Crackdown

Ahhh! Sandbox games are just so damn sweet! The freedom to do what you want when you want is just great and Crackdown for the 360 is no exception! Even though it is compared to GTA, a lot, it is not a GTA clone and it is a good game in its own right.


Original IPs are far and few between these days as publishers tend to stick with that tried and true bullcrap. Crackdown brings a little more to the table and shows there are things that there can be a lot more things injected into games then we are used to. For starters, the grapics in Crackdown are just wonderful!

Crackdown is set in a beautifully rendered comic book like setting. Not cell shaded! This is a good thing as the view distance is amazing as you can stand on the top of a high building and see damn near the whole city. It really looks great at night as you can see a skyline and lights on and off around the city from almost any high point. Even when there are a thousand things going on, there is no noticable lag to speak of. If anyone felt the urge, they could take screens and turn them into a comic book! I really like the animations and especially the explosions!

Now we come to the sound portion of this review. Which I really don't care about for the most part. Guns, voices, car sounds, basically sound how they are supposed to. Music in game is not major. I couldn't tell you one track from the game personally and I have been playing for three days. So, that is enough of sound. Lets venture into the gameplay shall we?

How do I love thee Crackdown? I can't count the ways! You start off as an agent(good guy) out to kick the hell out of three different gangs in Pacific City. Why? They are bad bad people and they need to go! thats why! You have your choice of different agents (and four free ones that you can dl for free on XBL) It really does not matter which you pick though as they all progress based on what you do. You will start in the Agency and have a handy (and annoying at times) narrator to help you throughout the game. Your main goal here is to rid the city from the bad bad gangs!

They are divided into three parts as is the city. Los Meurtos is the first. This is where you will get your practice for the more aggressive gangs. Although, there is nothing that keeps you from going after the others. Good luck though!

As you start, you are instructed to go take over an enemy supply point. These things are very helpful as you can use them as a resupply point, jump to other points on the map, and bring enemy weapons that you have picked up. Not to mention spawn from!

This being a sandbox game, you can do whatever the hell you wish at anytime! So, you do not have to follow the sometimes annoying narrator. If you do follow what you are supposed to do, you will go from mini boss to annother eventually unlocking the main boss. After doing so, it elimanates all enimies in that area. This is not a bad thing as there are orbs and such to go get to make your agent all he can be!

Throughout the world, there are agility orbs, races, rooftop races, and stunt rings. These will upgrade your agent! You want that to happen btw!

You agent can and needs to be upgraded! There are skills that increase depending on what you do. Agility, strength, firearms, driving, and explosives. As you evolve in each, the better that skill becomes. For example: If you go around grabbing every agility orb, you will be able to jump 30ft at max! This means you can traverse the city via rooftop and not worry about taking a car through the roads. If you make driving a top priority, agency cars will transform! For example if you take the agency SUV on level four, you can drive up walls and jump at will where as the big rig has turbo and can damn near smash through anything.

There is a so much you can do in this game it is just not funny! Although the basic premis is, as I mentioned before, is to rid the city of those gang bastards, the sandbox deal lets you explore new ways to do things. Here is a rundown of the preview I did earlier this month:

Crackdown is just great! There has been no better demo that I can think of recently. It took me all of 45 minutes to download it this morning and I have been playing it ever since! Over 12 hours straight, I have played today and I will most likely do it again tomorrow! There is just something about Crackdown that makes a person have fun! Sure, I was looking forward to the game. ***, even pre-ordered it a while ago before that no named beta was announced to come with it. There is just something about it that makes, me at least, play to find new things.

Right out of the get go, I went for the agility ability. Why? Jumping 30 feet up and from builing to building does something for a gamer! I spent the first few hours trying to get as many agility orbs as I could. 67 is my high thus far, although, I am sure it will go up in the days to come. There is just nothing quite like jumping through town from one high rise to another! I don't know what it is! Maybe it was that this part filled the emptiness that the crappy Superman demo left. Flying through the air shooting people on the way was just a great feeling and still is! How can anyone be disappointed when you can jump up a skyscraper via the window sills??

