Adventurous and had great potential.
This game had practically no hype until it was announced it would be bundled together with a beta test invitation for one of the biggest and most anticipated game in arguably the whole gaming world. Yet it stands as a good game none the less.
This game place's you as a scientifically enhanced cop in the middle of a run down city. It is your duty to eradicate each and every criminal walking the streets and make it safe for the civilians to wander in the daily life. But this is were the problem arises, your primary objective is to of course clean out the city of criminals. So how would you fit this into a story line? Well Realtime has based the story not on levels but you explore the city and eliminate the gang leaders making it easier and increase the possibility of eliminating the Islands Kingpin. There are 18 gang leaders to search out spread out over three decent sized Islands. Then 3 KingPin's running the Islands, which are securely hidden in the utmost confound of the Islands preliminary defenses. So finding them may not be as easy as first imagined. Which leads us to your Dossier; the Dossier is your communication between you and base. You will get a Dossier update whenever a gang leader is near or needs your attention. Showing you the general direction of those pesky gang leaders; this can be a life saver at times.
The graphics are what make's this game feel truly next generation. It’s set out in a cartoon style with a sprinkle of pixel shading. The graphics from the ground are fairly standard but when you get your abilities up and begin to climb to the top of tall building you will notice there's a nice scenery and atmosphere once the city has been restored to its peaceful state.
Crackdown has also been tampering with a little bit of the RPG side of things. With the abilities gauge which as you increase you grow levels which gets you stronger/faster or what this game is most famous for the extreme jumping skills. When your jumping ability is at max you can jump around 30ft at a time. This is more than the standard double story building!
It is one of the only game's I have had the pleasure of playing that has this sort of physics system and still become a success. After the hugely hyped "Hulk" game becoming a flop, most would have thought casually jumping 30ft in a video game also died at that moment.
Another major downside to this game is the driving capability. When you first begin the game you will barely be about to slide around a corner while going at a high speed but as you grow your driving ability it will slightly improve. But not up to the par I am used to, sorry Real-time you let me down here. But when you do eventually get to do some insane stunts after you have been launched of a cliff in your little van you can do a lot of cool stunts, like back flips and barrel rolls. Which nearly make’s up for the lack of driving potential. Because if you cant even get up the ramp, what’s the point of being able to do all these insane stunts?
I guess not many people would choose to drive when you could easily go faster and have a lot more fun jumping from rooftop to rooftop....
The abilities are split up into 4 main categories (agility/driving/explosives/shooting). You can increase these skills by doing simple tasks such as shooting opposed gang members or driving through stunt markers, mainly just meeting requirements for the corresponding skill. As your agility level increases you can do better in each category such as shoot more accurate or jump higher. But it may take some dedication to bring all these abilities to the max.....
This game will last you about 20-40 hours if you have online and a friend who plays it also. Because online Co-op is the high point to this game; its sandbox with a friend. You’re in the city at the same time, exploring or helping each other with missions. Or even creating some games if you are imaginative.
But if you are willing to spend the money for possibly a game that will be completed in a few days then be gather dust in your collections. But this game would last you longer with a friend. But those hours you spend playing it will be a happy and extremely enjoyable one. So you may want to just rent it if the single player is all your interested in. But the online for so much more.......
