Scott
11-30-2007, 01:58 PM
Ramon Gonzales, a brutal and vile man with an unnatural love for the gun, needs to be taken out. Jump over a motorway in a single bound and leap up 30ft to the gantry of his lighthouse. Target the petrol tanks in the parked trucks in the yard (taking down a handful of agents in the explosion) and then, while cars rain down onto his henchmen, kick Ramon to the floor before shot gunning him repeatedly in the head.
It wont matter how many guards he throws at you, you'll be able to take them all on. You see in Crackdown you're practically unstoppable, psychotically clinical and lethally efficient - you're a one-man law machine with incredible power at your disposal. And sweet mercy does it feel good!
You don't quite start off that way, oh no. Leaving your agency Headquarters in the center of the city, you're a pretty bog-standard kind of guy. Yeah, you can run pretty fast and jump unusually high - but compared to what you're going to be your pathetic.
You need to train up agent!. Cruise the city and you'll find gangs running riot in the streets. You need to clean this place up, exterminate them with extreme prejudice!. Go on!. Run a few of them over!. Plug a few in the head using the games generous target lock-on. Or simply charge in fists 'n' feet a flying!.
Every street punk you kill, you'll notice, explodes into a pile of neon orbs that get sucked up by your body. These are skill orbs, little beauties that bulk up your agent in one of 5 ways, Agility, strength, explosives, firepower and driving.
The more orbs you get, the more powerful you are in each area. And the more powerful you are in each area the better Crackdown gets.
Take strength for example - find some gang members and take them out with melee attacks. The more you punch and kick your way through the city the stronger those punches and kicks get.
Before you know it, you'll be running down the wrong side of the motorway, punting oncoming trucks around like giant metal footballs.
Or how about agility? collect enough orbs dotted around the city (by jumping and climbing to find them) and it wont be long till you find yourself leaping from roof to roof like a leather clad Spiderman with a bad case of incredible Hulk-envy.
And that's the thing. Crackdown is like having your superhero-cake and eating it. Living out all those fantasies you had when you were little, letting you smash up cars and chuck people around like a steroid pumped lunatic.
Okay you might not be able to fly, but who needs to fly when you can jump 30ft into the air, scale buildings with ease, punch lorries off the road and swat enemies away as though they were flies?
Of course, it's not just about the power - it's what you do with it that counts, and Crackdown does have an objective and a story of sorts.
In each of the 3 districts in Pacific City there's a King pin that needs taking down. Trouble is, he's always insanely well defended - so well defended that you're going to have to do some work if you're ever going to get close to him.
To do so you're going to take on each king pins generals, 6 gang bosses who contribute to the king pins resources, defenses and manpower. As each general is taken out you're probability of taking down the king pin is increased.
Bump off their weapons suppliers, for example, and they won't be as well armed, or taking out a personal trainer means that his body guards will have less health.
You can if you're brave enough take on a king pin with his defenses at maximum - But I don't fancy you're chances.
It's a nice idea, and is certainly an interesting way of presenting a mission structure but unfortunately, it brings me to the major criticism I can think of for Crackdown.
As far as the main story is concerned, taking down each gang lord and king pin is it.
That's what you're there to do. 21 different targets that regardless of where they are, or the different ways you go about it, boil down to the same thing.
Storm their hideaway and kill them. Job done. It's hard not to wish that a little more imagination had gone into the main missions or story - particularly as cut scenes are so nicely done and the range of skills at your disposal would have allowed for so many different kinds of potential game play for each target.
But then, dwelling on this is kind of missing the point of Crackdown. It isn't really your average game, it's less about following a story, Or about concentrating on missions, but more about enjoying messing around.
Experimenting outside what the main 'mission' is asking you to do by using the tools available in the game's incredible environment.
In a word, Crackdown is one of the best 'toys' you'll ever play with. Kick over some cars, pile them up in a street corner, get a mate to bring some explosive barrels to the party (and maybe some remote controlled mines) before blasting the whole lot with a rocket launcher for the most ridiculous explosion you've ever seen.
Or how about a game of truck football of a motorway bridge? or juggling a pedestrian in the air with a rocket launcher? Or how about lining up a load of cars and stealing a truck with a ramp on the back to make up your own stupid stunts and mini-games - like my favourite, clay pigeon shooting, with stolen sports cars.
All this sort of stuff is up to you - and your fun is only limited by your imagination or ingenuity. Real time worlds have made a brilliantly detailed city, filled it with cars, weapons, people objects - all kinds of tools for you to mess around with, to make up your own fun with, long after the main game has finished. Just brilliant.
Overall:
Graphics:
Amazing Cityscape ace graphic-novel-style cell shading and technically solid.
