Review of Crackdown
Crackdown
By: Microsoft Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 142
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Worst game ever made?
On: 2010-08-09This has got to be the worst game I have ever played. I played the first Crackdown which was entertaining.
Being able to jump over buildings was great fun. There were the obvious limitations: its a bit too arcade-ish;
theres no real progression; you can explore the Crackdown world but theres zero story.
Crackdown 2 however is awful, just awful. The opponent AI is pretty miserable. Killing them becomes repetitive.
Worst of all, the aiming system is so bad that its difficult to aim at the right person. Often, I would be trying to
aim at an opponent only to have the aiming system focus on a nearby car. Theres no way to cycle through targets.
This is just an awful game. Also, the orb collecting gets old after awhile and it takes too long to level up.
I am glad I rented this game. This really is the worst game I have ever played.
Crackdown scores high in that hard to define fun factor category
On: 2010-07-29Crackdown came to prominence due to Microsofts decision to package the Halo 3 multiplayer trial with the game. To everyones surprise the actual Crackdown game turned out to be a very fun (if somewhat flawed) open world action game.
In Crackdown one plays a genetically enhanced super solider called The Agent for an organization called The Agency run by a disembodied voice known as The Director. Through both your actions and the collection of orbs you increase your powers to the point that you are a true bad ass jumping around the city (surprisingly not called The City, naming things not being Realtime Worlds strong suit).
The games city consisting of three islands each controlled by a different gang with your headquarters on a forth smaller island in the middle. The gangs are Los Muertos (Your standard South American Drug Cartel), The Volk (Your standard Russian Mafia), and The Shai-Gen Corporation ( which represents Sony).
The graphics are a colorful cell-shaded affair that fits surprisingly well with the chaos and the ever more outrageous powers you will achieve. The sound (with one notable exception detailed below) is also quite good with the hum of the agility orbs almost being hypnotic (and yes you will see agility orbs in your daily life and hear the hum in your sleep.)
There are a couple of bits of genius in Crackdown. The first and most obvious is the combining of item collection and powers. The powers are more than mere stat boosts as there are both visible (You crackle with electricity when you level up a core power ) and quite fun (You can roundhouse kick a mack truck and leap from skyscraper to skyscraper).
The other brilliant move is the structure. In the game you are tasked with taking out the three gangs as you see fit. Each gang consists of a boss and various sub-bosses that specialize in various tasks for their boss (Such as training bodyguards or providing weapons). By taking out the sub-bosses you weaken a certain part of the bosses defenses therefore making him an easier target. Its a brilliant structure that gives a real sense of accomplishment in a open world environment.
The game also doesnt skimp on weapons with the harpoon gun and the five shot at a time homing grenade launcher being particular favorites.
It is a good thing that Crackdown is such well structured and fun game, because the game certainly has a bunch of flaws that easily would be game-breakers in almost any other adventure.
For starters there is combat. There is a reason my Agent maxed out his punch people in the face ability first. Now hand to hand combat has its own set of issues. (Mainly facing the wrong way and missing enemies outright while jamming the B button.) Compared however to the auto-aim on guns, hand to hand combat is of a Street Fighter II Turbo caliber.
Auto-aim has two favorite targets: civilian vehicles and dead guys. Crackdown loves shooting dead guys, perhaps as a forerunner to the zombies in Crackdown 2 one might muse. Getting your targeting off the dead guy and onto the guy with a rocket launcher is surprisingly challenging. In addition Crackdown allows you to target specific parts of a person or vehicle. The game in theory allows one to blow up a car with a well aimed shot to the gas tank. Getting the cursor to the gas tank part of the car however seems to be a case of random hit or miss. Often the game simply wont let you target that part of the vehicle even if you a clearly facing it.
Fortunately the above mentioned homing grenade launcher renders many of these problems somewhat mute towards the end of the game. Though they still seem to pop up every once in a while.
Part of the games challenge is making seemingly impossible jumps to grab onto a distant ledge. Unfortunately sometimes a ledge looks like a ledge, quacks like a ledge and yet your agent proceeds to plummet eighty stories to his demise. While the parkour in Crackdown is fun, and one of the games selling points, it isnt what I would call fine tuned.
Speaking of both out of tune and poorly tuned we have the vehicles. Driving is one of your abilities in Crackdown and in theory when one reaches the highest level ones car becomes a super powered monster. I say in theory because there is actually no need to power this up to defeat the game. In fact once your all important agility power has a few stars under its belt, cars are simply superfluous since you can now jump from rooftop to rooftop.
And thank God for that. For such a relatively small map Crackdowns streets are a confusing labyrinth. To add to the mess the in-game map has no custom waypoints. Strangely, The Agency claims they want you to capture enemy vehicles and bring them back to headquarters. However the entrance to headquarters is unmarked on your map, almost impossible to find and is disguised on top of that like the Bat-Cave entrance from the caped crusaders sixties TV show.
In addition the way you increase your driving skill is by winning races (easier said than done and hardly a fun pastime in this particular game) or running over gang members. Gang members however seem to metamorphosis into Cirque du Soleil performers the minute one points a car in their general direction.
The final nail in the driving coffin is the in game radio. One of the joys of open world games is simply cruising around the city listening to the radio. I would purchase a downloadable version of GTA Vice City right now (Hint hint Rockstar) just to cruise the streets of faux Miami in a red convertible listening to the tunes.
Per Wikipedia: Music supervisor Peter Davenport was in charge of selecting the music for the game, over 100 tracks of electronica and sample-based music by a number of independent and video game musicians, a task that took three years to complete. Per Videogame Musings: it is the worst collection of "music" I simply have ever heard. Each song is worse than the last and if I would have to guess Peter Davenports IPod is currently the torture device of choice at various CIA black prisons around the world.
Thankfully, despite the control problems, some features either missing or broken, and a soundtrack from the depths of hell, Crackdown scores high in that hard to define fun factor category and when it comes to games that is always the deciding factor.
It's all been said..
On: 2010-07-24At this point, the game has been reviewed. But I wanted to be sure and personally add, this is a fantastic game. If you enjoy character building, platforming, and super powers, youll have a lot of fun playing Crackdown. I would consider it a staple of the Xbox 360.
Worth Every Penny!
On: 2010-07-07One day when I was on Xbox Live I decided to download a bunch of demos. I had never heard of Crackdown before, so I decided to try out the demo. After twenty or so minutes of playing it I couldnt stop playing. I played the demo 2 or 3 more times because it was so fun, but now onto the review.
The game takes a different direction then most games out there nowadays. It goes light on the story and heavy on the action! The ability to level up your character from jumping ten feet to having him jump over building tops is just amazing! You feel a sense of accomplishment in your character, which is great! There are 5 different abilities to level up in for ultimate devastation! I personally loved the arcade-y feel of the game, it was a refreshing change of pace after logging many hours in Halo and Call of Duty. One more great feature in this game is the ability to go co-op online with a friend or anyone online who is open.
A few cons are:
- The character selection is poor (Nobody I related to)
- The aiming system is pretty rough (Outdated and sometimes frustrating)
- The game is short (When the game is over thats it, there is literally nothing else to do)
I bought this game for 10 dollars, which also swayed my review a bit. Paying 60 for this game would have been too much, but 10 was the perfect price for this value game! Grab a friend and buy the game for co-op. That is definitely the best way to play! Enjoy a great game for an excellent price!
Fun but really stupid.
On: 2010-06-02This is a very brainless fun game. Good for killing some time when you want to destroy some stuff. Not great by any means... but fun.
Be the ultimate cop/merc!
On: 2010-05-06This game grabbed me right from the beginning and lasted until the end! You play a supercop that has to take out the evil scum druglords and such. While quite violent, its all for a good cause, so take it with a grain of salt. Some people say that its very repetitive but for me you can never get too much of a good thing! It shares a super jump with games like Prototype, but the comparisons end there. I think this is a truly underrated and unknown game to most. A shame since it is very fun.
Great Game
On: 2010-05-01A sandbox style game. Much more fun than GTA4 without all the pointless missions. Increase you abilities and throw cars and leap from building to building. 2 player co op is amazing also. A must buy, especially for the price.
Pleasant Surprise
On: 2010-04-15As a lot of people stated, a good amount of this games sales were due to the inclusion of the Halo 3 beta invite. However, it was a pleasant surprise to learn its actually a fantastic game in its own right. Its absolutely ridiculous and completely over the top, and its incredibly fun because of it. You can scale hundred story buildings, drive cars off cliffs, throw people hundreds of feet, and cause huge explosions. Its the best super hero game Ive ever played, even though its not marketed as one.
It has one of the better part-specific targeting systems Ive used, though it can have issues every once in a while in terms of targeting someone you just killed. Searching for orbs around the city becomes not so much a habit as it does an addiction. The game tailors itself to your play style in a way, in that you get experience points (orbs) that level you up based on the kind of damage you deal. So if youre mostly into explosives, your explosives skill level is whats going to increase. Or if youre into driving and taking out enemies with your car, your driving skill is going to increase. Same goes for traditional firearms and melee combat. The official agency cars also level up along with your driving skill, so they get more powerful and more fun to drive as the game progresses.
All in all, this game sets out to do one thing well: be fun. Its got it in spades.
Crackdown
On: 2010-03-11This is one of the most fun games I have ever played. Ive already beaten it and have started over.
this can be very fun!
On: 2010-02-08I dont know why anyone would be reading these reviews.. the game is soo cheep... just buy it.
This game can be very fun! There are few games like this but Im sure there will be a lot of games like it in the future since this game gets very good feedback from people who play it looking for a good, fun time. I really enjoyed this game.
Its a great game and should be in any video game collection.
Fun! You can save at any time! No need to worry about dying because you just re-spawn and dont really lose anything!
The only cons:
1) The characters you can choose from are not that great but since you dont ever see your characters up close its fine. More characters or customization of them would of been nice.
2) The game is very short, you can beat it very quickly.
3) It can get a bit repetitive since every objective is the same, killing the bad guys and their boss every time with no surprises unfortunately.
Crackdown: No Subtance & No Fun
On: 2009-12-17The graphics are a coin toss, mainly because it has a cartoon-like appeal that youd find in games like Borderlands.
The gameplay is simple, you have two guns and a supply of grenades and you can switch them anytime if you choose. There are a lot of different weapons but they are all pretty much the same. There was really nothing to distinguish say one assault rifle from the next, other than clip size.
You can only commandeer cars since there are no motorcycles, planes, tanks, bicycles, or even boats.
There is no storyline, characters developement, plot twists, nothing. Its simply you are a supercop that goes around climbing buildings, jumping off rooftops, and killing gangsters & thugs. I found this VERY repetitive and VERY boring after the first few gangsters were toast.
There are 3 gangs and you roam around the city taking out the leaders and bosses one at a time. Fun at first, but like I said, after ten or so you get tired of it.
The leveling is pretty absurd, almost as bad as Dead Rising. You increase your stats like your health bar and your ability to jump by collecting orbs all around the city. Another way to increase your attributes is by completing certain side tasks. For an examply, if you want your vehicle control to improve, you have to enter and finish races all around the city. Stupid, pointless, and time-consuming.
All in all, if you dont mind repetitive games like Viking: The Battle for Asgard & Assassins Creed, that are actually high-quality games just the same crap over and over, then go for this game and enjoy, if not, youll end up jumping off a balcony - just like that supercop you play.
Crackdown is crack money
On: 2009-11-27Its like they took GTA and made the protagonist a Super cop. Id recommend it to anybody. And have
Something New, Different, and Fun
On: 2009-11-21I was really surprised by Crackdown. It was a new experience and really fun. It is an open world, but driving is nowhere near as fun or responsive as GTA games. The main activity here is jumping and leaping around, trying to climb higher and higher to get to collectables. It is fun trying to figure out how to get onto a building. Your abilities upgrade over time, so you gain more ability to get to places you couldnt before.
I really thought this was great. Since it was so new, surprised me, and I had a lot of fun playing it, I give it 5 stars. Well see if a sequel is as exciting.
Great game
On: 2009-10-27Well i have had this game for a few years now. I got it when they were offering the beta for halo 3. At the time i loved the game it was a good idea very in depth had some fun weapons and the vehicles were simply amazing. I played this game countless times and logged many hours of play making sure to build up the perfect character. Once i beat all the bosses though the game got stale because at the time there was no patch to make them respawn so there was really nothing to do but shoot random people. Recently i plugged it in for a quick refresh on the game and saw that they had a patch to allow respawn of bosses. Well the fun is back again. This added a lot more gameplay to the game. I am in teh process of replaying the game. I would recommend this game to buy for anything 20 or less. Remember it is a crime fighting game but it does have some rpg elements. You collect orbs to level up your skills which you get for killing characters a certain way or from exploring and finding xp drops. You shoot a guy you get xp in gun skills. Hand to hand with someone you get better combat skills etc. And yes you can pick up cars and chuck em across the map =)
Fun, but not platinum
On: 2009-09-17I did not receive the Platinum Hits version of the game, which includes DLC released after, but for $7, I honestly didnt care too much. Its a fun game and well worth the price either way. The game was in great condition and there were no problems with it.
Great idea. Bad implementation.
On: 2009-07-31PROS:
- Graphics are impressive and unique to fit the game perfectly
- Leveling up your character and watching his abilities increase was the best thing going for this game.
- Very chaotic fun. Tons of destruction
CONS:
- Gets old fairly quickly
- No character development whatsoever and the story is BARE MINIMUM
- *(THE WORST) Too much enemy respawning made it difficult to feel like I was making progress. (I literally killed enemies constantly coming out of a door for about 5 minutes before they finally stopped. It can take an hour or more to completely clear a dense area of enemies if youre the thorough type. THEY DONT STOP COMING!)
- Nothing much to do other than kill all the crime bosses
- Theres a guy. I wish you could kill him. I guess hes from the Agency you work for, and he gives you advice. And he never, EVER
shuts up. I hope you like tutorials.
BOTTOM LINE:
Crackdowns core gameplay is almost the equivalent of playing an entire game of GTA on a 4-5 star wanted level. Its fun at first but it gets old after a while.
Good fun
On: 2009-07-30Turn your brain off and have some fun. I love this game, its so addicting I dont even notice its flaws with the story, the driving mechanics, and the map. To pretty much sum up what it is, imagine GTA, but youre a cop, a super cop that can run 30 mph, jump 30 feet and lift semi trucks over your head. The ability to run from rooftop to rooftop while never touching the ground is lots of fun.
Fun but frustrating
On: 2009-07-25Fun, but sometimes frustrating. Leaping through the city and tossing large objects at the badguys is great fun, but be prepared to die repeatedly on certain missions, especially when you start a new area of the city. This game has an inverted difficulty curve: each area starts out extremely difficult, but gets easier as you wear down the enemy gangs and power up your own arsenal and abilities.
Decent Game
On: 2009-07-14This is a decent game. Overall, a mile better than any Grand Theft Auto game, but still has room for improvement.
It is fun, and thats what counts.
Loads of fun
On: 2009-06-28I bought this game quite a long time ago. Sold it, now i miss it and really want the memories and experiences to come back to life so Im buying it again. I played this game for hours and hours nonstop, once you complete the story mode it doesnt end there, you can free roam the entire city or create chaos in the sweet "God Mode". You can even get another friend on xbox live and .All in all this was in the top 5 of all time games i have ever played its not just addicting... its Fun!! BUY IT
Cheesy game all around.
On: 2009-06-17This game is just all around cheesy from the story line to the game play, the objectives are not clear, and there are just mobs of enemies every where but you just dont really get any sense of satisfaction from completing missions they just dont feel like they have any deep meaning. I could not believe that they are actually making a second one after this one has bombed so much.
Great until they start begging you for money
On: 2009-05-05This game is really fun, its a good time waster and is worth the money you paid for it...until it gets patched. Once the game is patched, they insert all sorts of extra things in to the game that you cant actually play, they only take you to a screen where you can BUY the gameplay. Its annoying, it breaks up the regular game, and theres no way Ive found to turn it off. I played the game for about 6 hours in 2 days, then on the third day I got the patch, played for 15 minutes, and havent gone back.
Right on time
On: 2009-05-02I have no complaints. Item was delivered just as expected, packaged safely, and undamaged. No complaints.
Crackdown Review
On: 2009-04-28Good game overall. Never actually bought it because of the hype over Halo 3 at the time, but know Ive gone back and played it and its a good game. Worth the few bucks I paid for it.
Really fun for an old game.
On: 2009-04-22I just (2009) got Crackdown and Saints Row, having already enjoyed all the current open-world/sandbox shooters. Though these two are about the same age, Crackdown has held up MUCH better and is MUCH more enjoyable.
Ive read reviews saying Crackdown is too easy and others saying it is too hard. In terms of completing missions/quests, it does seem harder than BioShock (my all-time favorite shooter), Fallout 3 (my 2nd all-time favorite), and Mass Effect, but easier than Grand Theft Auto IV (with which it has virtually nothing in common). It is nowhere near as hard as non-sandbox shooters such as Halo 3 or even Eat Lead. Climbing buildings and jumping between them to get the "agility orbs" is a lot of fun and nowhere near as difficult as in the latest Prince of Persia.
I gave this 5 stars for fun and 3 stars overall because although it is plenty of fun to play, it does not compare to the previously mentioned more recent games when it comes to graphics (good but not great), variety, nor richness of environment and gameplay, but if you have already played the other games to death, Crackdown is a fun, cheap game to play while waiting for Bioshock 2 or Fallout 4 or GTA5 or whatever the next big sandbox game turns out to be.
Just plain fun...
On: 2009-03-21Crackdown is a fun game that in my opinion feels a lot like a super-powered GTA, with missions to complete, vehicles to drive, and civilians to "protect".
Not a great game, but above the average.
On: 2009-01-23Crackdown is a funny game to review. It is quite fun for a few hours as you learn to play and develop your agent, but quickly becomes repetitive and then it abruptly ends.
You begin the game with the agent a rather wimpy version of his future self. As you shoot, jump, lift, drive and explode things around all of this will improve. This stage is really fun, you go cracking down on the first gang, killing henchmen until working your way to the head guy. It is really fun to fight throwing a trashbin around and then see the agent becoming stronger and able to fight throwing cars or trucks around. As most have already mentioned the jumping interface is quite fun and give a real sense of freedom and superhero look.
The graphics are above the old generation consoles but way below what the new generation is capable of. That said it has a charming cartoony look that fits with the game mood of a super police agency battling crime.
The problem is that the game is basically the killing of the three gangs, by the middle of your war with the second one you will already have you agent at his maximum stats and killing henchmen will start to look all the same. By the time you reach the third gang it is a chore. Besides, after you wipe out the crimelords in the city there is nothing really fun to do other than start all over again; the game doesnt pack that many hour of gameplay as a result.
Why the relatively high score? The early game is really fun, the mixture of driving, shooting and kicking badguys around is hard to forget; and allows one to forgive the boring second-half and endgame.
fun time killer.
