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Crackdown (X360)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.xbox.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

As gamers, many of us have gone through periods where we lost sight of the reasons we first got into our hobby. Being a devotee to a specific form of media certainly has its merits, but it also comes with a number of downsides, not the least of which is that keeping up with the latest and greatest games can sometimes feel like a job. Games like World of Warcraft force you to endure a never-ending cycle of repetitive tasks that have a way of straying away from what most would consider a relaxing good time. Then along comes a title like Crackdown, which, while far from flawless in its execution, affirms the deeply held belief that we're supposed to be playing games to have fun.

Crackdown puts you in the role of a superhuman cop tasked with cleaning up Pacific City by any means necessary. Gangs have overrun nearly every corner of the small island metropolis, and the city's meager police force is ill equipped to take on the crime bosses in a direct confrontation. And neither are you, for that matter. While your abilities as a supercop are indeed quite super, you'll need to level up your core attributes through constant use before you can hope to make a move on each of the city's three kingpins. What's more, each kingpin has a veritable army at his disposal, and direct confrontation can and will lead to a bloody and bullet-ridden end for your renegade hero. That is, unless you take on the lieutenants first, crippling the support networks that keep them in power.

While Crackdown has drawn numerous comparisons to Grand Theft Auto due to its sandbox nature, it is here where you can see the big difference between the two. The Grand Theft Auto games are traditional linear third-person action games put in the sandbox setting, Crackdown is a sandbox. Once you understand the task set out before you, the game leaves you well enough alone. Outside of periodic intelligence updates on the various lieutenants (including a nifty probability of success calculation), the game leaves things up to you. The sandbox element isn't separated from the narrative itself. You're genuinely encouraged to do things as you please. If you want to go for the kingpins and end the story straight out of the gate, the game leaves it open for you to try. For some, this sort of freedom might be a little too much, but for most, the ability to take complete control of your superhero is really a dream come true.

What elevates the game out of the realm of a short diversion or curiosity into "must see" status is the online cooperative mode. Most games of this sort sport some sort of tacked-on or handicapped multiplayer as an afterthought, if they bother to include a multiplayer component at all. Crackdown stands in contrast by allowing two players to cooperatively attack the full single player together over Xbox Live with no compromises in the performance of the game. The game is eminently playable and deeply enjoyable as it exists with one player, but with the addition of a cooperative mode, its true purpose becomes much more clear. What was once a fun diversion becomes a giddy, cel-shaded playhouse for grown men. Whether you're taking down the kingpins, harassing innocent civilians, or simply trying to see how big an explosion you can make, everything is more fun when you play with a buddy.

Though eclipsed by the sheer fun made possible by the gameplay mechanics themselves, the game is also a noticeable leap forward in the graphical department. Pacific City itself is utterly seamless, and you can travel from area to area without even a hint of a load-screen. Standing on top of one of the game's many skyscrapers, you can see from one end of the island to another. There's nothing to impede you or take you away from stopping criminals and causing mayhem. The Crackdown engine can also handle an impressive number of vehicles on screen at the same time, and to a certain extent will leave the wreckage of your destruction in place. Saints Row was a bit disappointing in this respect, as destroyed vehicles and haphazardly parked cars would often disappear as soon as you turned around. And while, having pushed Crackdown to the limit in this respect, I can't say that this effect is entirely absent, it's at least toned down considerably to the point of being almost unnoticeable.

The art direction is somewhere between the pseudo-realism seen in GTA, and a more cel-shaded effect reminiscent of a comic book. It's hard to pin down with a glance, but it's simple, eye pleasing, and effective. It was a wise design decision certainly, because the textures in the game are extremely plain and simple, but the game gets away with it because that's more or less what you'd expect a comic world to look like. It's what allows the engine to populate the game with as many objects as it does. There are a ton of agent models to choose from, including four downloadable skins that cater to basically any taste/nationality you can conceive of. As your agent gets stronger and his abilities enhanced, the agent will start to look the part. The Asian agent grows gray hair and starts to assume the appearance of a badass kung-fu master where the black agent begins to resemble a tattooed and rather perturbed Mr. T. It's all very over the top, but deeply satisfying.

The game's presentation is sparse, but passable. The voice acting is repetitive, but well done. The announcer will encourage you or scold you depending on closely you're toeing the agency line, and the kingpins and lieutenants find creative ways to insult you as you struggle to get close to them through their hordes of minions. As said earlier, the narrative is pretty sparse, but what there is of it ties nicely together, particularly at the game's conclusion. The game is short, especially given how quickly it can be beaten with come concerted effort, but it's thoroughly enjoyable while it lasts and most certainly worth repeating, especially in co-op mode.

Microsoft went through the trouble of ensuring that everybody who purchases Crackdown will get a place in the Halo 3 beta. While certainly a nice addition, and very welcome for those of us who weren't fortunate enough to get in through the first two rounds of selection, the beta is really an unnecessary ploy to get people to purchase the game. Crackdown is a game worth owning for its own sake, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's the sort of game you'll go back to again and again, even months from now, because the core gameplay is simply too much fun to pass up.

Feb 27, 2007 | 7 comments
Chris Chester