9/10
Lifespan:
Main mission will be done in a few days - but you'll be playing for months.
Score:
The most explosive action game on the 360 yet. Suddenly GTA's got a lot to live up to.
It wont matter how many guards he throws at you, you'll be able to take them all on. You see in Crackdown you're practically unstoppable, psychotically clinical and lethally efficient - you're a one-man law machine with incredible power at your disposal. And sweet mercy does it feel good!
You don't quite start off that way, oh no. Leaving your agency Headquarters in the center of the city, you're a pretty bog-standard kind of guy. Yeah, you can run pretty fast and jump unusually high - but compared to what you're going to be your pathetic.
You need to train up agent!. Cruise the city and you'll find gangs running riot in the streets. You need to clean this place up, exterminate them with extreme prejudice!. Go on!. Run a few of them over!. Plug a few in the head using the games generous target lock-on. Or simply charge in fists 'n' feet a flying!.
Every street punk you kill, you'll notice, explodes into a pile of neon orbs that get sucked up by your body. These are skill orbs, little beauties that bulk up your agent in one of 5 ways, Agility, strength, explosives, firepower and driving.
The more orbs you get, the more powerful you are in each area. And the more powerful you are in each area the better Crackdown gets.
Take strength for example - find some gang members and take them out with melee attacks. The more you punch and kick your way through the city the stronger those punches and kicks get.
Before you know it, you'll be running down the wrong side of the motorway, punting oncoming trucks around like giant metal footballs.
Or how about agility? collect enough orbs dotted around the city (by jumping and climbing to find them) and it wont be long till you find yourself leaping from roof to roof like a leather clad Spiderman with a bad case of incredible Hulk-envy.
And that's the thing. Crackdown is like having your superhero-cake and eating it. Living out all those fantasies you had when you were little, letting you smash up cars and chuck people around like a steroid pumped lunatic.
Okay you might not be able to fly, but who needs to fly when you can jump 30ft into the air, scale buildings with ease, punch lorries off the road and swat enemies away as though they were flies?
Of course, it's not just about the power - it's what you do with it that counts, and Crackdown does have an objective and a story of sorts.
In each of the 3 districts in Pacific City there's a King pin that needs taking down. Trouble is, he's always insanely well defended - so well defended that you're going to have to do some work if you're ever going to get close to him.
To do so you're going to take on each king pins generals, 6 gang bosses who contribute to the king pins resources, defenses and manpower. As each general is taken out you're probability of taking down the king pin is increased.
Bump off their weapons suppliers, for example, and they won't be as well armed, or taking out a personal trainer means that his body guards will have less health.
You can if you're brave enough take on a king pin with his defenses at maximum - But I don't fancy you're chances.
It's a nice idea, and is certainly an interesting way of presenting a mission structure but unfortunately, it brings me to the major criticism I can think of for Crackdown.
As far as the main story is concerned, taking down each gang lord and king pin is it.
That's what you're there to do. 21 different targets that regardless of where they are, or the different ways you go about it, boil down to the same thing.
Storm their hideaway and kill them. Job done. It's hard not to wish that a little more imagination had gone into the main missions or story - particularly as cut scenes are so nicely done and the range of skills at your disposal would have allowed for so many different kinds of potential game play for each target.
But then, dwelling on this is kind of missing the point of Crackdown. It isn't really your average game, it's less about following a story, Or about concentrating on missions, but more about enjoying messing around.
Experimenting outside what the main 'mission' is asking you to do by using the tools available in the game's incredible environment.
In a word, Crackdown is one of the best 'toys' you'll ever play with. Kick over some cars, pile them up in a street corner, get a mate to bring some explosive barrels to the party (and maybe some remote controlled mines) before blasting the whole lot with a rocket launcher for the most ridiculous explosion you've ever seen.
Or how about a game of truck football of a motorway bridge? or juggling a pedestrian in the air with a rocket launcher? Or how about lining up a load of cars and stealing a truck with a ramp on the back to make up your own stupid stunts and mini-games - like my favourite, clay pigeon shooting, with stolen sports cars.
All this sort of stuff is up to you - and your fun is only limited by your imagination or ingenuity. Real time worlds have made a brilliantly detailed city, filled it with cars, weapons, people objects - all kinds of tools for you to mess around with, to make up your own fun with, long after the main game has finished. Just brilliant.
Overall:
Graphics:
Amazing Cityscape ace graphic-novel-style cell shading and technically solid.
9/10
Lifespan:
Main mission will be done in a few days - but you'll be playing for months.
Score:
The most explosive action game on the 360 yet. Suddenly GTA's got a lot to live up to.