So recently I completed Crackdown. I felt a little underwhelmed when I finished. It was the same as the first two parts when I killed the last remaining gang members. I got a "You saved this portion of the city" message, then the big spoiler comes up (The Agency pretty much created the gangs in question to give Pacific City some degree of chaos, and it's all the equivalent of some training exercise). Not even a cut to the credits, or something real special. Just... ends like that. At least in other free-roaming action games like GTA it gives a satisfying conclusion and a credit roll. Crackdown just ends with a pop and a whimper.

The biggest problem I have is that it's very, very repetitious. Basically you had to knock down every leader of a gang, then head straight to the head honcho, and repeat for the next two areas. There are no variant missions outside of the rooftop and road races that permeate the world, and the hidden/agility orb hunt, which is like GTA's hidden packages but amplified a pinch. But it's the same way from when you start, to when you finish. There's not even a chance to friend certain factions and do missions for them, a la Mercenaries.

The upgrade mechanic is a nice touch, even though you'll upgrade your agility faster than everything else, making driving something you only do to keep your stats consistent. I like how as I progressed, my character was slow, very inaccurate with weapons, and had to make a few roundhouse kicks before they could kill someone. By the end, my only problem was swarms of gangs and the gang member with larger HP than the others. Oh, and having to climb my ass all the way up through Wang's tower, only to die and have to re-climb the area three times. Thankfully that was only a Time Trial. But either way.

I know people will hound me for saying this, but this needed a more broader story than "There's gangs polluting the city, go kill them." It needed reason, explanation for my actions, further consequences outside of just sending me uberpowerful grunts if I killed enough of a certain faction.

I will say that doing crazy flips and acrobatic stunts were the greatest thing about Crackdown. Had those not been in there, the game would've been excessively dull and I never would've finished it. I'm done with the game, but I could always go back and try to do a few things like catch all 500 Agility Orbs (about 420 and counting), or finish all rooftop and road races I didn't go through the first time round. Or maybe get into some co-op action. I don't want to put the game down just yet. I feel that there's unfinished things to take care of.

Also, lower the damn "Gettin Busy content pack" price already. Two years later, it's still $10. You want me to pay about 80% of what I paid for the game for this content, of which half I can't use because you need to be in co-op to do it? No, Microsoft, I will not accept your offer.

So recently I completed Crackdown. I felt a little underwhelmed when I finished. It was the same as the first two parts when I killed the last remaining gang members. I got a "You saved this portion of the city" message, then the big spoiler comes up (The Agency pretty much created the gangs in question to give Pacific City some degree of chaos, and it's all the equivalent of some training exercise). Not even a cut to the credits, or something real special. Just... ends like that. At least in other free-roaming action games like GTA it gives a satisfying conclusion and a credit roll. Crackdown just ends with a pop and a whimper.

The biggest problem I have is that it's very, very repetitious. Basically you had to knock down every leader of a gang, then head straight to the head honcho, and repeat for the next two areas. There are no variant missions outside of the rooftop and road races that permeate the world, and the hidden/agility orb hunt, which is like GTA's hidden packages but amplified a pinch. But it's the same way from when you start, to when you finish. There's not even a chance to friend certain factions and do missions for them, a la Mercenaries.

The upgrade mechanic is a nice touch, even though you'll upgrade your agility faster than everything else, making driving something you only do to keep your stats consistent. I like how as I progressed, my character was slow, very inaccurate with weapons, and had to make a few roundhouse kicks before they could kill someone. By the end, my only problem was swarms of gangs and the gang member with larger HP than the others. Oh, and having to climb my ass all the way up through Wang's tower, only to die and have to re-climb the area three times. Thankfully that was only a Time Trial. But either way.

I know people will hound me for saying this, but this needed a more broader story than "There's gangs polluting the city, go kill them." It needed reason, explanation for my actions, further consequences outside of just sending me uberpowerful grunts if I killed enough of a certain faction.

I will say that doing crazy flips and acrobatic stunts were the greatest thing about Crackdown. Had those not been in there, the game would've been excessively dull and I never would've finished it. I'm done with the game, but I could always go back and try to do a few things like catch all 500 Agility Orbs (about 420 and counting), or finish all rooftop and road races I didn't go through the first time round. Or maybe get into some co-op action. I don't want to put the game down just yet. I feel that there's unfinished things to take care of.

Also, lower the damn "Gettin Busy content pack" price already. Two years later, it's still $10. You want me to pay about 80% of what I paid for the game for this content, of which half I can't use because you need to be in co-op to do it? No, Microsoft, I will not accept your offer.