On: 2009-01-17I dont know why but i had a blast playing this game.It does nothing entirely new but it is fun running around jumping leveling up your hero and getting rid of the gangs.It does have some flaws like the map could be better and it gets repetitive after awhile but worth the price now it is under [...] bucks.
This wouldn't be a bad game ten years ago
On: 2008-12-27Okay. This was just a nightmare of a gaming experience. Just, unbeliavably terrible. Just downright horrible. To be completely honest, this wouldnt be a bad game for ten years ago. Or maybe for 2001 or 2002, as a late N64 or PS1 title. But considering this game is pretty recent,its downright inexcusable. So why is this game so bad. Well, to sum it up, its EXTREMELY hard, to the point of frustrating. Not to mention randomly spawning enemies. Thats right. Randomly Spawning Enemies, like the kind youd find in a Nintendo Mega Man game where as soon as you take your camera view off the screen, more enemies show up. And what reward do you get for killing off all the enemies in the vincinity? Why, even MORE enemies! "A hit squad has been dispatched to take you out." Add this on top of a game that has really no direction, no storyline, or even point to it, and theres not even any reason to play it. It aint fun, by any definition of the word.
Basically, youre a genetically made SuperSoldier who is created by "The Agency," all of the nations law enforcement combined into one agency, and youre told by some annoying old disembodied Commander voice -who also serves as the games narrator and the only actual "character" in the entire game- to wipe out three criminal empires. And off you go shooting, to kill literally hundreds of thousands of enemies by the time you finish the game, if you can even bare it that long. ALL you do in this game is basically kill bad guys and jump from rooftops, and while the latter may sound fun in a Spider-Man sort of way, it really isnt. At least Spider-Man has webbing to control where he wants to go. You know, flying would be a whole lot simplier. And easier. Oh yeah. The game also has some very poorly conceived races. Either a rooftop race, which are usually extremely hard to beat in time, or some insanely stupid driving race, which if trying to drive isnt hard enough for you, trying to complete a Time Trials race in the wrong lane will surely push you over the edge.
When you start, all of your skills - Agility for leaping, Driving for absolutely nothing, Explosives for bombing, Strength mostly just for health, and Firearms for shooting- are all poor and barely usable. And after youve leveled up all of them as you go along in the game, well... theyre still extremely poor. The only thing that increases is the leaping ability, in which you can go from 10 to 30 feet in leaping height. The sprinting speed sure dont increase like they say it does, thats for sure.
Driving, is more or less, utterly pointless in this game. 95% of the time, youll never be in a car! Which is good for two reasons because, for one, Driving controls are really really retarded. Both in setup and manuevering. Thats how bad it is. Bad in the "its almost impossible to not run into civilians" sort of way, even when your driving skill is near maxed out. Why they would even bother with a Driving skill, when the only time youll ever even drive is to either do the stupid races, or mainly, to travel really far distances on the islands, is beyond me. But the other reason you wont be in a car much, is not to hear the insansely bad soundtrack for the game. According to the in-game "Jukebox," there are over 100 songs in this game, and all of them are really bad, third party techno tracks. Like the soundtrack came out of the skeeziest clubs in Europe. The game IS partially European, at least, which is why things are referred to in the game as a "centre" or a "lift." Its odd considering that the game takes place in the near-future West Coast America and that other things like measurements (pounds, height in feet and inches, miles per hour) are North American standard, and not Metric. Anyway, the soundtrack is really European, really Techno, and really, really bad. Maybe they figured Techno music is "futuristic?" It doesnt matter anyway, because they couldve saved some money by not getting all of these crap songs (which you cant cut off, by the way) for the car that youll rarely be using, anyway. At least its nice that the car tells you how many miles per hour youre driving, though, as you accidently plow into an idiot civilian.
Strength is another almost utterly useless attribute. Its only effectiveness is raising your health. But to level it up, youll have to beat down on enemies using melee attacks, which is even more rarely used than a vehicle. 99.9% of the game is shooting, and you can only really raise your strength (health) by whacking an enemy with a gun, or kicking them, which does very little damage to them, anyway. You see, some of your skills are raised per usage. Meaning, the more you shoot, the more you blow stuff up, and the more you win races, the higher your stats will go, with 400 points being the maximum effectiveness level (even though the bar will continue to go up to 500.) But youll almost never kick or hit an enemy, so raising this stat is pretty annoying.
The other way you raise stats is by collecting a bunch of stupid orbs. Literally hundreds of orbs, scattered across literally every rooftop in the game, is how you increase your Agility. You dont have to collect all 500 of them to max out your Agility though, because of the rooftop races (although you really wont win those much) and the blue, "Hidden orbs" which increase a little of every stat. In fact, those were the only way I was able to get Driving and Strength skills up. The driving is bad, no matter what, though, and the Strength, although lets you lift and carry objects weighing tons, is only useful for health. I had about 300/500 Agility orbs and 100/300 Hidden orbs, by the time I finished the game, and only Driving was lower than Level 2 (300 to 399 points).
The shooting in this game, though, is severely flawed. And not because of the weak Firearms skills and weak firearms in the game. But by the Auto-Aim targeting being severely broken. I swear, this auto-aiming NEVER EVER EVER works the way you want it to. It sems to target only the most furthest enemies, or moving non-enemies first, and ONLY focuses on the guy right in your face when theres absolutely nothing left to kill. While the game does give you manual shooting as well, its pretty hard to kill anything thats not close up to you with it. But the broken aiming and an invisible enemy grenade that youll never even see until youre already dead are the two biggest things thatll kill you the most with this game. And unless you really get into this crapfest of a game, you will die hundreds upon hundreds of times. I only had it on normal difficulity, and I died like 30 times within any given hour.
All the guns are pretty weak, and when I found it, about late into the first gang and location, I wound up using the Harrington HMG 90 rifle throughout the remainder of the game. You only get two weapons to hold at a time throughout the entire game, by the way. The problem with all of the serious firearms is that theyre power is compensated by an extremely low clip or insanely slow reload times, with the Harrington being the slowest. I counted the reload time of this thing. Six seconds. Now picture that. In the heat of warfare, having to spend SIX whole seconds just to reload the low clip on this stupid gun! Count to six and thats how much time youre waiting inbetween fire. In six seconds, you could lose all your armor and health and straight die while waiting for this thing to reload. And yes, being you only have two guns and some grenades throughout this whole game, I tried the Call of Duty style "switch to your other gun as you run out of ammo instead of reloading" tactic, only for that to not work as the stupid generic character youre using automatically reloads the gun when you run low or run out, so in order for the Call of Duty trick to work, Id have to watch and make sure I dont go below ten bullets left and THEN, switch to the other gun in order for it to work, as the characters auto-reloading is completely and totally un-interruptable. SO annoying! WHY should a player have to endure crap like this? Throughout the whole game, I either used the Harrington despite its insanely slow reload and some kind of rocket or grenade launcher, as anything else would be ineffective, have too small of a clip, hold too little of maximum ammo, or simply be just too weak. Sounds fun, doesnt it?
The "characters" in this game arent even characters. Theres you, the generic, namelss "agent." (Maybe "Agent" is your actual name. I dont know.) Theres the disembodied commander narrator/boss guy, wholl remark such sayings as, "Go like the wind, agent!" and "Simply pathetic." when you die. Having the game insult you every time you die, and dying because of some stupid glitch or flaw, is enough to make you want to break the game disc into tiny, little pieces. The "bad guys" are perhaps the most generic looking criminal bosses ever. Its like they looked in an LA phone book to get names for the Spanish lieutenants. There are three "gangs" that rule the city, but theyre more like criminal empires because street gangs dont have that many soldiers and they dont actually run entire sectors of a city and its inhabitants. They are "Los Muertos" or "The Dead" (pretty clever, eh?), The Volk, and Shai Gen. Or... "Generic Spanish gang," "Generic Russian gang," and "Generic Chinese Corporation gang."
The key members of the gang, like I said, are about as generic-looking as generic can get and when you actually find out where theyre located and kill the hundreds of bad guys guarding them before you realize that they keep randomally spawning and that you should ignore them and just run towards the main gang lieutenant and kill them, youll be rewarded with nothing, in the guise of a slightly higher ratio for success. You see, the game developers thought that itd be clever to make fighting the main gang leader virtually impossible and that you would have more "fun" by taking out key lieutenants, who each enhance the criminal empire, be it by firearms, number of soldiers available, vehicles, etc., so that it becomes slightly easier to take out the main gang leader. But even WHEN you kill everyone else and save him for last, its STILL virtually impossible, between the miles long approach to their headquarters, the endless spawning soldiers, and the enemys eight life bars. Like most strongholds in the game, youre best to just run past everyone, trying to survive, and just go all out on the major gang leader before all the minions kill you. Screw "weaking their health" or "minimizing their recruits" with killing the lieutenants, because they wont do much help for you, regardless. But then, I guess, the game would be too short. In this case though, thatd be a good thing.
I should also bring up that the map is even messed up. Yes, thats right! Even the MAP is a pain in the donkey. Not only is the map horribly out-of-scale with everything else, and not only does the map not provide you with any GPS or waypoint marking, but you CANT EVEN ZOOM IT IN! The map on the menu screen is just a tiny little map on the menu screen. You cant zoom it in to see closer, or anything. And the arrow representing you on the map takes up an entire city block in reality, meaning things that you may think are close by may be two blocks away from you! How often is it that you can say that the map in a video game is one of its many, many flaws? Okay, so you cant zoom in, use a GPS, or even accurately know where youre at. Surely, the HUD "radar" map must be better, right? Nope. The biggest problem is, unlike ANY other game that uses an on-screen map, theres no "N" for "North." Just four arrows, any one of them could possibly be north. Theres a reason why they dont put the "S"outh, "E"ast, and "W"est on these, and this is why. YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOURE GOING! I cant tell you how many times I had to pause the game just to figure out which way was North. I often had to look one direction, pause to see the full map to see where Im facing on it, and then, turn again until I got to facing North or where ever it is I had to go. How could they not have even gotten this right? It also wouldve been helpful if, being you spend most the game on the roof, to know which enemies were eye-to-eye level with me, above me, or below me. Usually, they make all things above you an arrow facing up on these game maps, and all things below facing down. But, oh no, not in this game! I died so many times because I couldnt tell if any enemy gang were shooting from above, from below, or from so far away, they wouldnt even show up in the compass map screen. Every single enemy is just a dot. Even if theyre above me or below me. Its things like this that make you appreciate the little things in any given Grand Theft Auto title, where you dont have to try to figure out where North is, and that the arrows or triangles let you know right away which altitude an enemy is at. But not in this game! In fact, Ive seen an effective map system in about EVERY Xbox 360 game that uses one, EXCEPT this game! Oh, and you cant even zoom the map in. Inst that just something else?
When you die, you have to restart from a "supply station," most of which are few are isolated between locations, and all of them have to be found and unlocked. Oh, and theyre ALL on roofs, meaning you have to spend ten minutes climbing up top to them, and you could die just trying to get down from them! An elevator that you can use once you get up to the top the first time wouldve been nice. I mean, they actually HAVE them in the game and all, so its not like they wouldve had to make one from scratch or anything. Any good gun you collect from an enemy HAS to be taken to this supply center/save point in order for you to keep it, or else, youll lose everything you collected once you die. Sometimes, because of the random enemy pop ups, youll, ironically, die trying to get back to your save point in order to save the guns you just got in case you die. You could be at any given rooftop, look one way, then look back and have a hoarde of random enemies pop up at you. Sometimes, you can even see them materialize in front of you. Sometimes, youll restart at a save point and by chance, therell be a ton of enemies right in front of your face as you just come back from the dead. I dont know. Maybe killing so many enemies as if they were an ant colony and jumping from rooftops sounds fun, but its really not. Neither is dying a thousand times due to a broken aiming system or enemy grenade. You can still die by gravity, by the way, so with each roof, you still have to be very careful.
The only good thing I can say about the game is that theres no glitches. Oh, wait. There are! Like, constantly getting stuck in a wall, or a rampway, or even the ground! Stuck as in, "this solid object isnt all that solid" stuck. And the random enemies. That counts, too. Its bad enough that once you kill every enemy in the near area, the game will have a "hit squad" of about ten cars come up and bring MORE enemies to you, but to have the ones you JUST KILLED re-materialize right in front of you is just insulting. Like, why even bother to kill them if it just makes more come to kill you, and the dead ones simply return back like its nothing? Your character is a genetic clone and "The Agency" can make an endless supply of you in case you die. Whats their excuse, though?
Overall, this kind of pointless 3D "shoot and jump" kind of simplistic game wouldnt have been so bad on the N64, the original Playstation, or even as an early Gamecube title. I mean, the comic-book like art style isnt anything impressive or new or advanced. 1999 to 2002, this game mightve been acceptable. An "average" game, at best. But this kind of simple, pointless, storyline-less, linear "shoot and kill just for the sake of it" game is far below what todays standards are in gaming. To imagine that this is an Xbox 360 title makes me think that this game probably spent so many years in development, that its heavily outdated by todays standards. When you cant even tell which way is North on your compass map, you cant even zoom in your menu-guide map, and every single character is as generic as a white and black-text can of government corn, it really isnt a game ready to be released. At least not in any year past 2003, on any system greater than maybe Gamecube. This game is bad for simply being simple and outdated and just, really frustrating and lame and incomplete. I cant give this game a One because other than the "getting stuck" and "targeting," there really arent any glitches or bugs in it. The game is somewhat playable.
However, when a game makes you want to break something in its incompleteness, or lose your mind and curse after getting killed by some stupid game flaw for the 219th time, something aint right. I cant imagine anyone over twelve enjoying this game, not to insult anyone under thirteen, but only a simple minded person could enjoy a game this simple and generic. By the cover and art style, the game looks kind of cool. You sort of think "Gears Of War" combined with "Saints Row." You get to use some high tech equipment to take down three ethnic gangs crippling the city. Sounds fun. And Im sure, most people who bought this game bought it for the Halo 3 beta, but also because it looked or sounded like fun, right? However, I havent played a game THIS bad since "Sonic Heroes." (and I would include every other Sonic game since then, had I actually played those also-poorly-rated titles) This is a game you simply want to break with your bare hands, or sell to any gaming store, even if you can only get $2.95 for it. Shoot, ANY amount of money the guy offers you at a game store, youll take just to not have this horrible curse of a game in your life anymore. I cant say its a Legend in the "Worst Games Of All Time" ranking, but its definitely one of those games youll get rid of, by any means possible, just to not have in your collection. Its like the DVD of "Gigli" or "I Know Who Killed Me" in your DVD collection that makes everything else you own, as well as yourself, look bad just by its mere prescence, so you get rid of it, possibly erase all save files of it from your memory card or hard drive too, and pretend like it never happened. Yes, this game is a "pretend like it never happened" kind of game.
AVOID this disaster at all costs! Its not fun, its frustrating, and its not even in-depth.
Addictive gameplay
On: 2008-12-14Crackdown is a very simple, yet addictive game. It is easy to pick up and play when you dont have a lot of time to dedicate to a more complex or story rich game. I would liken Crackdown to Grand Theft Auto, with only one mission, kill the gang bosses and their men. Simple, straightforward, fun and addictive. A must buy.
GTA from the Other Side
On: 2008-11-16Crackdown is sort of like GTA in that you run around a large city fighting gangsters, stealing cars, generally causing mayhem, and dying with minimal consequences. Except instead of being an up-and-coming criminal, youre a genetically modified and cybernetically enhanced super-cop tasked with cleaning up the city. Your skills improve as you locate hidden power-ups, kill enemies, jump vehicles, and complete races. Plot is kept to a bare minimum of "go there, kill that guy".
Despite this simplicity, the game is quite fun: Jumping from roof to roof, leaping up the side of buildings, taking on gang hit-squads like a one-man army, and blowing up basically everything. Personally, I thought the driving mechanics were lame, but Im not a big fan of racing games in general so your experience may vary, plus that part of the game can largely be ignored. Jumping from roof to roof is much more fun than driving down the road, anyways.
Dont know about the multiplayer elements because I didnt try them.
Good game
On: 2008-10-13I heard there wont be a sequel to this game, which is a shame. Great gameplay, lots of fun. If you like running around and causing senseless destruction this is the game for you.
Crackdown is a fun, cheap way to have fun
On: 2008-09-10Do you want a cheap game to divert your time? Then Crackdown is the way to go. Since there are AT LEAST 8 of this used at every game store INCLUDING amazon because of people selling them after the Halo 3 Beta ended you can get it for $10. It is awesome for diverting your time and having fun but if you like to get into your games this one isnt good for that. No story, no characters, no cut scenes. Just straight arcade like "here is your objective kill everything that moves (and doesnt have flashing lights/blue uniforms on) to complete it". Add Xbox 360 graphics to that and you have Crackdown. This game was good enough for me to buy it twice since my first copy got stepped on.
Gets old fast
On: 2008-08-26Gets real old real fast. Is fun for about 2 days. Rent it, dont buy it.
One Of The Best 360 Games Ever!
On: 2008-08-23Crackdown when it first came out was merely just a footstool for the Halo 3 Beta Code.I remember that X-Play first announced this and mocked Crackdown saying along the lines of the game being overlooked by players just so they can play the Halo 3 Beta.They were wrong in my case.I never played the Beta and bought the game because it looked crazy and fun and you know what I was absolutely right too.This very well might be one of the most fun games Ive ever played on any platform.You are genetically enhanced super cop who through through time advances his abilities and weapons to rid Pacific City of five major crime syndicates who rule the city.The Agency is your employer and they help you a great deal.The Agent that talks to you gives you helpful advice and warns you when you are crossing the line into lawlessness.You climb and jump from buildings and rooftops with greatest of ease and collect colored orbs to raise your chances on improving your vertical leap.Everything you do from shooting and melee and vehicular combat gives you orbs and within no time youll be evolving more and more in to a perfect killing machine.Get enemy weapons and take them to safe points where they will be available anytime you need them.
The Syndicates are ruthless criminal Organizations and you can use any strategy youd like in taking them down.there are four under bosses and each one you kill will significantly weaken the Organizations overall power so you can piece by piece take the small fries out and then go after the main boss.The envirements can can be exploited to your desire,so have fun finding a cleaver way to overwhelm the enemy in a place unexpected by them.The city itself is huge and youll be surprised really how large and dense it is.Aiming is simplistic and easy to use and you gain more experience by killing an enemy while shooting them in mid air.Throwing grenades and selecting others is very simple and allows you for some fun result.The Rocket Launchers on this game is really a game in and of itself.I cant begin to tell you how much fun I had juggling people and objects in the air.The driving is fun as well especially when you get the Agency Truck with Hydrolics on it.
There are just a couple of minor thing that dont in anyway impede the game whatsoever,but could be improved apon in a sequal.The Story could have had some animation instead of the Comic Book-type Art cut scenes.Vehicles could handle a little bit more smoother.And the Music Stations should be like GTA with Radio Staion type feel instead of sounding like a setlist.Also,although theres Onlive Gameplay no one ever plays.
