The highly anticipated Crackdown for the Xbox 360 was released last Tuesday, and I’ve had a chance to play through it. Does it live up to the hype? Or is it just another fancy GTA clone? Read on to find out!

Plot:

The plot is almost nonexistent. You play as a genetically enhanced super cop working for the one crime fighting organization left in the world – The Agency. Your job is to take back the streets of the capital from the gangs that now overrun the city. There are three gangs – Los Muertos, the Volk, and the Shai Gen. These gangs are populated with Latino, European, and Asian stereotypes, and the bosses are forgettable. In short, if you’re looking for a rich and involved plot, you won’t find it here.

Presentation:

The graphics are good. Not great, but good. The game has an excellent sense of style. Crackdown was very clearly influenced by comic books, and anime. The colors are vibrant, and the characters look like they just stepped out of a comic book. There isn’t an extremely high amount of detail in the textures, but it works for the graphical style in the game.

The audio is excellent. The soundtrack is loaded with tracks that you would expect to hear on the radio in the near future, and is highly enjoyable despite the fact that I had never heard of most of the artists. The sound effects make the game. With a 5.1 surround sound system, you will hear conversations off in the distance, bullets zip by your ear, and in co-op mode, you will hear explosions that your partner in crime (fighting) is causing on a different island. Explosions are deep, and loud. If you have a subwoofer you will feel the explosions, and most likely annoy your neighbors.

Gameplay:

Crackdown’s greatest achievements and biggest shortcomings both come from the gameplay. First, the good: Crackdown is a blast to play. You go through the city killing gang members, and raising your stats. As you progress through the game, your abilities just get more and more over the top. Depending on how you kill an enemy, you will up a stat. For example, if you kill a large number of gang members with explosives, your explosives will become more powerful. You will see your grenades go from a small controlled blast to just short of a mushroom cloud. As you up your strength you will be able to pick up and throw larger and larger items such as cars and eventually large trucks. You can upgrade your agility by grabbing agility orbs scattered throughout the city. As you get agility orbs, you will be able to jump higher and run faster. You will find yourself jumping to the top of large buildings in fewer and fewer leaps, which is great, because the game is played as vertically as it is horizontally. Personally, I wasn’t playing Crackdown to see what happens next, I was playing to see what I could do next. Crackdown puts a new spin on the open sandbox style of gameplay.

Now for the bad: the game is plagued with many of the same problems that disrupt almost every open sandbox game. The camera can be your enemy. You will often find yourself missing a jump because you can’t see your landing spot. The controls are sometimes unresponsive. I often have to hit the x button several times before my weapon is actually changed, and, occasionally, the trigger seems to get stuck and the gun just keeps firing. The bugs don’t stop there. One time in particular, part of an area didn’t load properly, and I found myself trapped in an invisible building. It was near the oil rig in the Volk’s territory, and the glitch made it look like I had pulled a Jesus and was walking on water. There’s a rule of game design (and I’m sure you’ll see me mention it frequently) that you shouldn’t ever feel like failing in the game is the games fault. There have been plenty of instances while playing Crackdown where I felt that the game was responsible for my death, not me.

Let me make it clear that while the game does have shortcomings, they didn’t prevent me from enjoying the hell out of it. The over the top style of gameplay combined with the open ended manner in which you can approach missions keeps the game fun and fresh. You always have the option of attacking a boss head on, or sneaking into their base for a precision kill where you deal with very few of their personal bodyguards, and go straight after them.

Score: 4 out of 5

Despite it’s lackluster plot, and sometimes buggy gameplay, Crackdown is still one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in a long time. Leveling up your agent is an exciting experience. Every time you level up you can do even more over the top things and kill your enemies in fun new ways. If you’re a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, I highly recommend you give this game a try. You won’t be disappointed.

-MIKE KURZ

Tags: Xbox 360

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