The other ability that I abosolutely love is the strength! When I hear the words: You can now lift about 10 tons and throw about 250 feet, I almost orgasm! Not to mention ripping car doors off to beat people with them, kicking a car so that it squashes a person, throwing the car with people in it into a building, kicking a person off a roof, and soo much more make this ability just great! Seriously, when do you get a chance to throw a cement bag off of a 12 story building into a gang members head and then jump down to throw his body into his freinds??

There is the weapons ability which I am sure is great and there will be more in the game but, in the demo, who the *** cares? That is not the draw! Every sandbox games has guns! Yes, you do get more accurate and such as you do better but, still. I am sure the rocket launcher will be pretty though.

The driving skill will be good in game. In the demo, not so much. No transformation of vehicles as far as I could see but, I could be off. Not bad though as you can control the cars a *** of a lot better as you go up.

Explosions are good fun too! Grenades in downtown. Sure it has been done before but, throw a gas tank off a multi story building and watch ppl go boom as you are shooting it in air! That is fun fellas! Cars, barrels, and other things blowing up just makes ya feel all tingly inside!

There is more than that in the demo as well! Races, rooftop things, and crap I haven't done yet! Not to mention you have swimming and hidden orbs all over the damn place. I am damn sure there is more I am missing as the demo informed me that the higher up you are killing people, your agility goes up! I didn't know that til 11 hours into it! Who knows what the game will hold.

I do know this though, getting Crackdown for a two month beta is like getting ten kegs for a two person party. Sure, it will be great while it lasts but, the toilet is the only thing that gets to see your money

Here are my closing thoughts:

Crackdown is a great game. It provides open ended gameplay that lets the user use the world as his/her oyster. I should have got into the fact that the game has three different difficulty settings, you can rest the gangs, and that it has coop play over XBL or system link but, I dont feel like it.

In the end, Crackdown is a great game that is fun as hell to play! The do what you want crunched together with outrageous achiements make it a must have.

There are some bad things though. It is rather short if you follow what you are supposed to do. You cannot progress any higher than in the demo. Did I mention that it is short?

When they make the second one, I have a few suggestions. Make it bigger and longer. More vehicles! More weapons! Flying would be a good thing here and so would some water vehicles. If you are going to make a game that is supposed to rival GTA and such, for the love of God, have some destruction in the game! I want to blow some shit up with a rocket launcher that fires five consecutive shots! (I mean buldings here)

Over all I give it an 8 as I know they can do so much better

Grr! I wana play Nice review mate! :thumbup:
Did ya get halo3 beta key with your copy? :Oo:

You dont actually get a key. You get an insert that says congratulations and tells that when it is available, you can download it from the main menu of Crackdown. I suppose I'll give it a shot once it becomes available

My X360 pooped 2 days before it came out. Went 2 Best Buy looking for SupCom/X360 but grabbed a Wii instead.

Sooo much for that


Ive been going 2 a friends house 2 play tho, its been fun.

Yesterday I had a chance to play co-op with HD0087 and let me tell ya, it was a blast! Crackdown is great by yourself but, with a friend, it makes it even better! If you get a chance to play it on co-op, I highly recommend it!

i don't have time to read your review yet, but i agree this game is fun times! what are your names, so i can co-op sometime?

My Live name is Nxss (Nxs was takin :rant: )

I just bought x360 yesturday, and I'm thinking what games to buy. I bought Gears of War. Gears of War os good but gets a little annoying because there ir really no story there all u do is hide and shoot, hide and shoot! Can you guys recommand some games for me for x360? I like action games mostly, don't like stealthy ones...

Crackdown is always fun and always a lot of action. Shadowrun might tickle your fancy if you like online play. Lost Planet is a lot of fun. The Darkness and Overlord you might like as well. Rainbow Six Vegas. Dead Rising, ES: Oblivion, The Godfather, and Battlefield 2.

Lost Planet got one dumb story but great game. I would say LP is better than GoW in gameplay...graphic is not as good as GoW but it looks different anyway...and bigger