I cannot praise this game higher in terms of everything it brought me-Imagination,suspense,excitement,enginuity and especially fun.What an unbelievably great game this is I wish I could erase my memory so that I could play Crackdown again and relive it all over again from a fresh perspective.I truely believe that Crackdown along with Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion as one of the best Games on the XBOX 360 bar none.And really I dont see how anyone else can argue is point.I cant wait until they announce the sequal,because if it is half as good as the original there will be no doubt that Crackdown and all its future releases will be in the annals of Video Game History with the other Legendary games of all time.
addictive, colorful, humorous
On: 2008-08-04im a mature gamer who bought a dozen or so games along with a new xbox just to see how the technology had evolved. (all the digital animation in recent films had piqued my interest.) having just opened grand theft auto 4 and assassins creed, my first impression of this game was not favorable. but ive come to appreciate its unique and considerable charms. it is basically the urban sandbox, multi island, gansta life conceit of gta4, plus the rooftop play, "assassination mission plus side missions" concept of assassins creed, but with a distinctively "comix" style of graphical design that is stylized to be less realistic, less detailed, less graphically gory than either gta or ac but more colorful, lively, and "artistic" than either. your avatar is also a maniacal police agent fighting evil and cleaning the streets, so youre not put in the position of looking at everything through gangster or assassin eyes, which is nice. however the most enjoyable innovation is a gruff voiceover guide who occasionally comments on your play ("are you crazy?" "i sure love the smell of agent in the morning!" "you sure like to push your luck!") along with gameplay and strategy tips; more than once his comments on my play made me laugh out loud. the avatar has physical and tactical skills that improve with use, notably the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound if enough "agility" points are collected (these resemble the flags scattered around in assassins creed) and the ability to lift and throw almost any detached object, from dead bodies to cement mixers, as weapons. but otherwise you have three options of play: roam the city to collect markers or perform racing stunts to improve agility; take on random firefights with street thugs wherever they appear to improve strength and skill, or perform gang assassinations, which involve penetrating the gangsters lair after killing his almost endlessly spawning guards. this involves quite a lot of wearing down of the opposition, but each time youre killed the enemy forces remain weakened, so you dont have to start the same exact mission, over and over, as happens in most games. the game physics are very nice and the character has plenty of agility without cumbersome button combinations or programming limits. overall: a great game to look at, lots of fun to play, a very nice blend of humor and excitement, and no glitches in the xbox version that i could find.
The game that GTA IV should have been
On: 2008-07-08I bought this game when it came out, and I literally couldnt stop playing it. I ended up selling my XBOX 360 becasuse I was convinced I had a real problem. Then 6 months later I bought a replacement XBOX 360. A week later I bought Crackdown again, but kept it under control.
Great game. Giant open-world platformer, kind of like everything good about Spiderman 2 and GTA III rolled into one. The powerups and achievements are doled out in such perfect operant conditioning that (for me at least) you cant turn it off.
Crackdown
On: 2008-05-18Great game, I love the online Co-Op personaly. Its a basic shoot um up, clear the city of gang members with a sci-fi twist that your a super cop. You can run fast, jump high, and your one force to be reckoned with. Fun game its kind of short if you play it alot. I got into it and even after you finish it you can go online and have fun with others geting achievments and dukeing it out!
It's just fine,.... but so much missed potential...
On: 2008-03-23Crackdown IS a fun open-world sandbox game that is truely open. Unlike GTA or all its clones,.. there are NO missions or cinema to unfold a linear story full of frustrating missions. You are a supercop unleashed on a HUGE city to take down and destroy a huge crime syndicate of gangs however you want to. Guns,.. throwing objects (even cars) acting like a superhero,.. you can do it all. You can level up your abilities and vehicles,.. and have fun just running/jumping all through the city getting orbs(that upgrade abilities) kind of like the hidden packages in GTA or even the coins in a Mario game.
It has recieved plenty of deserved praise. I agree with most of it.
BUT there is a downside. And the downside is that it has so much missing gameplay that couldve made it a "GTA-killer" as opposed to just a nice distraction untill the next big game comes out.
First of all, the police officer aspect is very under developed. ALL you do is shoot and blow up gang members that shoot at you. There is no other crime except for gangs shooting at YOU and YOU alone. Youre not protecting the citizens from anything. It wouldve been great if it had more police duty. Muggings,.. armed robbery,...giving tickets to speeders,.. stings and busts. Actually arresting people sometimes. Hunting criminals with outstanding warrants. Responding to dispatch calls.. All optional of course,.... something else to do besides the constant nonstop shooting of gangsters.
Now the other gripe I have with Crackdown: Lock-on aiming. This makes the MAIN aspect of the gameplay boring. Just lock on and hold down the fire key and thats it. Without the cheap lock on ,... the bullet accuracy is worthless. We dont need lock on aiming anymore. Just play Saints Row, Mercenaries, or GTA San Andreas to see how open-world 3rd person games can have the same superior aiming controls as opposed to lock on.
Also,.. the hand to hand combat is nothing more that a single kick. While you can pick up everything and throw it,.. its useless and inneffective. You cant even do melee attacks with anything you pick up like in HULK: Ultimate Destruction. Even running over the gang members with vehicles is inneffective since they dodge your car 98% of the time. After trying all this,.. youll end up just shooting everybody with the lock on aiming all the time and get bored.
After you defeat the gangboss in each island of the city,.. that island becomes devoid of any gang members,.. and since there is NO OTHER crime it just turns into a big boring city.
So for the first week youll love it,.. but once you notice all the limits of gameplay youll become bored. (it depends though,.. you may not care and just like it for what it is. It just depends on how much you crave a true living--open world with lots of gameplay variety.)
If only the developers had looked at the best features of other open world games like "Mercenaries", "Hulk: Ultimate Destruction", and even "True Crime LA" (for the police duty) and put them all together would Crackdown be all that it could be.
I would say that Saints Row and Mercenaries are both superior to Crackdown.
very crazy
On: 2008-03-22It is an extremely high paced game and when u first play it its going to seem like ur always shooting at somebody. But you get used to it and eventually it gets disguistingly fun.
Was worth it at $60
On: 2008-03-21This game was alot of fun when it was $60 and now it is $30. It is a free roaming, go any where, destruct-o match. It was one of the more fun I had completing a game. Unfortunately, online play is miserably slow and once you have leveled all the way up, the game quickly dulls.
For $30, this game is a must buy for any XBox 360 owner.
Its a fun cheap game for blowing stuff up
On: 2008-03-14this game does not have an amazing story its about jumping around on buildings and blowing things and people up. A fun little playground romp
Fun with firearms
On: 2008-03-11Crackdown is a delightful diversion. While it doesnt take more than a few hours to complete, those few hours are packed with plenty of fun and firepower.
Using sandbox gameplay as a base, Crackdowns recipe pits you as an "Agent" fighting crime in the gang-overrun Pacific City. Your superhero-esque powers allow you to run and jump through town, climbing buildings and pounding bad guys. The weapons you acquire range from puny pistols to rockin rocket launchers. My personal favourite was the Firefly, whose five-round "clip" of seeking missiles allows you to make quick work of massive quantities of gang members.
Were all familiar with open-world design by now, but Crackdown puts a few spins on the concept to keep it fresh. First, cell-shading makes the characters and objects look like comic books come to life. Second, your characters skills advance through use. For example, when you defeat gang members by brute force your strength improves while shooting them augments your skills with a firearm. Even your driving skills are enhanced, resulting in better handling and performance. You can also gain skill points through activities like road & rooftop foot races and collecting orbs hidden throughout the city. One other nice touch is that as you take out gang leaders, there will be a noticeable decline in their strength and presence. Even the achievements are amusing- my personal favs were Body & Car Juggler (keep a body/car suspended in the air using explosives) as well as Body Armour (attach 5 gang members to a car using the harpoon gun), which is available via downloadable content.
While the innovations used in the game give it a little bit of spice, they certainly arent mind-blowing. The game also has a few minor flaws, but nothing that seriously impedes your gang busting rampages. The only major drawback I noticed was that the game felt a little short. Overall I would definitely recommend PLAYING the game, although renting may be better than buying.
Fun! Perfect for the non serious gamer.
On: 2008-03-10Just to reiterate the previous reviewers. This is a great game. I am not a professional gamer and wanted a "free play" type interface like GTA, where you can take on missions as you please and explore as you please. It provides just that and is much more fun some of the more popular games like COD4 and Assassins Xreed.
However, the story line is pretty weak and the graphics arent revolutionary. But that doesnt always make or break a game. I found COD4 less fun BECAUSE it is so ultra realistic.
Theres a few problems in the game control, like hell have to jump over silly almost unnoticeable obstacles. Ive noticed these sorts of issues in COD4 too, so its nothing too specific to this game. Graphics occasionally go weird, such as people getting stuck in places -- very rare though.
The glowing orbs you find are sometimes overly difficult to actually snatch (even in the easiest mode). This detracts from the fun, especially considering some of them are so difficult to find in the first place.
I have not played live, so I cant comment here.
Overall, a great and FUN game, that you just pick up without being a professional gamer.
great game, a lot of fun
On: 2008-03-05this is game is a lot of fun, it can get a little boring after playing for along periods of time but theres always something to do in the game.
Just an all around awesome game
On: 2008-02-18This is just one of those games that is extremely fun to play and addictive. Its just a game everyone that has an xbox360 MUST have. I especially love to play co-op online with friends.
GET THIS GAME!!! - especially now because its only $30!!!
SPOOOOOOONNNNNN!
On: 2008-02-17When Halo 3 was announced, I actively resisted buying Crackdown for the sole purpose of getting onto the Halo 3 beta. Mind you, I love Halo 3. I play team slayer every Wednesday night (add Talien to your friends list if you want to join). But I wasnt going to pay more money just to get into the game early. So for a long time, I just avoided Crackdown out of principle. Which is a shame, because Crackdown is awesome.
Basically, youre a genetically-engineered superhero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, lift trucks over your head, and shoot criminals real good. Did I mention the criminals? Theyre the reason you exist: in a society overrun by scum, you "AM de LAW!" There are three gangs you must defeat, each helpfully segregating themselves by taking over a different island. Theres the Hispanic Los Muertos (death), who swear at you in Spanish and drive muscle cars. Theres the Russian Volk (wolves) who drive Soviet-Era transport trucks carrying Stinger missiles. And then theres the Shai-Gen, sort of the uber-corporate villain reminiscent of Gibson-style Japanese megacorporations. You take down each of these bad guys by taking out the lieutenants, which in turn weakens the gang leader by reducing the effectiveness of his bodyguards.
There are a wide range of weapons and vehicles you can use to wage your one-man war on crime. You can impound weapons and vehicles so you can use them later. Your uber-cop advances through the skills he uses; use lots of explosives and your explosives skill goes up, run over bad guys with your car and your driving skill goes up. There are also power-ups floating around the city, blue question marks that give you bonuses to all skills and green exclamation points that increase your speed and jumping ability.
Crackdowns methodology heavily relies on the carrot approach, rewarding you for going to difficult places in the game by providing incentives. Even death isnt permanent; thanks to cloning, you reappear at one of the supply points throughout the game with a loss in some skills.
Crackdowns cell-shaded universe is both comic book-y and beautiful. Its amazing to watch the sun set and rise, or be dangling from a twenty story building when the lights flick on. I was especially fond of killing major villains and hurling their bodies off of skyscrapers, watching them fall doll-like hundreds of feet to the ground. Wait, should I not have shared that? Ive said too much.
Ahem. Anyway, what makes Crackdown so different is that it truly delivers on the sandbox-style of play. You can fight gang members or kill citizens, drive vehicles anywhere, pick up anything, destroy everything. You can jump, you can swim, you can climb. Every character is as interactive as your character, and the AI reacts in a reasonable fashion: citizens run screaming, driving their cars erratically to get away from firefights. Gang members shoot you, run you down, and throw grenades at your head. When a firefight breaks out, police come screeching onto the scene, and usually get in the way. When you jump down from a distance, you shatter the pavement. When citizens see you leaping through the air or carrying heavy artillery, they flee for their lives.
There are moments in Crackdown where I was reminded of the target audience. The non-English speaking gangs and citizens shout phrases, adding to the atmosphere of the game. The English speaking drones in Shai-Gen are a lot less amusing and become downright annoying. The swearing is a little silly (with so many citizens randomly saying things, when combat goes down they end up cursing quite a bit) and over the top. But this is a game about killing gang members by throwing trucks at them, so I give Crackdown a pass.
Speaking of the audio, the narrator is the only character of substance, and he guides you through the game. His encouragement and chastisement is pitch-perfect, an older, grizzled white guys voice telling you how it is and how to do better next time. I wasnt thrilled with the ending - like so many games, it feels rushed and a bit of a cop out - but playing the game was still a rewarding experience.
If youre a fan of Robocop, Judge Dredd, or the Tick, get Crackdown. Youll be shouting "SPOOOONNN!", hurling chimneys, and leaping across rooftops in no time. Unless youre not a fan of the Tick, in which case youll appreciate laying down the law the old fashioned way: with a rocket launcher.
Great twist on the Sandbox genre
On: 2008-02-07Being a somewhat older game for the Xbox 360 the popularity of this game has greatly diminished, despite that is a really an interesting twist on the sandbox genre. This GTA derivative puts you on the right side of the law. You are a genetically engineered supercop fighting the gangs within the city and your job is to rid the city of these gangs and their kingpins.
As you go through the game getting kills your character levels up so to speak. You are able to level up your strength, agility, weapons skill, driving ability and explosives. Each one has its own distinctive advantage. With strength you are able to eventually pick up cars and even larger trucks. Agility allows you to scale buildings and jump very far. Weapons skill makes you more accurate and produces more damage. Driving ability gives you better control of the cars and even allows controlling of the car in midair. Explosives give you more powerful explosions.
This is a pretty fun game as are most sandbox games, because they give you ultimate freedom and the ability to just roam the city looking for things. There are three main ways to play the game. You can go around playing the missions and fighting the gangs. You can roam the streets looking for agility orbs on the tops of buildings and the hidden orbs which level up all the abilities. The third way to play the game is just kill anyone and everyone you want, gang members and citizens alike. The problem with this is the peacekeepers (fellow cops) will start hunting you down if you go this route. More importantly you will lose the skills you have gained.
My favorite parts of the game include: the superhuman abilities, which is quite a twist, the graphics while being cell shaded are pretty remarkable, and the fact that you can get to any part of the city whenever you want, no waiting until youve gotten to a certain mission. The best part of the game is unlike some of the newer hyped up big production games, this game is inherently fun. There is also a great depth to the city.
Unfortunately, the like many of the other GTA clones this one also lacks a few key components that will always keep GTA on top in terms of depth. First of all, there are only cars (or trucks) that can be driven in the game. There arent even any motorcycles or boats, which made me just want to run around instead of even bothering with a car and hitting pedestrians. Secondly, the game as I said before doesnt have a whole lot of side quests. Aside from hunting down gang member, you can look for agility orbs, hidden orbs or do the races. Other than that the game can be a little repetitive. Overall a good game worth buying--7/10.
really fun game
On: 2008-01-29Ive read a few of the more negative reviews of this game and almost didnt purchase the game because of the few negative reviews, BUT from the moment I put it in this game has been really fun. A little annoying at times when trying to make jumps, aim, etc..but other than that the game is really exciting, a lot of action. To me the gameplay and plot of the game are pretty cool, and the idea of a super-human crime fighting agent is a fun one. Definitely wouldve been mad if I paid $60 for this, but at $30 it was def worth the money, I really enjoy the game.
Excellent Game, Great Price!
On: 2008-01-24This game is great. I love the fact that you can play the campaign alone, or jump on Xbox live and play with a friend. The world is huge and the list of achievements keeps the game challenging and very fun. Definitely worth the money!
More Fun Than Expected
On: 2008-01-23"Crackdown" is a very fun sandbox game that manages to go above the usual shoot em ups by throwing in a terrific twist and byy allowing you to interact almost completely with the environment. You can scale massive skyscrapers, drive sports cars and SUVs, and leap incredible distances, all while leaving a path of destruction in your wake. As an agent of the "Agency", a last line of defense against gangs that have overrun your city, youre esentially a steroid-built killing machine who can level up skills by offing the bad guys in as many different ways as possible. The game offers excellent opportunity for 2-player co-op adventures, and has a lot of fun achievements for XBOX 360 Gamerscore adicts. While it looks simple, the game offers quite a challange at its hardest difficulty level. Finally, what could be more fun that throwing a car at a posse of gang members, that whipping out your rocket launcher and blowing it up as it falls on them? Not much.
Amazingly underrated!
On: 2008-01-23Crackdown is fantastic fun! I was not a fan of the XboxLive demo but found the full game to be simply wonderful. I cant believe I waited so long to play it!
Excellent Idea That Deserves A More Fleshed Out Part 2
On: 2007-12-31Im giving it 5 Stars because of its ambition and beauty (sandbox style games deserve the most leeway because they try to do so much more) --- also its pretty funny how you cant go two feet without causing a random non-mission fire fight and/or occasionally getting viciously blown up without warning. But not to worry, you can quicky "regenerate" at a nearby save point. Overall its a beautifully rendered, fun, silly, and deadly world. The mission implimentation could use a bit of refinement and the random gunplay could be eased back a little --- mainly because its usually unprovoked but also because you never get the sense that you make any progress in calming down this gang violence since the enemies simply keep regenerating. All this regeneration (you and your enemies) has its good and bad points though. I mean its good to know that theres always a casual enemy to fight and that you can always come back if things go bad.
That said, I think the RPG style leveling up system here is a positive step in the right direction for games of all kinds. Its perhaps the most addicting element that video games can have --- it allows the player to make an emotional investment in and take ownership in the developement of the character. So I hope well see more of it in the future and, of course, even more compelling leveling systems.
Pleasantly Surprised
On: 2007-12-21I tried not to like this game simply because of my distaste for Microsoft, but they still won me over with artistically done graphics, greats sounds and a game play that rivals some of the best of our time. The game comes with lots of variety of game play. Whether you be a fan of the timed running and jumping missions, races, just plan old exploration of an immense play area or simply playing straight through the game and killing the bosses, youll like the game. Leveling up your character adds more power to your various skills of dexterity, strength, explosives, shooting and driving. The AI is fairly intelligent and seems to react pretty well to your advances. The storyline is simple and attention grabbing. Overall Id say the game is a really fun 3rd person shooter type.
If I had to complain about something it would be how short the game can be. Once you get the ??firefly?? rockets (heat seekers)...the game is a breeze. However Microsoft must have figured this out as they added a feature that allows you to reset the game bosses and levels without restarting your characters progress and weapons. The game is cheap now so there really isnt any reason not to own a copy.
