Crackdown
Part of the marketing surrounding the release of Crackdown saw the inclusion of a limited Halo 3 beta. When I first heard about that I wondered if the game would be able to stand on its own two feet. Did Microsoft think that the only way to sell the game was to slap a teaser for the beloved Halo on the cover? Fortunately those fears subside while I played the game. This game indeed stood out on its own.
The best way to describe Crackdown is to compare it to other games in the same genre. The most notable comparison comes in the form of Grand Theft Auto. Ok, so you don't pick up prostitutes and beat up old ladies with baseball bats in Crackdown but the sandbox element and open-ended gameplay are rife with GTA components. You are free to do what you want, when you want. Sure the game guides you along from time to time and identifies targets for you to take down but for the most part you'll be roaming about the city doing whatever the heck you please.
Crackdown takes place in the futuristic metropolis of Pacific City. This location is perfect for the gang-laden urban warfare that awaits you as the Shai-Gen, Volk, and Los Muertos gangs stand in your way. To answer the question bubbling in the back of your mind, you can't choose a gang affiliation and you don't play a "bad" guy like GTA. Instead you play as an Agent of the Agency, which acts as the police force for Pacific City. That's basically it for the story and the only thing that drives the experience is a gang dossier of targets to take down.
As an Agent it's your job to use your genetically altered superhuman genes to rid the streets of the rampant crime element. The basic flow of gameplay is the same whether you're working with a buddy or just playing by yourself. You'll start out at the Agency tower and launch a vehicle into Los Muertos territory. From there you'll need to track down Supply Points to store newly found armaments and create a resurrection point when you die. As you explore the massive environment you'll work your way into Volk and Shai-Gen controlled areas. It's not really the narrative that drives you there but simple curiosity which is a driving force in the game.
The other driving force is the unquenchable thirst of becoming a walking tank. As you play you'll find that you can increase your agility, firepower, driving ability, explosive capability, and strength. Depending on your performance in each of these categories that ability level will increase. With the opportunity to raise these skills to four stars there is a lot of room for growth. Also while it takes quite a while to master them if you're dedicated to the development of a particular ability you can max it in just a couple of hours.
For instance if you want to max out your strength skill all you have to do is repeatedly kick gang members whenever you engage them in combat. Do this about a thousand times over and you'll be able to lift buses and dumpsters in no time. Each skill follows suit in similar fashion. You have to kill with a gun to increase your firepower skill, use rockets or grenades to raise your explosive level, and perform stunts or kill people while behind the wheel for the driving skill.
The agility skill is a little different than the aforementioned ones because you can't really kill someone by jumping or running really fast (sorry Flash). Scattered throughout Pacific City are Agility Orbs that give you a certain amount of experience depending on how difficult they were to find. You can also increase your agility by picking off gang members from high places with your firearms.
To be honest it's the superpowers that makes Crackdown as incredibly enjoyable as it is. As your agility level increase you'll be able to jump to higher buildings and leap hundreds of feet to a nearby rooftop. You'll be able to make larger explosions, shoot more accurately with bullets, kill with a single kick, and alter Agency vehicles as your character grows. This amazing growth comes at a price though.
Once you've built your character and seen all that there is to see there is nothing to do with Crackdown other than explore the city looking to finish off some achievements. The single player game is rather limited and once you have managed to pick off all of the dossier targets there is really nothing exhilarating left to do. Some upcoming download content may change that but until Crackdown 2 comes out the only real means of replaying the game come in the form of co-op.
Through Xbox Live you can take your Agent online and team up with a buddy to fight crime. Helping out a friend who just got the game and helping them explore the game is a lot of fun. It's also worth while to team up with a buddy and take down bosses that you might be having a difficult time with (damn you Wang!). Unless you're focused on a mission though expect for your buddy to hit you in the ass with a rocket when you are least expecting it. Crackdown provides a lot of opportunity to goof around and have a good time but even with co-op there isn't much depth.
The greatest source of recurring visits to Crackdown easily has to be the crack-like nature of the gameplay. Just jumping around the city looking for orbs is a fun way to spend an afternoon and is a testament to the quality of the game's design. There are few games on the market that are as mindlessly fun as Crackdown and it's safe to say that you won't find another game as entertaining on the Xbox 360. If you're a fan of action games and are looking for something new to sink your teeth into this is the title you've been searching for. It may be a little light in the depth department but there are so many fun attributes at work here that it's easy to overlook the weaker elements.
Crackdown contains a total of 900 points right now with more reportedly on the way with the upcoming download content. The spread of achievements is relatively straight forward and you'll unlock most of them just by going through the steps that the game lays in front of you. Mastering each of the individual skills, getting a set number of kills, and conquering all of the gangs are things that just happen naturally.
Some of the more difficult achievements are the ones that keep you coming back once you finish the game. Completely maxing out your skills, collecting all 500 Agility Orbs (I just joined the beloved 499 club), finding all 300 Hidden Orbs, and finishing all forms of races are just a sample of the extended play achievements. These are downright maddening at times and can seem impossible but with time and a little bit of patience it's possible to unlock them all.
When I saw an early build of Crackdown in a preview I was unimpressed. The game looked mediocre at best with little flare but when I saw the revamped version of the game my impression was more favorable. This final form of Crackdown presents a great sense of scope and amazing draw distance. Jumping from a tall building gives you such a sense of speed and height that you can't help but feel a pit in your stomach as you fall. These are easily the best aspects that you'll find in the visual component of the game.
Character models, weaponry, and textures are relatively simplistic and unassuming though functional. The effects in the game are handled well from gunfire to explosions but again feel uninspired. Crackdown does offer support for 480p, 720p, and 1080i which is a definite plus.
I hate to say it but if there is one area that I do not like in Crackdown it has to be the sound. The Dolby Digital effects are nice and there is a decent sense of immersion with use of the rear channels and the like. The sound effects are even pretty good as well with pounding explosions, ricocheting bullets, and crunching pavement all over the place. Where the game falters though is in its voice acting and soundtrack.
Nearly every character in the game that speaks does so in silly fashion. The Agency's narrative voice also gets obnoxious after a while though you can fortunately shut him up with an option found in the menu. You can turn the music off while driving as well which was a good thing, considering that nearly every track is an assault on the ears. Apparently in the future the world has gone tone deaf.
Ok, so there isn't a lot of depth to the game, the graphics are decent but not great overall, and the voice acting/music is terrible. That makes it sound like the game isn't worth your time, right? Quite the opposite.
This is one of the greatest experiences that you'll have on your Xbox 360 and I can't think of the last time my console got this much play. Actually, yes I can, that was Gears of War. Crackdown is simply a blast from start to finish. Whether you're killing gang members, climbing skyscrapers, or simply looking around the city for orbs you're going to have fun while you're doing it. The single player game rocks though Crackdown's true colors are shown when you play co-op with a friend.
I have to tip my hat to Realtime Worlds and the wonderfully addictive game they created. Here's hoping for a Crackdown 2 where the minor annoyances are fixed. Highly Recommended