Crackdown 2

I recently rented Crackdown 2 because I had heard good things about the first game. Never having played it before I went into the sequel not knowing everything to expect. Except a pure action sandbox style game.  After my time with Crackdown 2 I'm walking away so glad I only rented it. 
 
The game is pretty straight forward. You're a nameless Agent whose job it is to clean up the streets of mutant Freaks and the criminal organization simply called Cell. That's everything to the game. 
 
You have a total of three objectives: Capture Cell tactical locations, Activate beacons and guard detonators. Quite honestly I found it more then just a little boring and needlessly repetitive. Nothing changes from one objective to another. Sure Cell members get some better weapons which at best just make fights annoying rather then challenging, I freakin' hate the guys with grenade launchers! The Freaks also mutate some but offer no real challenge as just walking into a den with a UV shotgun is enough to deal with even the baddest Freak, and you get that weapon practically at the start of the game. 
 
All in all the game felt bland to me, almost like a previous gen title. The city is dull and lifeless and offers more frustration just getting around then any appealing nature. The story is non-existent, just shoot shoot shoot done. The gameplay is also incredibly sparse. Beyond the central repetitive objectives you can take part in races on rooftops and cars, the only rewards for completing these races is exp towards your skills. Which leads me to my biggest gripe of the game... 
 
I had made it through 2/3's of the game when I suddenly hit a wall of frustration. Without warning all the objectives were on rooftops that I couldn't reach because my Agility level was too low. Unlike Firearms, Strength, Explosives, Etc that you earn exp by using them, Agility requires the player to job from rooftop to rooftop collecting Agility orbs. So this meant I was forced to give up on the objectives, the only driving part of the game's progress, to search the city for enough orbs to raise my Agility level. Now to me that killed the game right then and there. I had already dealt with the frustration of scaling buildings now I was literally forced to endure that activity for god knows how long just so I could advance in the game. The game also has no qualms about flat out telling you objectives are out of your reach. This information spoken by the annoying Agency Director guy who never shuts up and was repeating his dialog after only twenty minutes or so from the start of the game. 
 
I should mention I played this game mostly single-player. Now you may say I missed out because it's meant for multiple player co-op. Perhaps you're right, but after my time with it on my own I can't imagine it being any more entertaining with my friends, the game is just bland on every note. 
 
Needless to say I never finished the game and really have no desire to do so. The whole product felt cheap and given how little it offered I honestly feel this might have been better as a simple add-on to the original game.