Outrageous
On: 2007-12-20I dont intend for this to be one of the reviews that you base your purchase off of. I just want to let everyone know how this has helped me out and how ridiculously exhilarating it is to play. First of all, I never thought anything of this game. But when my son Ian got diagnosed with cancer (Leukemia), I was trying to find something that would distract him from the facts. Well it just so happened that I had just recently bought a 360 for myself and Ian, when we realized this horrible thing. So, I bought another 360, and two copies of Crackdown so I could talk to him, and play with him online when he was in the hospital. He absolutely loved it, and it gave me and my wife chills hearing his laughs through the mic every time we played. The game definitely did its job, and Ian was entertained for hours on end. Unfortunately, Ian passed away on December 2nd. However, I am just happy that he could do so doing something he loved, with the people he loved most. What Im trying to say is that this game will entertain any kid, and even adults no matter what the situation. Best regards to everyone. Love you forever Ian.
Outrageous
On: 2007-12-19I dont intend for this to be one of the reviews that you base your purchase off of. I just want to let everyone know how this has helped me out and how ridiculously exhilarating it is to play. First of all, I never thought anything of this game. But when my son Ian got diagnosed with cancer (Leukemia), I was trying to find something that would distract him from the facts. Well it just so happened that I had just recently bought a 360 for myself and Ian, when we realized this horrible thing. So, I bought another 360, and two copies of Crackdown so I could talk to him, and play with him online when he was in the hospital. He absolutely loved it, and it gave me and my wife chills hearing his laughs through the mic every time we played. The game definitely did its job, and Ian was entertained for hours on end. Unfortunately, Ian passed away on December 2nd. However, I am just happy that he could do so doing something he loved, with the people he loved most. What Im trying to say is that this game will entertain any kid, and even adults no matter what the situation. Best regards to everyone. Love you forever Ian.
GTA Wanna Be.
On: 2007-11-29Hey for an early XBox title this is a fun game. If you enjoy GTA at all this is the same type of game. I do like the enhacements your character gains throughout the game it adds a nice twist. Other than that it is a nice hold over untill Rockstar gets GTA IV out.
Flying high!
On: 2007-11-27I rate this game 5 Stars because I like sandbox games, and boy this is a sweet sandbox game. Crackdown has so much content, it will keep you up at night thinking about it. There is downloadable content (wait theres more?) from Xbox Live that will push the games already boundless limits. This is one of my all time favorite games, and it makes me hate to say bad things about it, there is but one flaw in the perfection that is Crackdown (okay overstatement) and that is that the story is not very deep. I do like that there is no cut scenes but the invisible man that talks throughout the game can make you want to say: "okay Mr. Invisible guy, if you say another word I will have to pull what we call back in training a woopsie." But I still give this game a glowing review: GamePlay: 5, Story: 3, Replay Value: 5, All Round: 5 Oh and P.S. Here are some Achievements that will help your GamerScore: High Flyer: get to the top of the Agency Tower, Base Jumper: Jump from the top of the Agency Tower and land in the little pool of water below, Body Juggler: shot a body into and keep in the air for ten seconds using a rocket launcher, Shot Putter: Toss a item from a hight of over 205 feet or more.
SUPER POWERS ROCK! 9 OUT OF 10
On: 2007-11-23This game plays like GTA because it was made by the creators of GTA. But this game ditches the gangster cliche for a clone with super powers. This game basically asks you to raise hell in Pacific City because you are armed right at the beginning with an assault rifle, a shotgun, and 8 grenades. As you perform good deeds like killing gangsters and their bosses you get upgrades for your powers like developing the ability to pick cars and large objects, getting powerful kicks and more. If you like GTA you should play this game especially for its art style, mission variety, cool powers, and your ability to destroy.
Game requires little in the way of thought
On: 2007-10-21This is a simple but addictive game. I found myself wasting more than one afternoon playing the game, yet wondering why I wasnt playing something else. The premise is simple, track down and shoot the bad guys. The challenge is getting to them and surviving long enough to do the job. If you want something to appeal to your trigger finger and not your head, give it a go. If you want something a little flashier requiring a little more work try halo 3. If you want something on the tactical side, try rainbow 6, Las Vegas. My point, there are better games out there, that have better graphics and more appeal.
Game requires little in the way of thought
On: 2007-10-20This is a simple but addictive game. I found myself wasting more than one afternoon playing the game, yet wondering why I wasnt playing something else. The premise is simple, track down and shoot the bad guys. The challenge is getting to them and surviving long enough to do the job. If you want something to appeal to your trigger finger and not your head, give it a go. If you want something a little flashier requiring a little more work try halo 3. If you want something on the tactical side, try rainbow 6, Las Vegas. My point, there are better games out there, that have better graphics and more appeal.
Crackdown
On: 2007-10-10While I did enjoy playing this game the first time around, I found to my sheer and utter disappointment that I cannot start over and play it again. This is a MAJOR design flaw in the game. If you do not have Xbox Live, you cannot download the update to reset the citys crimes. I have done substantial research online to find a way to reset the game so I can play it again, but every single post, including posts from the game designers at Microsoft, state that you need Xbox Live (Gold membership) to get the update. They even boast that the update brings more features to the game, BUT once again, you need to purchase the wireless network adaptor for ONLY $100, not to mention a GOLD member subscription. I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with this answer. I do not have Xbox Live nor do I see a need for it, especially at the price they want you to pay for it. I will never buy another Microsoft made video game again. Sorry Halo 3 - but I dont trust your juvenile group of game designers anymore.
Crackdown
On: 2007-10-09While I did enjoy playing this game the first time around, I found to my sheer and utter disappointment that I cannot start over and play it again. This is a MAJOR design flaw in the game. If you do not have Xbox Live, you cannot download the update to reset the citys crimes. I have done substantial research online to find a way to reset the game so I can play it again, but every single post, including posts from the game designers at Microsoft, state that you need Xbox Live (Gold membership) to get the update. They even boast that the update brings more features to the game, BUT once again, you need to purchase the wireless network adaptor for ONLY $100, not to mention a GOLD member subscription. I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with this answer. I do not have Xbox Live nor do I see a need for it, especially at the price they want you to pay for it. I will never buy another Microsoft made video game again. Sorry Halo 3 - but I dont trust your juvenile group of game designers anymore.
Most under-rated game for Xbox 360
On: 2007-09-24Very sad to here that there wont be a sequal. This game is a blast. Nothing beats being able to jump 30 feet and fire multiple rounds of heat seeking rockets and groups of bad guys in vehicles. The explosions are a treat to the eyes.
Fun While It Lasts, Which Isn't Long...
On: 2007-09-01Crackdown is supposed to be an open-ended, "sandbox" style of game where you play the role of a futuristic cop punishing notorious gangs and their leaders by whatever means necessary.
Well, they got the futuristic cop part right, anyway.
The skills system used in Crackdown is great. By collecting "Agility" orbs scattered throughout the enormous city, you increase your Agility score, which allows you to jump higher and move faster. The other skills are more direct, by killing gangstas with guns, explosives, strength attacks, or by running them over with a car you gain points in the respective skills. Increasing your skills is great fun and the "super power" feeling you get from dealing great punishment to punk thugs and gangstas is a whole lot of fun.
Unfortunately it doesnt last.
After beating the game, which takes not much more than 10 hours, there really doesnt feel like theres much left. Despite being called a "sandbox" style of gameplay, there doesnt feel like there is much to do, which is probably why the developers inserted rooftop races, car races, and loads of agility orbs/hidden orbs throughout the town to collect. But if you ask me, this pales in comparison to blowing the crap out of everything in sight, but even that gets dull rather quickly after beating the game.
After the games release, a patch was added to allow for online co-op. This feature is fantastic fun, but once again, after beating the game with my brother through co-op, I just didnt feel like there was much fun left.
Sure blowing stuff up is awesome, which is really where Crackdown excels, but unfortunately the incredible fun factor of this game runs thin quickly after beating it. Since the game really doesnt last too long, I recommend renting instead of purchasing.
A Surprisingly Good Game
On: 2007-08-18I initially was annoyed that this game got sent to me sooner then I expected from Gamefly. I didnt have very high expectations of it and it was rather low on my list. However, I found out that theres a bug of sorts over at Gamefly where even if a game shows high availability, it may only be high in either the west or east coast warehouses. Such was the case for me where the games I wanted were in low quantities coming from my warehouse so Crackdown got sent to me. Oddly enough, Forza 2 was shipped out a day later which was number three in my que. Oh well.
So, I got the game and decided to play it last night (gamertag on Xbox Live: ky0t3). It is actually really fun. Whats interesting is that when your playing, people can ask to join you and play with you (and vice versa).
The game mechanics are fairly simple. You go around and beat up/kill thugs. Depending on how you do it, either strong arming them, shooting, them, running them over various characteristics about your character will change. Shoot someone, your speed and accuracy at shooting will increase. Run them over with a car, your driving abilities will increase. There are other ways to increase certain activities as well. Racing your car through the streets will help, jumping ramps and landing your car on all four wheels also helps driving. Doing roof top racing will increase your agility.
Since your some super bioman, your strength will increase to the point that you can lift cement trucks and toss them at foes. More and more of the world becomes a weapon you can use to help clean the streets.
Jumping and scaling buildings is pretty fun, too. And youll do a lot of it as you hunt down agility balls (there name for them, not mine). The harder it is to get to them, the more their worth. As your strength and agility increases youll be able to jump far and high. Youll begin to ask yourself if you even need a car.
So, give the game a shot, its actually pretty fun.
Great Game...but Nothing To Do.
On: 2007-08-10this game graphic wise is beautiful...and the city is huge and the weapons are alright. but once you realize ALL youll be doing is Killing people thruout the whole game...it gets kind of stupid. thats where this game fails. your a cop...you drive around killing people...and when its all done...you respawn everyone and do it again :| thats it..nothing else...nothing more...just shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot kill kill kill kill kill kill...i got tired of killing people after i killed the 100th person...
definate rent...but wouldnt advise buying unless your going to go ONLINE with it..
iLL .
Comic Book Life
On: 2007-08-10Crackdown is a fun (and someone easy) superhero comic book game. Its violence is big and gratuitous, and yet it has not made me a more violent person (hmmm...). The choice of weapons and the development of superpowers keeps it interesting as you advance... as well as makes it possible to continuously explore the world... always new heights.
It's like GTA with the Hulk.
On: 2007-07-27CrackDown is a fun game. You play as a super cop only known as the agent. This game is like GTA but you are not allowed to harm innocent people. I think its better playing as a villian (like in Saints Row or GTA) than a hero. You can do what ever you want when you play GTA or Saints Row unlike this game. The game is very addictive for the first few weeks but after awhile its pretty boring. The graphics in this game could have been alot better but instead they chose to make CrackDown look like a 3D cartoon. CrackDown is a fun game but if you are going to buy it wait untill the price goes down.
The Tipster
On: 2007-07-24You know it is hard when you have so many reviewers claiming they know gaming and how their opinion is the definitive one. Ultimately, it is credentials that you, the person reading this, ought to gauge.
From a reviewer standpoint, i have none. I never reviewed a game before this one. Hint 1: this game is really good: It compelled me to write a review.
Gamer credentials: Im 36, been gaming since pong and the Vic 20. Own every console AND Game (yep, Even the PS3 _?!) and so when i say this was the FUNNEST game i played yet, you have to sit up and take notice.(Thats Hint 2)
Besides that, the game has a lot of hidden gems and if you like to discover things (which keeps things interesting) then you have to grab it.
I will avoid reviewing game-play since it was done already. All i have to say is Yes, it is GTA(esque), but done much much better, with focus on the Fun factor (if you know game design theory, you know this is king). For Example, pushing and holding the Left trigger, when the reticle is "close" to target, will lock it ON the Target, so when you move, your guy is always aiming at the target, no matter how high you jump. you see, that is masterful indeed. This pushes the skill set on what you do when dealing with multiple targets, which require multiple weapons, (jumping, switching, hiding, driving, leaping) rather than nudge left, right, up down, damn, you missed, got shot and died, rinse, repeat.
In short, the gameplay and possibilities of this game make it very addictive and you will go to bed at night thinking about it.
Last but not least, anyone who claims that this games popularity is because of the H3 Beta has simply NOT bought the game.
The Tipster
On: 2007-07-23You know it is hard when you have so many reviewers claiming they know gaming and how their opinion is the definitive one. Ultimately, it is credentials that you, the person reading this, ought to gauge.
From a reviewer standpoint, i have none. I never reviewed a game before this one. Hint 1: this game is really good: It compelled me to write a review.
Gamer credentials: Im 36, been gaming since pong and the Vic 20. Own every console AND Game (yep, Even the PS3 _?!) and so when i say this was the FUNNEST game i played yet, you have to sit up and take notice.(Thats Hint 2)
Besides that, the game has a lot of hidden gems and if you like to discover things (which keeps things interesting) then you have to grab it.
I will avoid reviewing game-play since it was done already. All i have to say is Yes, it is GTA(esque), but done much much better, with focus on the Fun factor (if you know game design theory, you know this is king). For Example, pushing and holding the Left trigger, when the reticle is "close" to target, will lock it ON the Target, so when you move, your guy is always aiming at the target, no matter how high you jump. you see, that is masterful indeed. This pushes the skill set on what you do when dealing with multiple targets, which require multiple weapons, (jumping, switching, hiding, driving, leaping) rather than nudge left, right, up down, damn, you missed, got shot and died, rinse, repeat.
In short, the gameplay and possibilities of this game make it very addictive and you will go to bed at night thinking about it.
Last but not least, anyone who claims that this games popularity is because of the H3 Beta has simply NOT bought the game.
Let's Be Fair...
On: 2007-07-14The only reason most people bought this game was for the Halo 3 beta. That is the simple bottom line in this game. The game itself is too easy and you can bypass too much of it. There is something to be said for "open world" games, but this takes it to the extremes. You literally do not have to do anything except kill the bosses. How lame is that? Games are being pushed out the door without any imput form true gamers. That has been a problem with the industry for years. This, unfortunately is no exception. Maybe a sequel can save this game from itself.
Lame in a pretty cool way.
On: 2007-07-09-Disclaimer-
Im not reviewing Halo 3:Beta
For some reason, being a thug is a lot more fun than being with the law: Hence GTA, Saints Row. Crackdown is a futuristic "protect and serve" sand-box shooter that lacks any sort of serious creativity, which makes it one of the most seriously rushed games I have ever played. Dont get the wrong idea, the game is pretty cool in some parts, but then again, only some.
The story...uh...sucks. Your a genetically modified super-cop given the orders to clean up Pacific City of all the gangs that occupy the area by any means necessary. Yeah...thats the entire story. I hope I didnt spoil anything for you. You play as this agent called, The Agent. You work for this agency called, The Agency. You get your orders and hints from this lieutenant called, The Lieutenant (or what ever his name is, I dont care). If you all ready guessed, Crackdown is very, very repetitive. First you have to kill the gangs leitenants then its king pin. Do this two more times and, what do know, youve beaten the game! Hooray!
In the game your character gradually evolves overtime depending on what you do. If you use you physical strength you get stronger, soon youll be able to kick dumpsters half a mile and lift cars over your head. If you jump around a lot, you can learn to jump higher (well not really, you have to find orbs to level up your jumping). You can also level up your explosives, firearms, and driving. As you level up your character will look different. But when you level up your driving, your Agency vehicles will different, and a lot cooler. For those of you that played Fable, leveling up is pretty much all the same here, except you dont purchase level ups with your experience.
The layout of Pacific City is huge, almost bigger than San Andreas, and its detail is amazing. Which brings up another thing. Crackdown has the best cell-shading graphics I have ever seen. The detail looks almost like the movie "A Scanner Darkly" (which everyone should see). And for a cell-shaded game, it has some of the most detailed explosions you will ever see. The music is mediocre. It mostly consists of the techno and electronica genres. But if youre into those genres, you might like the tunes for this game. The controls are smoothe, but there is a slight learning curve. Playing co-op is pretty nice, but theres really nothing special about it. Lets see, anything else thats good...nope. Everything goes down-hill from here.
For starters you will get annoyed with the Lieutenant giving you info about stuff in about 3 minutes. You can pack about 150 hours into this game, and hell still tell you what buttons do what, how youre supposed to kill off a gang, hell just tell you the basics all the time (look on the bright side, at least you can turn him off). Civilians will constantly get in your way when youre trying to shoot at some goons, and when you kill bystanders, not only will the Lt. lecture you on how you arent allowed to kill them, Agency operatives will be hunting you down. As if you didnt have enough problems. The side missions are just lame. I think they only consist of 2 kinds of races: On-foot races and vehicular races. Both are incredibly aggravating. Sometimes...my bad...All the time your enemies have a serious advantage over you. Most of the time youll be fighting 70+ of them versus you. Theyll be packing machine guns, sniper rifles, missile launchers, grenades, body armor and more! While you just have two weapons, and for some reason, your 500kg, 30cm thick body armor can be shredded like tissue paper. Sure you can choose different skins for your Agent, but most of them look plain ugly. Most of them have piercings all over their faces (eww).
Like I said, Crackdown was seriously rushed. If Realtime Worlds took more time to actually make a good story, working body armor, decent skins, and just plainly putting more thought into it, Crackdown wouldve been a terrific game. Sadly, it isnt. [(-RENT-)]
God is this game
On: 2007-07-09Ever since i bought Cackdown i have been stuck to the 360 i finally completed the game but am still playing to search for agility orbs and secret orbs and new cool places and vehicles to drive in especially to destroy i really liked taking out gang bosses and members of volk listen up everyone you lookin for a 360 game you need Crackdown!
God is this game
On: 2007-07-08Ever since i bought Cackdown i have been stuck to the 360 i finally completed the game but am still playing to search for agility orbs and secret orbs and new cool places and vehicles to drive in especially to destroy i really liked taking out gang bosses and members of volk listen up everyone you lookin for a 360 game you need Crackdown!
Some Things are Great, But........
On: 2007-07-05I have mixed feelings about this title. There are some elements that are designed well, while others fall flat. Since this game was developed from the original GTA designer, I expected a little more. "Saints Row", while not as good as any GTA game, was still an impressive production, and is also a far more complete sandbox experience than "Crackdown". I still recommend playing the game, but make sure you either rent it or purchase it for a bargain price as others have recommended. For the potential buyer, listed below are the pros and cons:
Graphics - Although some may be turned off from the cell-shaded graphics, they were designed well from an artistic standpoint. I felt I was engaged in a "live comic book" and from an atmospheric standpoint, I felt I was in a GTA game. Its truly the only reason why I still recommend playing the game. Another good thing was that there was never a load point past the initial load. The frame rate almost never dropped even with lots of non-player characters present and multiple explosions. The explosions themselves were awesome and draw-in for distant objects was almost non-existent. With that said the vehicle models left little to be desired.
Sound - Explosions, weapons, and overly dramatic narrator were cool. However, sound tracks are weak. I didnt recognize a single artist, and that would be ok if the music was actually good. Sound tracks is where GTA titles shine, even with their budget flicks, like "Vice City Stories" for PS2. Also, vehicle sounds were dismal.
