while driving, with the songs based upon which island in Pacific City you are on. Honestly I have never heard of most of the bands or artists included but they all hit the theme of each local gang. The in-game narration had some great lines with some tremendous voice acting.

Concept: 8.4
Sure it’s a GTA style game but what would you expect from the creator of GTA? Increasing your abilities is a nice feature that makes the game a blast to play as the abilities increase. Just think of Crackdown as GTA with superheroes and the concept should become clear.

Multiplayer: 8.7
Another great feature of the game is the multiplayer Co-Op mode. At anytime in the game someone can join your game through Xbox Live to help you with your peace keeping efforts in Pacific City. Or send an invite to anyone on your friends list or host your own Co-Op game.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game supports three levels for those that need to ramp up the difficulty.

Overall: 8.5
Crackdown is a great game that offers a fun and engaging GTA style experience. It wasn’t for a couple of camera angle problems the game would have been a true standout when compared to GTA. Increasing the abilities of your agent is a worthwhile experience that still shouldn’t be missed. I can’t imagine anyone not having a least some fun with this game. Running around a huge city, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and causing some huge explosions all while hunting down the bad guys is always fun!