Game-play - This is a real mixed bag. The RPG-like ability enhancement function was comparable to "GTA-San Andreas", and thats a good thing. Weapon and melee control was also an improvement from GTA titles. The superhero abilities were great. However, I gave up on trying to drive anywhere in the "game-scape". The vehicles were designed horribly in every aforementioned category, and especially from a controls perspective. In any event, once your agility skills were ramped up, driving becomes moot because you can leap from building to building without the hindrance of sticking to the roads (like everyones dream when stuck in traffic). Also, almost every mission has the same recipe: Find the bosss location, find a way to the get the top level where he/she is most likely hiding, while slaughtering legions of dumb NPCs along the way. Next, melee attack the boss and defeat them in under 15 seconds. Also, side missions are virtually non-existent, and what is there is unimaginative. That stinks since there are less than 30 core missions.
A special note: Game Save Functionality - I cant believe in the "Next-Gen" world with hard drives adequately saving endless save files, why most games dont have a "save-at any-point/time" functionality (the old XBOX had that for several games, BTW). While "Crackdown" improves game save functionality by saving every detail in real-time for ability progression, intra-mission saves were mysteriously left out. Therefore, you will be "rinsing & repeating" several iterative motions to get to the boss if you die along the way. I didnt mind that with a game like "Ninja Gaiden Black" because learning to perfect all the moves becomes instrumental during later game-play, and the controls were mega tight with no equal. However, for "Crackdown" which doesnt exactly have the state-of-the-art "Ninja Gaiden-like" game-play, the iterative motions are uninspiring and take away from the overall experience.
Open maps and a good story
On: 2007-07-05I have been playing this game for many days now. I must say it is addicting!! Trying to collect all the agility orbs or hiddin orbs. maxing out your stats which are; Agility,Fire Arms,Strength,Driving,and Explosives.Once you have maxed out your skills youll be doing some crazy things!!! Explosive skills maxed out makes your blast radius bigger,making your exlosions HUGE!! Maxing out your agility allowing you to jump from roof top to roof top!!! HUGE jumps.. picture yourself as Neo from the Matrix.Its pretty much just like that,and its pretty much just as freaking awesome!! Maxing out your driving skills will allow your Agency vehicles to Transform into Crazy Modded Vehicular Beasts right before your eyes in real time. This has to be the coolest thing i have seen yet in the next gen console games!!! Maxing out your strength will allow you to pick up cars/semis!! and hurl them at the baddies wanting to put an end to your law enforcing career.Also picking up dead gang members and throwing them off buildings is also a fun thing to do! in all crackdown is worth the pick up! plus you get the invite to the Halo 3 beta so what do you have to loose???
Very Weak Gameplay
On: 2007-06-30This would have been an OK game for the XBOX, but for the 360 its very weak - the settings, graphics, etc. are all 90s
If Halo is a 5, this is a 2. Save your money.
Very Weak Gameplay
On: 2007-06-29This would have been an OK game for the XBOX, but for the 360 its very weak - the settings, graphics, etc. are all 90s
If Halo is a 5, this is a 2. Save your money.
Surprisingly Fun
On: 2007-06-27I originally bought this game just to play the Halo 3 Beta.. after it was all over, I decided to give the game a try... Wow this game is acutally fun, especially with the co-op mode.
Crackdown
On: 2007-06-27I originally bought the game for the Halo 3 beta and didnt really look into playing Crackdown much. A friend on XBOX live told me to try it out and to my suprise the game was actually good. It is quite easy to reach the maximum skill level, but it takes time.
I really ejoyed being able to jump building to building and lifting huge objects. The one thing that could have made the game better would be more vehicles. Yes I know you can buy some online, but what a waste of money. They could have included a helicopter or a motor cycle in the original game.
If you ask me, is the game worth $60 bucks, I will say no, but 30 to 40 dollars is a good price. Thats how much I got it for. Hopefully if there is a sequal there will be some new vehicles, and maybe a way to walk into every building.
Surprisingly Fun
On: 2007-06-26I originally bought this game just to play the Halo 3 Beta.. after it was all over, I decided to give the game a try... Wow this game is acutally fun, especially with the co-op mode.
Crackdown
On: 2007-06-26I originally bought the game for the Halo 3 beta and didnt really look into playing Crackdown much. A friend on XBOX live told me to try it out and to my suprise the game was actually good. It is quite easy to reach the maximum skill level, but it takes time.
I really ejoyed being able to jump building to building and lifting huge objects. The one thing that could have made the game better would be more vehicles. Yes I know you can buy some online, but what a waste of money. They could have included a helicopter or a motor cycle in the original game.
If you ask me, is the game worth $60 bucks, I will say no, but 30 to 40 dollars is a good price. Thats how much I got it for. Hopefully if there is a sequal there will be some new vehicles, and maybe a way to walk into every building.
Very fun third-person shooter
On: 2007-06-15Robocop meets Superman. Crackdown is a lot of fun offering a wide variety of weapons, vehicles, and special abilities to use, master, and exploit. The scope of the game is impressive taking you across three islands and from sea level to several hundred feet in the air. Jumping from the top of the Agency will take your breath away.
My nitpick with this game is the fact that the extra content available via Xbox Live Marketplace is expensive. Also, the re-playability is somewhat low.
Way better than GTA
On: 2007-06-12To me this game is better than GTA. Granted i barely have ever played this game but it is amazing. And when you have live an update for the game is avaliable and makes the game a lot better. I like how your guy can jump across streets and you can scale up buildings. This game also has the halo 3 beta demo which is great but the real reason to get this game is because it is a lot of fun.
An overpriced Halo 3 Beta patch
On: 2007-06-11This game is just another bad shot at trying to attempt to make a good GTA clone.
Storyline is boring. Not really any story at all. Just stuff that looks like a story to make up for an excuse for all the excess violence.
Graphics felt like they more for the PS2 than the Xbox 360.
Also like another person commented on. Too many Live Marketplace content that should have been included into the game disc. Sorry, Microsoft, but please start shipping us the "WHOLE" game instead of taking stuff out right before release so you got some download content on Live. At least make it free if your going to insist on taking it out of the game disc. Some of us gamers dont appreciate getting nickeled and dimed to death with bogus Live downloads.
Fun, but not worth 60 bones.
On: 2007-06-03Crackdown can be fun, but it is rather shallow. The new downloadable content increases replayability of this game, but I suggest waiting for a price drop. I suggest waiting for a price drop to 30 bucks or less.
Fun, but not worth 60 bones.
On: 2007-06-02Crackdown can be fun, but it is rather shallow. The new downloadable content increases replayability of this game, but I suggest waiting for a price drop. I suggest waiting for a price drop to 30 bucks or less.
Surprisingly Amazing
On: 2007-05-30This game is a blast to play. Its the superpowers you get when your skills are built up that make the game very entertaining.
Surprisingly Amazing
On: 2007-05-29This game is a blast to play. Its the superpowers you get when your skills are built up that make the game very entertaining.
The Super Mario World of Open-World GTA Games.
On: 2007-05-19Ill keep this review short and to the point. The gameplay, presentation, and graphics are solid as a rock. The abilities are a lot of fun and the level design is some of the best Ive seen in years. Each "boss" section is unique, varied, and fun and the combat (and explosions!) are utterly satisfying. The driving is the weakest aspect of this game but I found that I never used cars anyway (driving improves immensely as you build up your driving skill).
As far as pure fun, no other GTA-like game can compare. Collecting the orbs is addictive and the game as a whole has excellent replayability. Try going through the game from the beginning without collecting agility orbs, for example. Or try to limit your use of firearms and focus more on hurling objects and kicking people off cliffs.
The further I got into the game the more I admired the smart game design and the polish/little details the developers added to the game. Trust me, I dismissed this game from the start as yet another GTA clone, but once I gave it a chance (the demo doesnt do the game justice) I found that it is much more than that.
Surprised this wasn't garbage
On: 2007-05-19Got this for the Halo beta... and of course WAS surprised and pissed to find out the beta isnt until September, but for 3 weeks. Thanks MS, screwed everyone again. And since H3 is sort of unreal tournament like, and only has 3 maps ot play, Ive been playing a lot of Crackdown, and its pretty good.
Ok, Crackdown. This is sort of a meld of Just Cause and GTA... better driving than JC, not as good natural environment, or crazy stunt action. But the ability to increase skills (jumping height, damage, and strength to Hulk levels) is pretty fun... Id like to see them make a superhero game like this, where youd battle mano a mano with other heros, with destructive environments. Very impressive detailed architecture, lighting, and although the city is relatively small, it was done very well. A city on the size of Just Causes islands, and youd have months of gameplay. This is can be finished in about a day, 3 sectors, 7 bosses each. My only annoyance was some AI issues... citizens would commit suicide on your vehicles, and the cops would suddenly start hunting you... it was also unclear if the "bad kharma" of killing citizens was wiped clean after restarting, or your skills got frozen after killing too many. Oh, and the limpbody deathroll after being grenaded or rocketed was annoying... you lie prone as you are tagged over and over until death. This could have used Just Causes environment a bit for the underwater swimming, and some sort of airborn ability would have been nice (blimps, choppers)... but that said, it ranks up with one of the better games Ive gotten for the 360.
It's okay.
On: 2007-05-18Its a "Grand Theft Auto" type of game. In that its a fairly open world. It was disappointing that some places I couldnt go in to and I thought I could. Meanwhile, there were plenty of places they created little nooks and crannies just so you never know which one will hide and Orb. You honestly start to feel as if somebody went "click happy" with placing the orbs. Itll take longer to find those last few orbs than it will to find the first half of them. For that reason alone it gets held back.
Also, the 800 points they want you to shell out for the downloadable content, thats $10 if you buy the points straight from Microsoft, is stuff that SHOULD have been included in the game! Then on top of it there are a few new achievements that were added that you HAVE to have the downloadable content to get them! The saving grace about all that though is that if you do co-op with somebody that has that content purchased, then you can use that stuff that would otherwise be locked to you.
If you arent renting/buying this for the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta, then you really shouldnt bother with it. Its an insult that they are charging extra for stuff that should have already been included with the game.
a good action game
On: 2007-05-15Was truly surprised by this one, didnt expect it to be this good. I would definitely recommend this game to all my friends.
Crackdown with a different style
On: 2007-05-14For some reason this gave reminds me of earlier FPS games. Not alot of surprises but kind of fun to play just the same.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
On: 2007-05-14This is a really cool game. The only thing I dont like is that it is supposed to be in a ghetto futuristic city. I wish it wasnt a ghetto and was like a super cleaned up shiny city. Single player campaign is ok, its kind of ridiculous when you have to take on hordes of gangsters and theyre all shootin at u and that gets obnoxious, but the co - op is excellent. Gameplay Id say 4 stars, Graphics Id say 4.5 stars, story Id probably give like a 4, but overall Id give this game a 4.8. LOL
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
On: 2007-05-13This is a really cool game. The only thing I dont like is that it is supposed to be in a ghetto futuristic city. I wish it wasnt a ghetto and was like a super cleaned up shiny city. Single player campaign is ok, its kind of ridiculous when you have to take on hordes of gangsters and theyre all shootin at u and that gets obnoxious, but the co - op is excellent. Gameplay Id say 4 stars, Graphics Id say 4.5 stars, story Id probably give like a 4, but overall Id give this game a 4.8. LOL
Nice Job Agent
On: 2007-05-08This is a fun little title that lets you do more or less whatever you want. Do missions or not. Improve your skills or dont. It really gives you a high degree of freedom. Fun to play for 30 minutes or 6 hours.
My only two criticisms are that the bosses never felt as challenging as they should have and that the driving skill is quite difficult to advance in comparison to the rather organic advancement the other skills achieve.
Nice Job Agent
On: 2007-05-07This is a fun little title that lets you do more or less whatever you want. Do missions or not. Improve your skills or dont. It really gives you a high degree of freedom. Fun to play for 30 minutes or 6 hours.
My only two criticisms are that the bosses never felt as challenging as they should have and that the driving skill is quite difficult to advance in comparison to the rather organic advancement the other skills achieve.
Best sand box play...
On: 2007-04-30I have experienced in quite a while. Sweet engine with massive draw distance, no load times, tons of action and a reason to search every little corner. Unlike many games of this design I never got bored or felt what I was doing had no puprose (the skill building game this game some much needed depth). Throw in online co-op and you have a five star experience with the Halo 3 beta invite as a huge bonus.
nice
On: 2007-04-19this game is pretty much the same as a grand theft auto game but, it has online which makes it a lot funner. you can play with a friend and take down the bad guys or you can just pretty much do anything the hulk does like why not pick up a car and throw it at your friend? it is a great game. highly recomended
nice
On: 2007-04-18this game is pretty much the same as a grand theft auto game but, it has online which makes it a lot funner. you can play with a friend and take down the bad guys or you can just pretty much do anything the hulk does like why not pick up a car and throw it at your friend? it is a great game. highly recomended
not very deep
On: 2007-04-12The open sandbox type of game is taken further than in any oither game here.You literally get an opening "movie" and then you are dropped into the city with little direction. There was not much to do besides the main missions. There are orbs you collect and that is about it. Kill all the gang underlings and then go for the boss in 3 different gang areas. Once you level your character up the game is too easy. Beat it without getting all of the achievements in about 15 hours. Rent to play but buy if you want in on Halo 3 beta.
Mindless, Enjoyable Fun
On: 2007-04-10First, I love the look of this game; The psuedo-animation graphics work well for this cartoonish, highly over-the-top sandbox mish-mash. This reminded me of 4 games: Mercenaries, GTA, Total Overdose(there is even one part where a song from TO is playing from a club while you take out the bad guys...)and a little The Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. While it takes awhile for the fun to really kick in(like after you have maxed out your skills a little bit...), there is no denying the simple entertainment factor here. The chaos you can cause is at times nothing short of amazing; the firefights can be intense, and many of the scenarios do require some thought and tactical planning in order to resolve them. Its tough, but just tough enough. There are some nice weapons, vehicles, and enemy variation; There are some minor control issues, but for the most part operates quite smoothly; There are def. some map and objecvtive issues, as they are not always as clear as they should be...But soon youll forget all about those minor issues as you plug along, blowing the **** out of stuff, killing scores of bad guys, and most importantly, actually having FUN. Nothing too original here in concept, but the presentation and overall enjoyable gameplay make Crackdown something worth playing!
Mindless, Enjoyable Fun
On: 2007-04-09First, I love the look of this game; The psuedo-animation graphics work well for this cartoonish, highly over-the-top sandbox mish-mash. This reminded me of 4 games: Mercenaries, GTA, Total Overdose(there is even one part where a song from TO is playing from a club while you take out the bad guys...)and a little The Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. While it takes awhile for the fun to really kick in(like after you have maxed out your skills a little bit...), there is no denying the simple entertainment factor here. The chaos you can cause is at times nothing short of amazing; the firefights can be intense, and many of the scenarios do require some thought and tactical planning in order to resolve them. Its tough, but just tough enough. There are some nice weapons, vehicles, and enemy variation; There are some minor control issues, but for the most part operates quite smoothly; There are def. some map and objecvtive issues, as they are not always as clear as they should be...But soon youll forget all about those minor issues as you plug along, blowing the **** out of stuff, killing scores of bad guys, and most importantly, actually having FUN. Nothing too original here in concept, but the presentation and overall enjoyable gameplay make Crackdown something worth playing!
Best XBOX 360 Game
On: 2007-04-05When I first played this game, I was hooked. I am a huge fan of sandbox games like these, and the ability to jump 30 feet in the air. My first disc broke because of my faulty XBOX 360, but I spent $60 more on a new one. It was definitely worth the money.
The possibilities in this game are endless--you can swim, jump, scale buildings, drive, shoot everything, and even shoot car tires. Once you beat the first few gangs, you will have a good time getting your athletic, driving, explosive, firearms, etc. skills up.
For those hardcore gamers, you will earn most all of the achievments with ease. The online play is great, and almost completely lag-free. Occasionally, cars will become invisible (glitch) where the drivers will appear to be floting in mid-air. Fortunately, this makes gameplay all the more fun. You can kick the cars and watch the drivers go sailing off into the distance.
I recommend this game to fans of Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto. This game is actually better than both of them, though. Now I look forward to playing my XBOX 360 nearly every day.
Like a kid in a candy store...
On: 2007-04-02Crackdown is a euphoric, addictive rush that, unfortunately, doesnt last as long as you wish. The premise is a Grand Theft Auto-style game set in the near future. The originality of this game is what sets it apart from, and makes it in many ways better than, most GTA games and GTA clones. This game is essentially a super-hero game, with the player controlling a genetically-enhanced crime fighter. Remember how in GTA you would die the instant you touched water, or if you fell from a height of over 3 feet? Well in Crackdown, you can jump OVER buildings, lift buses to hurl them anywhere you want, and you get better at everything simply by using your skill. Remember the original Matrix movie? This is what it feels like. The more you shoot, the better shot you become, same with driving.
Simply leveling up (a typical RPG element) works wonders in this game, meaning that simply jumping around the city beating up gang members is a blast.
The GOOD: Non-linear missions. No more fed-ex quests or escorting missions. You are tasked to take out major crime bosses. You can bump them off in any order you wish, and your actions have logical repercussions: take out the Russian mafias gun supplier, and the grunts on the streets will have less lethal ordinance. Awesome, addictive superhero play- jumping around a city has never been this much fun. The graphics, reminiscent of "A Scanner Darkly" are awesome. Just plain fun action all around.
The BAD: Way too short. Once you kill off all of the gangs... theres nothing to do. You can run around the city, but with no baddies to fight, it gets old quick, since your character is all leveled-out by then.
Bottom Line: Original, addictive and a blast to play.
Digital crack
On: 2007-04-01Another title that impeded me from turning the power off. Crackdown is a solid game that deserves high marks in the sandbox genre.
Storyline: You play as an agent in a crime ridden city. There are 3 districts, each controlled by a gang that is progressively better armed/organized and more aggressive as you go along. Your character has progressive abilities granted by genetic manipulation. This is brought together decently well considering if you are playing this game, the story is just an excuse to do what your doing, so the story does its job.
Acheivements: Some of the achievements are gimmes, but not as much so as in other games. The acheivment system rewards players for doing what any sandbox player would do anyway granted these abilities. Ig, there is an acheivment for climbing to the highest point in the city, and then another for jumping off and landing safely in the water below. Half of these acheivements will be acheived simply by playing through the game, the other half will remind you of the acheivements on Dead Rising, sans the morbid humor.
Gameplay: Its not hard to get started, the narrator tells you what you need to do, and then you get off to a start. You will find yourself slaying gang members in no time. But there is more to the game than that. You do races on foot (more difficult than it sounds), and in vehicles. There are things to find, and you are encouraged (in the form of acheivement points) to make massive explosions happens and wreak havoc on vehicles and such. Also, the narrator does not push you to move on with the missions, he lets you do whatever without badgering you to press on with the story, and even lets you know when there are races nearby you. While I spent the first hour killing bad guys, I spent the next four just seeing what I could do, and because I was earning points towards my abilities, it wasnt a waste of time.
Graphics: These graphics arent designed to truly shine on a HDTV, but they still look good. What catches your eye is when your on top of a tall building and you notice the draw distance. You can see cars driving from a far distance away, and there is no fog in the distance. It will draw the whole city, and it looks even better at sunrise and sunset. But that is a fleeting moment. Rest of the game still looks good, and is testament to the power of the 360. The most gratifying explosions make you just itching to use the rocket launcher on anything.
Sound: The sound works, thats all I can say. The deep base of the explosions and the distinctive sounds from different weapons and even cars works well with a surround system. If you and the cops are having a block-wide gun battle with a gang, the surround will make you think your playing Call of Duty 3.
Didnt Like: The soundtrack. Its weak but who cares? Anyone who gets this will play the game for two minutes before he plays his own gang-busting soundtrack. So, actually, its good the designers didnt waste too much disc space with the tracks. Also, Im a cop, and I cant arrest anyone? In True Crime: Streets of L.A., you can at least search people and interact a little more with the civilians. Speaking of civilians, they have no desire to save themselves. When you are having a gun battle and the gang members are just piling in, you eventually have to shoot off a rocket or toss a grenade into the crowd of enemies to save yourself - at the expense of a few hapless civilians who dont seem to care that bullets are flying anywhere. This isnt so bad, except the cops that are helping you suddenly get pissed and try to shoot you. Driving is kind of a pain sometimes. The engine for vehicle handling makes almost everything handle like a warthog in Halo 2 with a drunk team-killing partner behind the wheel. You WILL run over people in everyrace if you intend to win, and even if you dont, none of these vehicles brakes respond very well so good luck not hitting a car on the road even when you are trying to drive normal. Fortunatly, the cops dont stay mad for long and will forget your transgressions, and the skill penalization is far outweighed by the gain (unless you are JUST killing civilians, then you dont gain any skills). There is one graphics error that appears every once in a while. Sometimes the game forgets to draw a car, and you will see a person sitting on air doing 40 - kind of humorous.
I cant say if any of these has or has not been fixed by any of the 3 patches since its release, as I cant get on xbox live in Afghanistan due to poor connection speed, but except for the soundtrack, all those Im sure could easily be fixed.
This should be called "CrackedOut"
On: 2007-03-30Yeah, this game is addictive. Highly addictive. Once you get your agent to a certain level, jumping around and sniffing out every single agility orb and hidden orb is what life becomes. I actually look forward to the weekends more then I ever did in the past six months. This is due to CrackDown. As far as the game goes, it is pretty much what I hope games like this will be from now on. I have played all the GTA/Saints Row/Godfather type games, and for what those games are, they are fun. This game borrows some of the engine but still manages to be unique both in appearence and gameplay. You are a juiced-up cop on the prowl for gang members and their leaders. You can pick up cars and toss them around. You can pick up cars with families in them and chuck them off a cliff. I know, its sick. But it is so fun. Your guy just gets stronger and stronger. Soon you will jumping Matrix style from building to building wasting any enemies that come out for a peek. I also love the graphics. This isnt Gears or Fight Night level stuff, but the city is beautiful, the colors are bright and Pacific City has tons of areas to explore. Personally I think these kind of graphics are more appealing then the real life stuff. Great game....9/10.
Way overrated, does not live up to the hype
On: 2007-03-29I was hearing how incredible this game was, how its way better than saints row or grand theft auto. So, I borrowed the game from my work and I decided to play it. Wow, is this game overblown. Only fun the first couple hours and then becomes terribly repeative. Once you max out your guy, what the hell is there to do? Plus, enemies constantly respawn, so most of the time you get shot off of a building and die. Im at the end of the game right now, fighting the WANG guy and I screamed out in protest. Ive beaten Gears of War on Insane diffuclty, but this game is just downright stupid. Plus, there is no storyline, you can get all of the achievements within about a day or two, and the graphics that everyone is raving about is not even on par with better games like Gears of Rainbow Six Vegas. Dont believe the hype, this game isnt all its cracked up to be.
insanely fun, I love this game
by: Anonymous On: 2007-03-29
totally worth the money. Its so entertaining, its even fun just watching someone else play it. I maxed my guy out and killed all the bosses,..but its still a riot jumping around the city. Cant wait for either the sequel or some downloadable extras. Great JOB to whoever wrote this game, it couldnt have been better!
Nice game, nice visuals
On: 2007-03-27This game is sweet. If you can get past the GTA fanboyism reviews, you will like the game. Its colorful, explosive, and tall. By tall, I am refering to fact that you climb up some pretty tall buildings. The weapons in the game are pretty nice. You can come to expect the run of the mill pistols and assault rifles. But what takes the cake are the explosives. The are three different projectile types. There are also 4 different nade types. The explosions in this game are animated very well. The driving in Crackdown can be a little frustrating to say the least. It is still a strong feature, with the fact that you can pull off tricks with certain cars. My favorite part of the game is your ability to build up your agents skills. When you make a kill with a method of your choice, you will accumulate skill points. The higher your skill the more you will be able to do. For example, run faster, back flip in cars, or acquire that headshot faster.
The story is a little boring. Ill admit that. There are also some glitches in the dialog timing department. For example, "nice ascent agent", when you are standing on the ground six feet above sea-level. Overall there are not that many cons to the game.
its good
by: sephlex On: 2007-03-26
why am i putting in a review, i hate typing reviews, good game though
Fun fun fun
On: 2007-03-26If youre into sandbox shootings youll love it.
If not, dont waste your money.
This is not a story based game but more of a action, quasi-RPG, 3rd person shooter with a complete sense of exploration.
Its not GTA so dont expect a GTA. In my opinion its more than a GTA.
The videos online dont do it justice, it could be an easy rental rather than a 55 dollar + purchase. It only took me 6 hours to complete but the online replay is fun so ill keep it.
Not the Best Sandbox, But pretty close
On: 2007-03-25Many sandbox and other free-roam games are just considered rip-offs of GTA, with a few exceptions like Mercenaries. This is one of those exceptions. You are given a city in the near future, run by 3 gangs. Your job is to wipe out the gangs by eliminating thier bosses and leaders, but who cares about that? The real fun is exploring and jumping on building-tops. This is one of those games where you can go anywhere you want, destroy anything you want, and DO anything you want. For fans of sandbox (free-roam) games, this will become an instant classic, and even if you arent, youll still get your moneys worth!
Fair-Alright For What It Is
On: 2007-03-25Well, I dont care about Halo, I had been waiting for this game for awhile due to all the stories of how great it would be. Well, I got the demo on XBL as soon as it came out, wasnt that impressed, and deleted it to save space(the demo is 1.2gb and my 360 drive is maybe half full because I have some arcade stff, etc). I spent a couple of weeks thinking about if I should buy the full game or not, then thought, what the heck if I dont like it better it should be easy to trade in for the Halo beta, so I picked it up.
First thing, I have to say is, Im so tired of everyone comparing every non linear game to GTA. Sandbox blah blah GTA clone yada yada it gets so old. If I see the word "sandbox" again I think im going to scream. The GTA games are unique and trendsetting; games that came after them might employ some of their attributes but just because they do, that doesnt make them "GTA Clones" or "GTA ripoffs" Oy that makes me crazy.
Now then, where was I? Oh yeah, Crackdown..as most other reviewers stated, the most fun is actually jumping around trying to find all the power up orbs whatever theyre called. I havent really worked on eliminating the gangs yet, dont really know any of the areas too well, but like someone else said, its really not worth the effort, to use vehicles and spend all the time driving around the big map, when you can teleport from station to station.
Last thing I dont like-it frowns on you killing innocents, one of my favorite things to do in a game (Im evil). One of the most violent, gory games of all times, Soldier of Fortune II, was, IMO, totally spoiled in that you were not allowed to kill bystanders-if you did you failed the mission. Bah!
Super Cop has a Super Adventure!
On: 2007-03-23This game is a very fun sandbox game that is lots of fun going through alone or with a friend via XBL. You don the roll of a genetically altered cop tasked with the clean up of the local mob bosses and their clan of goons and super goons. You have a couple basic stats that you level up but killing the hordes of baddies. You get penalized for killing innocent pedestrians and other cops. This game can be finished in about 20 hours, more if you go for the nerdpoints. It is fun enough for me at least to go through a few more times on the different difficulties and play with other people on XBL. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants a fun romp through a city running on roof tops and throwing cars.
Huge Potential - Slightly Weak Implementation
by: stradric On: 2007-03-23
This game is tremendous fun. Its basically Grand Theft Auto where you are a genetically engineered "supercop" that must secure the city from the 3 major gangs. As your powers grow, the game gets more and more fun. There are only a few things that I do not like about this game, and they are all minor interface / control issues (cycle through targets,map interface, recover in mid-air from getting knocked off your feet). Co-op over xbox live is easily the best feature about this game. It could have been a bit more seamless, but it certainly works well. Excellent game that I would definitely recommend if you love these sandbox type games. I cant wait for Crackdown 2.
Wait until it's $8 a copy, used.
On: 2007-03-22Crackdown is supposed to be sort-of like GTA, but I think it misses by miles. The cars are sort of drivable if you keep driving them, but theres no reason to drive the cars. You accidentally squash too many people and get penalized for it. Your character is literally a superman and can outrun the traffic, and the city isnt really that big, and contains point-to-point teleports from rooftop Agency Supply Points that take you anywhere in the city instantly. You spend most of the time in the game leaping from rooftop to rooftop, like The Tick. Especially if you want to kill bad guys without lots of civilian casualties.
Its one of those designs where everything you do is wimpy unless you keep doing it and doing it. Then you just slaughter the bad-guys that way until youre sick and tired of using that power by the time it does any good, and then youll want to move on to the next thing, but its too weak to use and most of the wimpy bad guys you need to work on that skill are used up. Theres so little of interest to do in the game that youll finish it about the same time your guy is all buffed up. The main thing that reliably boosts most of your powerups is how you kill bad-guys. The thing that boosts agility most is running around on rooftops collecting agility bonuses, because the foot races are just too long and too hit-or-miss to bother with. There are car races, but all of them are versus the clock, just like the foot races, and as I said, theres just no reason to use a car.
(SPOILER: The end-game really sucks, too.)
If you want to try it, rent it, or wait until its $8 a copy, and being given away with random hardware, like Brute Force was.
VISUAL: Generally pretty, no gore.
AUDIO: Very little variety. People say exactly the same dumb things over and over, especially the narrator/announcer, whom you will want to strangle. The music tracks arent so great, and most of it is in cars, which are unnecessary.
PARENTS: Its all based on slaughtering people, and the English speaking bad guys shout a lot of gratuitous four-letter words for no particular reason, so dont buy it for the kids if you dont want to expose them to that sort of game. This is definitely that sort of game. Im not against it, Im just letting you know that its not for kids.
BONUS: It comes with a Halo3 beta preview download (PvP only), whenever they get around to releasing it. Unfortunately, if Halo2 is any indication of where their quality is going, Halo3 will just be very pretty, but not very fun to play, which is sad, given how great Halo was.
Not better than GTA
On: 2007-03-22This game is fun but it is more like the hulk than any GTA game. Definetly not as long or as good but still a good play
Crackdown and get this one...
On: 2007-03-22Bought it for Halo 3 Beta... Played it for extreme fun. Do yourself a favor and get this one. Its grand theft auto if you were a superhero!
Crackdown aka Beatdown
On: 2007-03-22This game is awesome, provided hours of entertainment.
Pros:
Awesome Gameplay, superheroesque..
Halo 3 invite
Lots of side missions
Cons:
AFter beating the game, all you do is go around and kill ramapant gangs.
Not enough terrirtory, they should have had 5 islands.
Wait until it's $8 a copy, used.
On: 2007-03-21Crackdown is supposed to be sort-of like GTA, but I think it misses by miles. The cars are sort of drivable if you keep driving them, but theres no reason to drive the cars. You accidentally squash too many people and get penalized for it. Your character is literally a superman and can outrun the traffic, and the city isnt really that big, and contains point-to-point teleports from rooftop Agency Supply Points that take you anywhere in the city instantly. You spend most of the time in the game leaping from rooftop to rooftop, like The Tick. Especially if you want to kill bad guys without lots of civilian casualties.
Its one of those designs where everything you do is wimpy unless you keep doing it and doing it. Then you just slaughter the bad-guys that way until youre sick and tired of using that power by the time it does any good, and then youll want to move on to the next thing, but its too weak to use and most of the wimpy bad guys you need to work on that skill are used up. Theres so little of interest to do in the game that youll finish it about the same time your guy is all buffed up. The main thing that reliably boosts most of your powerups is how you kill bad-guys. The thing that boosts agility most is running around on rooftops collecting agility bonuses, because the foot races are just too long and too hit-or-miss to bother with. There are car races, but all of them are versus the clock, just like the foot races, and as I said, theres just no reason to use a car.
(SPOILER: The end-game really sucks, too.)
If you want to try it, rent it, or wait until its $8 a copy, and being given away with random hardware, like Brute Force was.
VISUAL: Generally pretty, no gore.
AUDIO: Very little variety. People say exactly the same dumb things over and over, especially the narrator/announcer, whom you will want to strangle. The music tracks arent so great, and most of it is in cars, which are unnecessary.
PARENTS: Its all based on slaughtering people, and the English speaking bad guys shout a lot of gratuitous four-letter words for no particular reason, so dont buy it for the kids if you dont want to expose them to that sort of game. This is definitely that sort of game. Im not against it, Im just letting you know that its not for kids.
BONUS: It comes with a Halo3 beta preview download (PvP only), whenever they get around to releasing it. Unfortunately, if Halo2 is any indication of where their quality is going, Halo3 will just be very pretty, but not very fun to play, which is sad, given how great Halo was.
Not better than GTA
On: 2007-03-21This game is fun but it is more like the hulk than any GTA game. Definetly not as long or as good but still a good play
Great game, no real storyline and short lived
On: 2007-03-20My title pretty much said it all. The game is actually fun but can get dull fast cause beating all the boss shouldnt take more then a couple of sitting. Online is ok but i still think it needs a story plot to make it last longer.
Its alright but not as a sandbox
On: 2007-03-19Dont be fooled, this is not a typical sandbox game. Its more like an arcade sandbox game without the quarters. I managed to beat the game in 3 days, thankfully it was only rented so be wary of purchasing it.
What it boils down to...
Nothing in it is too hard to do. You spend most of the game hunting down generals of this kingpin boss (three kingpin bosses all together). To kill a general you only have to leap and run past the gambit of henchmen, blow the general up with a few rockets and finish him off with the biggest machine gun you got while hes burning on the ground. Then sweep the area of any henchmen thats left because thats about the only way youll get your super powers buffed. If you try to take on the hench men then the general youll get frustrated because they constantly respawn and thus waste your time. I had no problem at all maxing out all my skills in the 3 days I played and became this unstoppable force. It almost felt like I had a cheat loaded because none of the accomplishments felt like you truly earned them. I found the stronger you got in one field the easier it was to buff that field until full. The city is full of globes to collect. Some trickier then others. Its what you do when you dont want to fight bad guys and after you finish the game for accomplishment points.
The rides...
The vehicles in the game are pathetic. Not one drives any good even the special super agent cars. They all feel floaty and loose on the road and cant make a turn without overshooting killing cilivians and penalizing you. I spent most of the game avoiding vehicles all together unless to toss around (the old pig skin lol). This is the worst driving sandbox game yet except for True Crime: Streets of LA. Its a cool factor that your agent cars upgrade with you albiet a little wierd to watch (why couldnt the agency just give you that special car to begin with). Jumping on a car from way up high is fun, it also shows that cars bleed like you squished a bug. Its too bad the cars dont totally crush in like that agent does on Matrix: Reloaded. That would have been a major plus.
The dude...
Ok your a super hero, you cant be a bad guy and you dont have any interaction with the guys looks except during your initial character pick in the beginning. He will morph slightly during your upgrades into a better looking character. Id say about 95% of the time he will jump and do exactly as you want but there is that lingering percentage where he absolutely refuses to cooperate. I do not get the feeling of Prince of Persias unbeatable sync with the character on screen. In fact he handles more like Alex Denton from Deus Ex, as great as that game was, the character was like driving a tank. In your head is this special announcer guy thats always repeating the same stuff telling you tips and hints about crap that newbs would know. Only very rarely does he come out with anything interesting to say or appropiate subject matter for what your doing. However, in the disimbodied guys defense, you get lonely without him after turning him off in the menu.
The gangs...
Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, Ive seen rocket launching grandmas pack more punch then these after school special rejects. Okay maybe they arent that bad. I hate the fact they respawn, its uber annoying, especially when they just materialize right before your eyes. If you know a building is empty then why oh why do they keep coming up elevators from unknown paths (some of the elevators have nothing above or below them). They say the same things over and over and over again which makes you want to kill each and every one. They dont seem to have any team connections so instead of flanking you, they run around hoping to get a bead on your cyber head disregarding the guy next to them that just got turned into a stain. Then after they see you theres that inevitable delay, they might as well sing "waiting to be killed...waiting to be killed". On the road they get plain annoying as your walking around with gang notority. Theyll pull up in these distinctive POSs and one or two will pop out. Simply walk up to them, pop them with the [...] of your gun and shoot them while they float in the air to get both strenght and accuracy buffs. Eventually your strength will be enough where you hit one, it will kill the subsequent others behind him, lol.
Its a small world after all...
The demo shows pretty much all you get. The Cuervos region is 33% of what you get. Thats not much in comparison to Saints Row. They added a cell shaded look to the game for some odd reason making it feel cartoony instead of gritty and real. The big black lines around stuff is distracting. I can say that objects you tear up and people you kill will stay put for a while and thats a plus. I heard they did it to buff the draw-in distance and allow for more poly without slowdown unlike the occasional one in Saints. It is awesome that I can see well into the distance other parts of Pacific City. There are problems with graphics. Several times Ive witnessed people driving invisible cars. You can actually hit these people as if they are really there and not protected. It looks so strange. Ive also seen people walking up invisible steps in the air only to reach heaven and fall back down.
Better than expected
On: 2007-03-18I will admit that I bought this game for the Halo 3 beta. When I got it, I thought I would give it a shot and I am glad I did. It was a lot of fun and I am still playing it. The bosses are a little easy to beat once you get to them. The agility orbs and hidden orbs are fun to try and find. I have almost found all of them. I wish there was a multiplayer options (other than campaign). For Halo fans, I would recommend this game because the game is fun and of course you will get the Halo 3 beta download code when it comes out.
Its alright but not as a sandbox
On: 2007-03-18Dont be fooled, this is not a typical sandbox game. Its more like an arcade sandbox game without the quarters. I managed to beat the game in 3 days, thankfully it was only rented so be wary of purchasing it.
What it boils down to...
Nothing in it is too hard to do. You spend most of the game hunting down generals of this kingpin boss (three kingpin bosses all together). To kill a general you only have to leap and run past the gambit of henchmen, blow the general up with a few rockets and finish him off with the biggest machine gun you got while hes burning on the ground. Then sweep the area of any henchmen thats left because thats about the only way youll get your super powers buffed. If you try to take on the hench men then the general youll get frustrated because they constantly respawn and thus waste your time. I had no problem at all maxing out all my skills in the 3 days I played and became this unstoppable force. It almost felt like I had a cheat loaded because none of the accomplishments felt like you truly earned them. I found the stronger you got in one field the easier it was to buff that field until full. The city is full of globes to collect. Some trickier then others. Its what you do when you dont want to fight bad guys and after you finish the game for accomplishment points.
The rides...
The vehicles in the game are pathetic. Not one drives any good even the special super agent cars. They all feel floaty and loose on the road and cant make a turn without overshooting killing cilivians and penalizing you. I spent most of the game avoiding vehicles all together unless to toss around (the old pig skin lol). This is the worst driving sandbox game yet except for True Crime: Streets of LA. Its a cool factor that your agent cars upgrade with you albiet a little wierd to watch (why couldnt the agency just give you that special car to begin with). Jumping on a car from way up high is fun, it also shows that cars bleed like you squished a bug. Its too bad the cars dont totally crush in like that agent does on Matrix: Reloaded. That would have been a major plus.
The dude...
Ok your a super hero, you cant be a bad guy and you dont have any interaction with the guys looks except during your initial character pick in the beginning. He will morph slightly during your upgrades into a better looking character. Id say about 95% of the time he will jump and do exactly as you want but there is that lingering percentage where he absolutely refuses to cooperate. I do not get the feeling of Prince of Persias unbeatable sync with the character on screen. In fact he handles more like Alex Denton from Deus Ex, as great as that game was, the character was like driving a tank. In your head is this special announcer guy thats always repeating the same stuff telling you tips and hints about crap that newbs would know. Only very rarely does he come out with anything interesting to say or appropiate subject matter for what your doing. However, in the disimbodied guys defense, you get lonely without him after turning him off in the menu.
The gangs...
Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, Ive seen rocket launching grandmas pack more punch then these after school special rejects. Okay maybe they arent that bad. I hate the fact they respawn, its uber annoying, especially when they just materialize right before your eyes. If you know a building is empty then why oh why do they keep coming up elevators from unknown paths (some of the elevators have nothing above or below them). They say the same things over and over and over again which makes you want to kill each and every one. They dont seem to have any team connections so instead of flanking you, they run around hoping to get a bead on your cyber head disregarding the guy next to them that just got turned into a stain. Then after they see you theres that inevitable delay, they might as well sing "waiting to be killed...waiting to be killed". On the road they get plain annoying as your walking around with gang notority. Theyll pull up in these distinctive POSs and one or two will pop out. Simply walk up to them, pop them with the [...] of your gun and shoot them while they float in the air to get both strenght and accuracy buffs. Eventually your strength will be enough where you hit one, it will kill the subsequent others behind him, lol.
Its a small world after all...
The demo shows pretty much all you get. The Cuervos region is 33% of what you get. Thats not much in comparison to Saints Row. They added a cell shaded look to the game for some odd reason making it feel cartoony instead of gritty and real. The big black lines around stuff is distracting. I can say that objects you tear up and people you kill will stay put for a while and thats a plus. I heard they did it to buff the draw-in distance and allow for more poly without slowdown unlike the occasional one in Saints. It is awesome that I can see well into the distance other parts of Pacific City. There are problems with graphics. Several times Ive witnessed people driving invisible cars. You can actually hit these people as if they are really there and not protected. It looks so strange. Ive also seen people walking up invisible steps in the air only to reach heaven and fall back down.
Those peacekeepers need your help agent!
On: 2007-03-17This game was obviously created with having a good time in mind. To be so short (all the bosses take something like 12-15 hours to kill unless you try to max out your stats first) and utterly storyless, this game stands out as one of the most fun; most replayable game in recent memory. The cel-shading is mostly well done and only starts to look bad in really close-up camera angles that will probably screw the camera up anyway.
The only real problems I have with this game is that sometimes a boss will inexplicably not be where his map marker says he is and although the criminals banter is quite funny, they never shut up, even if there is no one around. Also the announcer continues to train you in the basics of playing the game no matter how long youve already been playing.
Minor problems aside I totally recommend this game to anyone who like to play games that offer lots of mindless blowing stuff up.
So much potential...
On: 2007-03-16This game is great youll love the jumping from building to building and get frustrated by the highest difficulty. But it just seems kind of hollow in the story line so its more about messing around than the actual story.
Driving with less than 3 stars is terrible and annoying.
Targeting system takes a little to get used to(having played the latest GTA games where you can switch between targets without having to aim) you have to aim at your target THEN lock on.
But other than that it was a blast, not realy worth the $60 but it came with the Halo 3 beta so maybe it is worth it :D
Crackdown a let down?!?
On: 2007-03-16Crackdown is fun - at first. But after spending a couple of hours running around or jumping around the game becomes stale. If you liked GTA and the storylines that were woven into the free roaming world then you will be disappointed by the utter lack of plot in Crackdown. The only missions you have are to assassinate 21 gang bosses and take driving and rooftop races. For me the game devolves to the point that the only reason to play was to get achievements. I dont play games for achievements, I get achievements while playing games. Unfortunately this game doesnt give you any reason to put the disc in the drive - at least until the Halo 3 beta is released.
Awsome fun but bad plot
On: 2007-03-16The game is tremendously fun to just roam around...and the explosions are the best, i sometimes just pile cars then get my firefly and shoot like 3 rockets and then watch it explode. The best part are the powers, the weapons, and the great heights...the downside is the story is pretty much non existent...they could have had a lot better story line but they chose not too
Awsome fun but bad plot
On: 2007-03-15The game is tremendously fun to just roam around...and the explosions are the best, i sometimes just pile cars then get my firefly and shoot like 3 rockets and then watch it explode. The best part are the powers, the weapons, and the great heights...the downside is the story is pretty much non existent...they could have had a lot better story line but they chose not too
Crackdown Could Have Been Made Better!
On: 2007-03-13First, here is the positive part to Crackdown. I think Crackdown is a fun game to play. It is very entertaining and the game will keep you occupied for hours. In the game, you not only fight street gangs and gang leaders, but you also participate in different street races and try to find different colored orbs to build up your strength and skills. You become faster at running, you can jump higher, and you can shoot weapons better.
Okay, here is the negative part to Crackdown. First off, it feels like the game developers rush through to try to finish this game. The game feels like it is half finished.
For example, the city you play in is divided up on different islands. The city is called Pacific City. So you are surrounded by water. Well here is the weird part. There are no boats anywhere out on the water. You are surrounded by water but there are no boats. You have beaches on the islands but there are no people sitting on the beaches or swimming out in the water. There are factories in the game but there are no railroad tracks so there are no trains. I have never seen a factory area without railroad tracks and trains. There are no airports so there are no planes or helicopters up in the sky. Where are the motorcycles in the game?
You have a Amusement Park in the game called "Fun Land" that located on a beach. I noticed when I went to Fun Land that are no people at the Amusement Park. Well how come there are no people at Fun Land? Every time I go there to Fun Land, I cant find one person there. It doesnt matter if it is day or night. And how come there is only one ride there? You have a big Ferris Wheel and thats it. The Ferris Wheel doesnt even work. And how come none of the Snack Bars at Fun Land are ever opened for business?
Most buildings in the game you can never go inside. They are just there for looks and thats it. I dont know why people even bother comparing this game to the "Grand Theft Auto" series because its not. The Grand Theft Auto series games all had planes, boats, trains, motocycles, etc. You could go inside most buildings in the Grand Theft Auto Series.
I listen to all the songs in the game. There are 105 songs you can listen to while you are driving around in a vehicle. I notice right away none of the songs are popular songs. All the songs are sort of rap songs Ive never even heard of. Why didnt they put in some country music, new age, rock and roll, contemporary, etc. that people recognized? In Grand Theft Auto Vice City one of the reasons the game was so popular was because of the music in the game. They played all 1980s hit songs which really added to the game. This music is pretty much forgettable in Crackdown.
I like Crackdown, but it really frustrating when I could see Crackdown being a much better made game to play.
Ultimately shallow, but what a blast!
On: 2007-03-11Crackdown was honestly a breeze to finish. The main story is over in several hours and the life it holds after that is relegated to collecting orbs and finishing the odd achievement... But, while the main story is going, and you first start gaining abilities and growing in power, Crackdown is awesome. You really feel like you are a superhero jumping from rooftop to rooftop and throwing huge things across the city. For this reason alone, its worth getting. If they can add new gangs and ability growth via xbox live, the game rating definitely goes up.
Lame Game
On: 2007-03-11The game isnt really that great. There are no characters at all, youre just some super solider brought to life to bring the cities gang problem under control. You have random thugs for each of the three gangs you need to take down, then there are General who provide a certain duty for the gang (cars, weapons, etc) and when you take them down the King Pins are weakened, and these are your main targets. But none of these "characters" really have anything to them. Basically, no story.....
Targeting really blows on this game. You press a button to lock on to a target, but my guy would lock onto a car or a random target far off, instead of the three thugs blowing holes in me. It takes forever to turn around.
I found myself bored with the game after a few hours.
Crackdown- 20+ hours of the same thing.
On: 2007-03-11First of all, a note to the parents: This game is rated M for blood, intense violence, language, drug content, sexual content and Im sure theyve come up with others. Id like to take this time to say, this rating is stupid! I had my mother watch me play this game for about 20 mins and she found nothing wrong with it (or at least nothing as severe as they make it sound). Blood is there, and violence is there, but drugs and sex? Not really... Anyway, to the review!
"Shortened" Review is at the bottom titled "OVERALL SUMMARY"
Crackdown is a typical "sandbox" game. (A "sandbox" game typically involves a player controlling 1 character with 1 major objective and they can complete it in any way they want while roaming the entire map)
The big story is that there is a city which is composed of 3 islands- each island controlled by a different major gang. The "Agency" (the police) have created clones, capable of growing into large, powerful and talented agents to fight these numerous gangs. (The player plays as the clone. They choose 1 of about 6 different body types)
Gameplay: The bosses breakdown into a pyramid style. The kingpin (leader) is at the top, 4 followers in the middle of the pyramid and 2 minor gang bosses at the bottom. This is where some freedom for the player is brought in. They can choose to attack the kingpin right away, but will probably be killed for the first couple of tries. Or, they could kill the "underlings" first. Each boss is incharge of something. Gang member fitness, weapons, vehicles, explosives, gang numbers, etc. Taking out a leader, lets say the weapons leader, would have a major impact on the other gang members. Now that the weapons dealer is gone, instead of snipers and rocket launchers, gang members only have pistols and shotguns. There are 5 basic skils: Agility, Strength, Driving, Explosives, and Weapons. Using these skills to kill other gang members incrases them. For example, a level 1 in explosives, might have a grenade explode with a radius of about 4 feet, whereas a level 4 in explosives (max) has an explosion radius of about 20 feet. You may also grab cars of your choice (even if someone is already driving them!), throw almost anything you see on the screen and, if you choose, kill innocents (however, the agency will send an endless supply of agents to hunt you down- making this path undesireable).
Graphics- Not much to say here. 50% of the players will love them, 50% will hate them. The sky is realistic enough, along with the buildings, but the characters arnt realaistic, but more comic book-like. Explosions are fun to watch as the physics engine is very good. (ex. When an explosive goes off a trash can flys 100 feet, a car only goes about 5.)
OVERALL SUMMARY:
This game is a police verison of Grand Theft Auto with numerous weapons, races, cars and areas to explore. The graphics and physics engine demonstrate their true power brilliantly. The achievements range from incredibly easy (finding 1 supply point) to incredibly difficult (find all 300 hidden orbs). Its fun, addicting, and a way to kill some time until some of the stronger sellers come out later in the year. My only complant is that the game is very repetitive. Reborn --> Kill gangs --> get some skills up --> do something stupid & die --> Repeat. Overall, if you have $60 buring a hole in your pocket, this probably the best game to spend it on.
Ultimately shallow, but what a blast!
On: 2007-03-10Crackdown was honestly a breeze to finish. The main story is over in several hours and the life it holds after that is relegated to collecting orbs and finishing the odd achievement... But, while the main story is going, and you first start gaining abilities and growing in power, Crackdown is awesome. You really feel like you are a superhero jumping from rooftop to rooftop and throwing huge things across the city. For this reason alone, its worth getting. If they can add new gangs and ability growth via xbox live, the game rating definitely goes up.
It's called CRACKdown for a reason!
On: 2007-03-10This games is called CRACKdown for a reason - you will quickly become obsessed with finding agility orbs all over Pacific City! This game will consume you. One minute youre on your way to wipe out a mob boss. . . but wait. . . whats that up there on that rooftop? An agility orb? Up up and away! Before you know it, youre scaling a building. . . bounding to a precipitous ledge to get the glowing green agility orb (the crack in crackdown!). But wait! What do your wondering eyes behold? ANOTHER AGILITY ORB three rooftops away. . . and then another. . .and another! The rooftops become fields of beckoning orbs. Soon you forget about the citizens crawling along on the ground below you as you leap from building to building. But youre not free from the bad guys. Not by a long shot! A well placed rocket can knock you off your rooftop quest and send you falling, flaming to the asphalt below! And so it is in the game of crackdown.
I bought this game solely for the Halo 3 beta invite. I didnt really expect this game to be nearly as fun as it is. I thought I might enjoy it, but now I can highly recommend the game solely on its own merits. There are a lot of achievements in this game that you can get through normal gameplay, however, there are some that require you devote time solely to them. The rooftop races are an example. Throughout each gang area of Pacific City, there are things known as rooftop races that require you to race from one location to the next. This is almost like slalom racing in skiing. You will have a starting point and there may be 30 or so green gateways that your agent must pass through in a set time period. A lot of these races will show you locations of orbs you havent yet discovered and locations of crime bosses youve not yet brought to justice.
Crackdown is a much better game than Id ever expected or hoped for. Its well worth the $60.00 and I dont say that lightly! The language in the game is NOT appropriate for children. There are several of the major, spicy cuss words peppered throughout this game (read that as the "S" word and the "F" word). Usually these cuss words are uttered by many of the henchmen as you are infiltrating their stronghold. The violence isnt anything beyond what youd see in a rated T for Teen game like COD2 or Halo 2. The coarse language is what prevented me from buying a copy of the game for my son.
Perhaps the only weakspot I found in the game (aside from coarse language) is the lack of a multiplayer option. If two people want to play the game at the same time, they need to have two Xbox 360s. In other words, you can only put the smackdown on crime with your best buddy if you have two 360s system linked or if you hook up via XBL. Thats kinda silly. Although Im a fan of splitscreen gaming, but it does need to at least be an option.
In short, dont think of this as purchasing a Halo 3 beta invite with a free version of crackdown. Think of this as a great game worthy of purchasing all by itself! You wont be sorry!
GTA on steroids!!!!!!!
On: 2007-03-10This game is awesome!!!!!! You have to love this if youre a follower of the GTA series. The things you can do on here is incredible. The story line is of course to short, b/c you would like to continue to find something new out after youve played for a while.
Each of the skills you have, you increase during gameplay giving you the ability to do super-human things!!!!!!!
Great game, already awaiting the next one!!!!!!!!!!
Crackdown- 20+ hours of the same thing.
On: 2007-03-10First of all, a note to the parents: This game is rated M for blood, intense violence, language, drug content, sexual content and Im sure theyve come up with others. Id like to take this time to say, this rating is stupid! I had my mother watch me play this game for about 20 mins and she found nothing wrong with it (or at least nothing as severe as they make it sound). Blood is there, and violence is there, but drugs and sex? Not really... Anyway, to the review!
"Shortened" Review is at the bottom titled "OVERALL SUMMARY"
Crackdown is a typical "sandbox" game. (A "sandbox" game typically involves a player controlling 1 character with 1 major objective and they can complete it in any way they want while roaming the entire map)
The big story is that there is a city which is composed of 3 islands- each island controlled by a different major gang. The "Agency" (the police) have created clones, capable of growing into large, powerful and talented agents to fight these numerous gangs. (The player plays as the clone. They choose 1 of about 6 different body types)
Gameplay: The bosses breakdown into a pyramid style. The kingpin (leader) is at the top, 4 followers in the middle of the pyramid and 2 minor gang bosses at the bottom. This is where some freedom for the player is brought in. They can choose to attack the kingpin right away, but will probably be killed for the first couple of tries. Or, they could kill the "underlings" first. Each boss is incharge of something. Gang member fitness, weapons, vehicles, explosives, gang numbers, etc. Taking out a leader, lets say the weapons leader, would have a major impact on the other gang members. Now that the weapons dealer is gone, instead of snipers and rocket launchers, gang members only have pistols and shotguns. There are 5 basic skils: Agility, Strength, Driving, Explosives, and Weapons. Using these skills to kill other gang members incrases them. For example, a level 1 in explosives, might have a grenade explode with a radius of about 4 feet, whereas a level 4 in explosives (max) has an explosion radius of about 20 feet. You may also grab cars of your choice (even if someone is already driving them!), throw almost anything you see on the screen and, if you choose, kill innocents (however, the agency will send an endless supply of agents to hunt you down- making this path undesireable).
Graphics- Not much to say here. 50% of the players will love them, 50% will hate them. The sky is realistic enough, along with the buildings, but the characters arnt realaistic, but more comic book-like. Explosions are fun to watch as the physics engine is very good. (ex. When an explosive goes off a trash can flys 100 feet, a car only goes about 5.)
OVERALL SUMMARY:
This game is a police verison of Grand Theft Auto with numerous weapons, races, cars and areas to explore. The graphics and physics engine demonstrate their true power brilliantly. The achievements range from incredibly easy (finding 1 supply point) to incredibly difficult (find all 300 hidden orbs). Its fun, addicting, and a way to kill some time until some of the stronger sellers come out later in the year. My only complant is that the game is very repetitive. Reborn --> Kill gangs --> get some skills up --> do something stupid & die --> Repeat. Overall, if you have $60 buring a hole in your pocket, this probably the best game to spend it on.
Crackdown Best Game Ever ? Almost
On: 2007-03-10Crackdown is a great game for all who enjoy sandbox games. The thing that I did not like was that it was too short and a lack or a full story that I have come to expect from games like the GTA series. Everything else was so much fun and it doubles when you are playing CO-OP. Like other people have stated it is fun doing missions, Collecting orbs and just leveling up your powers. It will be a fun and action packed experience. On the other hand it includes the beta for Halo 3. This game = many many hours of fun!!!!
Not to bad
On: 2007-03-09I got this game mostly cause of the Halo 3 beta test ticket. I have to admit its a fun game, kind of different on the controls from what im use to, but still fun overall!
It's called CRACKdown for a reason!
On: 2007-03-09This games is called CRACKdown for a reason - you will quickly become obsessed with finding agility orbs all over Pacific City! This game will consume you. One minute youre on your way to wipe out a mob boss. . . but wait. . . whats that up there on that rooftop? An agility orb? Up up and away! Before you know it, youre scaling a building. . . bounding to a precipitous ledge to get the glowing green agility orb (the crack in crackdown!). But wait! What do your wondering eyes behold? ANOTHER AGILITY ORB three rooftops away. . . and then another. . .and another! The rooftops become fields of beckoning orbs. Soon you forget about the citizens crawling along on the ground below you as you leap from building to building. But youre not free from the bad guys. Not by a long shot! A well placed rocket can knock you off your rooftop quest and send you falling, flaming to the asphalt below! And so it is in the game of crackdown.
I bought this game solely for the Halo 3 beta invite. I didnt really expect this game to be nearly as fun as it is. I thought I might enjoy it, but now I can highly recommend the game solely on its own merits. There are a lot of achievements in this game that you can get through normal gameplay, however, there are some that require you devote time solely to them. The rooftop races are an example. Throughout each gang area of Pacific City, there are things known as rooftop races that require you to race from one location to the next. This is almost like slalom racing in skiing. You will have a starting point and there may be 30 or so green gateways that your agent must pass through in a set time period. A lot of these races will show you locations of orbs you havent yet discovered and locations of crime bosses youve not yet brought to justice.
Crackdown is a much better game than Id ever expected or hoped for. Its well worth the $60.00 and I dont say that lightly! The language in the game is NOT appropriate for children. There are several of the major, spicy cuss words peppered throughout this game (read that as the "S" word and the "F" word). Usually these cuss words are uttered by many of the henchmen as you are infiltrating their stronghold. The violence isnt anything beyond what youd see in a rated T for Teen game like COD2 or Halo 2. The coarse language is what prevented me from buying a copy of the game for my son.
Perhaps the only weakspot I found in the game (aside from coarse language) is the lack of a multiplayer option. If two people want to play the game at the same time, they need to have two Xbox 360s. In other words, you can only put the smackdown on crime with your best buddy if you have two 360s system linked or if you hook up via XBL. Thats kinda silly. Although Im a fan of splitscreen gaming, but it does need to at least be an option.
In short, dont think of this as purchasing a Halo 3 beta invite with a free version of crackdown. Think of this as a great game worthy of purchasing all by itself! You wont be sorry!
Crackdown Best Game Ever ? Almost
On: 2007-03-09Crackdown is a great game for all who enjoy sandbox games. The thing that I did not like was that it was too short and a lack or a full story that I have come to expect from games like the GTA series. Everything else was so much fun and it doubles when you are playing CO-OP. Like other people have stated it is fun doing missions, Collecting orbs and just leveling up your powers. It will be a fun and action packed experience. On the other hand it includes the beta for Halo 3. This game = many many hours of fun!!!!
One of my favorite games
On: 2007-03-08Crackdown is undoubtedly one hell of a game. You can literally spend hours upgrading your character to max ability. Theres so much to do in this game that it will take a really long time before you get bored of it. On TOP of that you get the Halo 3 beta when you buy a copy before the offer ends.
Good Times
On: 2007-03-08This game is actually really really fun. Its cool because for once youre the most powerful person in the game. No one is nearly as strong or skilled as you are. But that doesnt mean the game is easy as the enemies swarm you. So you do have to use some smarts. Rushing in works sometimes but itll get you killed a lot times.
Sometimes Ill do stupid stuff just for fun. For example, Ill park a couple buses on the freeway to block traffic. Then Ill get some steel drums with explosives and place them around the buses. When Ive gotten 10 or so drums Ill throw a limpet mine on them, run away, and blow up the whole thing. I know... its stupid but its fun.
I really like the rooftop jumping for orbs. At first it seems stupid... kind of old school platforming. But it adds a whole different dimension to the game as you have to really think about how to get onto certain rooftops. Jumping Matrix-style from one roof to another is cool but kind of scary too.
Overall I gave this game 4 stars because there are some things that couldve been done better. The hand-to-hand combat could use more variety as your character can only kick and stomp. The weapons couldve been a little more creative. I wouldve liked some flame-throwers, dart guns, or whatever. The weapons selection is a little sub-standard. This game is definitely great for a rental but to get the most out of it I suggest buying it and discovering all the things you can do.
Good Times
On: 2007-03-07This game is actually really really fun. Its cool because for once youre the most powerful person in the game. No one is nearly as strong or skilled as you are. But that doesnt mean the game is easy as the enemies swarm you. So you do have to use some smarts. Rushing in works sometimes but itll get you killed a lot times.
Sometimes Ill do stupid stuff just for fun. For example, Ill park a couple buses on the freeway to block traffic. Then Ill get some steel drums with explosives and place them around the buses. When Ive gotten 10 or so drums Ill throw a limpet mine on them, run away, and blow up the whole thing. I know... its stupid but its fun.
I really like the rooftop jumping for orbs. At first it seems stupid... kind of old school platforming. But it adds a whole different dimension to the game as you have to really think about how to get onto certain rooftops. Jumping Matrix-style from one roof to another is cool but kind of scary too.
Overall I gave this game 4 stars because there are some things that couldve been done better. The hand-to-hand combat could use more variety as your character can only kick and stomp. The weapons couldve been a little more creative. I wouldve liked some flame-throwers, dart guns, or whatever. The weapons selection is a little sub-standard. This game is definitely great for a rental but to get the most out of it I suggest buying it and discovering all the things you can do.
Fun Game - Great to just pick up and play
On: 2007-03-06The best thing I like about Crackdown is that is fun and I dont have to think a lot while Im playing it. If I die - I just start over at a supply point and I dont lose any of the things I have already accomplished. The auto saves are great.
Id give it 5 stars if you had more combat choices. When I want to hit someone all I can do is hit the B key till they go down. I would love to have some combination button hits allow me to do different things, like punching or whatever.
Once you get your agility score up - you can really jump around like the Hulk - its great!
Why Xbox, Why???
On: 2007-03-05This game could have been PERFECT, but noooooooo, they only allow co-op through system link and xbox live, friggen morons!...could have a been a good 2-player game!..other than that game is fun and exciting, blowing things up, throwing cars, the works!
Incredibly Addictive and Fun.
by: davidcorcoran23 On: 2007-03-05
This game really draws you in from the very beginning. The richness of the cityscape and the pure exhiliartion of the gameplay really do set the bar for games of this genre.
There is a visceral thrill in leaping across the skyline and being able to progressively achieve more and more awesome feats as your powers increase.
Hours can literally fly by like minutes as you explore more and more of the labyrintine city - a mark of a really great game.
Fun Game - Great to just pick up and play
On: 2007-03-05The best thing I like about Crackdown is that is fun and I dont have to think a lot while Im playing it. If I die - I just start over at a supply point and I dont lose any of the things I have already accomplished. The auto saves are great.
Id give it 5 stars if you had more combat choices. When I want to hit someone all I can do is hit the B key till they go down. I would love to have some combination button hits allow me to do different things, like punching or whatever.
Once you get your agility score up - you can really jump around like the Hulk - its great!
Why Xbox, Why???
On: 2007-03-04This game could have been PERFECT, but noooooooo, they only allow co-op through system link and xbox live, friggen morons!...could have a been a good 2-player game!..other than that game is fun and exciting, blowing things up, throwing cars, the works!
Incredibly Addictive and Fun.
On: 2007-03-04This game really draws you in from the very beginning. The richness of the cityscape and the pure exhiliartion of the gameplay really do set the bar for games of this genre.
There is a visceral thrill in leaping across the skyline and being able to progressively achieve more and more awesome feats as your powers increase.
Hours can literally fly by like minutes as you explore more and more of the labyrintine city - a mark of a really great game.
A great "pick-up & play"
On: 2007-03-03Im actually having a great time with this game offline/online, it may not be the deepest game but its a lot of fun to play never the less. The Halo 3 beta invite is a nice incentive also. This game makes me think of how a "good" official licensed MATRIX game could have been. Its a buy just for the fact that you feel quite satisfied jumping around and blowing $%@# up!
Awesome, Halo 3 Beta Aside
On: 2007-03-02To be completely honest, I was going to purchase Crackdown mainly for the invitation to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta. Things really changed when I played the Crackdown demo. I was amazed at how much fun I was actually having. The demo lets you play for 30 minutes and when those 30 minutes were up I needed to get the full game.
I got my copy of Crackdown on Sunday and I havent been able to get enough of the game. The storyline has come along pretty well. Its not a major storyline, but it keeps you occupied. You can easily beat all three gangs in one sitting, but there are tons of achievements outside of story mode to keep you playing and challenged. The game is pretty much a dream come true. All of the super powers you get, its great. Best thing is that they only get better in time. I dont really know what else to say about the game, its just awesome! The game aside from the Halo 3 beta is worth the $60 and the beta is just another great reason to buy Crackdown.
A Jumping good time
On: 2007-03-02CrackDown - Circa 2007
GOOD:
- Great Co-op Gameplay allows two players play through the game from start to end. A co-op player can come into the game at any time and leave at any time.
- Leveling up your characters traits (Jumping, Strength, Driving, Shooting, Explosives) makes your character not only better at that skill but also gives you bonuses (Example: Leveling up your Driving skill gives you not only better control over driving any car, bus and or truck but your Agency Car gets upgraded as well with new abilities, such as adding car-mounted guns, think Twisted Metal)
- The world of CrackDown has some nice level design and areas both high (like skyscraper roof tops) and low (deep underground bunkers) are well though out and fun to traverse.
- Access to Halo 3 Beta Test
BAD:
- No plot to speak of outside of being a super-cop and killing gang lords.
- Game is short with only 24 bosses and 3 riots (gang riots happen in each area after all gang leaders are killing in that area).
- Driving cars feels a bit sloppy even after getting 4 star max driving skills.
- Outside of foot/driving races, looking for orbs (about 500 in the game), and killing bosses there is not too much to do in the world of CrackDown.
- The Music in this title is not that great and over all forgettable - mostly generic techno (you only can get music while in a car, while on foot which you spend 90% of the game you get no music - like GTA). Thank god, using Xbox 360 built in "play any song I want at anytime" feature was here to save the day, just before you play a the game put in your favorite music CD, rip it onto the 360s Hard Drive and then later on while playing your game click the Xbox 360 guide button and go to select track (and play your own songs).
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A Sci-Fi (although near future feeling) Third Person Shooter (Camera behind the player)
- A go anywhere do anything at any time type of game that we have seen in such games as Grand Theft Auto. The biggest difference is now you play as a super-cop charged with killing criminals instead of a gang member trying to become a gang lord.
- Jumping plays a big role in the game and jumping roof top to roof top (like the comedic super hero The Tick) is not only fun but opens up a large part of the game space available for play.
- Co-op gameplay is fun and useful (2 players are able to do things one player could not do alone, example: One player gets into a car/truck and the other player can throw said car/truck well behind enemy lines)
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2/Xbox/PC)
- Saints Row (Xbox 360)
- Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2/Xbox)
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- The first shipments of CrackDown come with free access/invite to the Halo 3 beta (which starts 5/16/07 and ends 6/7/07); later releases will not have this feature.
- You can download a character pack for this game for free over XBL Marketplace, this pack will add four new characters to your character select screen.
- There are Two downloadable packs for this game on XBL Marketplace which unlock seven new achievements and an ability to reset gangs (but keep your level of stats), get a new new ground attack, a new noise indicator makes it easier to find orbs (when you get to the last 20 or so), makes stunt ring more visible, and fixes some minor problems with targeting and camera angles when driving. The first pack is called the Free-For-All Pack which is a FREE and has the Keys to the City Mode (where you will be able to spawn such items such as vehicles, explosive barrels and change time of day at any time. Your characters skill level can be changed to your likeing and you can turn on/off infinite ammunition as well as GOD mode, achievements and game saving is turned off when in the Keys to the City Mode), a new vehicle selection system has been integrated into the agency garage which allows for new colors (such as Blue, Red and Green) for all cars even agency cars and now players can impound any civilian or enemy vehicle and store them in the agency garage as well. The Getting Busy Bonus Pack which sells for 800 Microsoft points ($10.00 USD) has three new vehicles such as the Beach Buggy (with Chain gun), Race Car (Which looks like a wacky go-kart, but is fast), and Armored Car (Looks like the Mini-Tank/Armored Car from the 80s Aliens [Alien 2] movie), This pack also has some new game types (like Stockpile and Rocket Tag) and even has five new weapons such as the Muilt-Grenade launcher, Proximity Mines, Harpoon Gun, Chain Gun, and even a Cloaking Device.
GTA Wannabe
On: 2007-03-01The best cell-shaded game remains the underappreciated: "XIII." THAT game rules. This game is nothing but a GTA wannabe.
Crackdown... the ultimate way to relax
On: 2007-03-01I absolutely love this game and have been playing nothing else since I purchased it. Its basically Grand Theft Auto meets the Matrix. I say that because it has the entire open world feeling that GTA has mixed with the sensational feeling of jumping from one rooftop to another. This is one of those games where you can actually feel how high up you are, especially when you realize that youre not gonna make it to that rooftop that you thought you could reach. As your character levels up and you start jumping higher, throwing farther and shooting more accurately, the game just becomes ridiculously entertaining.
The graphics are awesome. I love cel shaded graphics myself and while this slightly cartoony look may put off some of you, I think its a big part of what makes this game work. Its amazing how you can stand on the highest point in the game and look down at the entire world before you and still see tiny cars in the distance and people milling about. The physics are really nice also, employing ragdoll physics and real world physics so people collapse realistically after being filled with lead and cars flip over in a believable manner after being blown to smithereens. And speaking of explosions, lets just say there are many, they are usually huge and theyre really loud.
The in game sound is really nice and if you remember what the gunfire in the film "Heat" sounded like during the heist scene, it sounds just like that. Another reason to get yourself a surround setup if you dont alrteady have one.
Online co-op is great and has a kind of Gears of War thing going for it in that you can jump in someone elses game and help them complete missions if you choose. Playing in this type of game with another player is a very satisfying experience. The controls are nice and tight and even though there might be a slight issue with locking on targets you may not necessarily be targeting, its still more than adequate for the games purposes.
This game boils down to eliminating the bad guys and collecting stuff scattered across the map. Rarely has it ever been this much fun. While there isnt as much to do as in GTA: San Andreas (lets face it though, I dont really think delivering pizzas would make sense in this game), theres still a lot of searching, collecting and wiping out of scumbags to make this game a hell of a good time.
Highly recommended.
A Jumping good time
On: 2007-03-01CrackDown - Circa 2007
GOOD:
- Great Co-op Gameplay allows two players play through the game from start to end. A co-op player can come into the game at any time and leave at any time.
- Leveling up your characters traits (Jumping, Strength, Driving, Shooting, Explosives) makes your character not only better at that skill but also gives you bonuses (Example: Leveling up your Driving skill gives you not only better control over driving any car, bus and or truck but your Agency Car gets upgraded as well with new abilities, such as adding car-mounted guns, think Twisted Metal)
- The world of CrackDown has some nice level design and areas both high (like skyscraper roof tops) and low (deep underground bunkers) are well though out and fun to traverse.
- Access to Halo 3 Beta Test
BAD:
- No plot to speak of outside of being a super-cop and killing gang lords.
- Game is short with only 24 bosses and 3 riots (gang riots happen in each area after all gang leaders are killing in that area).
- Driving cars feels a bit sloppy even after getting 4 star max driving skills.
- Outside of foot/driving races, looking for orbs (about 500 in the game), and killing bosses there is not too much to do in the world of CrackDown.
- The Music in this title is not that great and over all forgettable - mostly generic techno (you only can get music while in a car, while on foot which you spend 90% of the game you get no music - like GTA). Thank god, using Xbox 360 built in "play any song I want at anytime" feature was here to save the day, just before you play a the game put in your favorite music CD, rip it onto the 360s Hard Drive and then later on while playing your game click the Xbox 360 guide button and go to select track (and play your own songs).
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A Sci-Fi (although near future feeling) Third Person Shooter (Camera behind the player)
- A go anywhere do anything at any time type of game that we have seen in such games as Grand Theft Auto. The biggest difference is now you play as a super-cop charged with killing criminals instead of a gang member trying to become a gang lord.
- Jumping plays a big role in the game and jumping roof top to roof top (like the comedic super hero The Tick) is not only fun but opens up a large part of the game space available for play.
- Co-op gameplay is fun and useful (2 players are able to do things one player could not do alone, example: One player gets into a car/truck and the other player can throw said car/truck well behind enemy lines)
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2/Xbox/PC)
- Saints Row (Xbox 360)
- Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2/Xbox)
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- The first shipments of CrackDown come with free access/invite to the Halo 3 beta (which starts 5/16/07 and ends 6/7/07); later releases will not have this feature.
- You can download a character pack for this game for free over XBL Marketplace, this pack will add four new characters to your character select screen.
- There are Two downloadable packs for this game on XBL Marketplace which unlock seven new achievements and an ability to reset gangs (but keep your level of stats), get a new new ground attack, a new noise indicator makes it easier to find orbs (when you get to the last 20 or so), makes stunt ring more visible, and fixes some minor problems with targeting and camera angles when driving. The first pack is called the Free-For-All Pack which is a FREE and has the Keys to the City Mode (where you will be able to spawn such items such as vehicles, explosive barrels and change time of day at any time. Your characters skill level can be changed to your likeing and you can turn on/off infinite ammunition as well as GOD mode, achievements and game saving is turned off when in the Keys to the City Mode), a new vehicle selection system has been integrated into the agency garage which allows for new colors (such as Blue, Red and Green) for all cars even agency cars and now players can impound any civilian or enemy vehicle and store them in the agency garage as well. The Getting Busy Bonus Pack which sells for 800 Microsoft points ($10.00 USD) has three new vehicles such as the Beach Buggy (with Chain gun), Race Car (Which looks like a wacky go-kart, but is fast), and Armored Car (Looks like the Mini-Tank/Armored Car from the 80s Aliens [Alien 2] movie), This pack also has some new game types (like Stockpile and Rocket Tag) and even has five new weapons such as the Muilt-Grenade launcher, Proximity Mines, Harpoon Gun, Chain Gun, and even a Cloaking Device.
Crackdown... the ultimate way to relax
On: 2007-02-28I absolutely love this game and have been playing nothing else since I purchased it. Its basically Grand Theft Auto meets the Matrix. I say that because it has the entire open world feeling that GTA has mixed with the sensational feeling of jumping from one rooftop to another. This is one of those games where you can actually feel how high up you are, especially when you realize that youre not gonna make it to that rooftop that you thought you could reach. As your character levels up and you start jumping higher, throwing farther and shooting more accurately, the game just becomes ridiculously entertaining.
The graphics are awesome. I love cel shaded graphics myself and while this slightly cartoony look may put off some of you, I think its a big part of what makes this game work. Its amazing how you can stand on the highest point in the game and look down at the entire world before you and still see tiny cars in the distance and people milling about. The physics are really nice also, employing ragdoll physics and real world physics so people collapse realistically after being filled with lead and cars flip over in a believable manner after being blown to smithereens. And speaking of explosions, lets just say there are many, they are usually huge and theyre really loud.
The in game sound is really nice and if you remember what the gunfire in the film "Heat" sounded like during the heist scene, it sounds just like that. Another reason to get yourself a surround setup if you dont alrteady have one.
Online co-op is great and has a kind of Gears of War thing going for it in that you can jump in someone elses game and help them complete missions if you choose. Playing in this type of game with another player is a very satisfying experience. The controls are nice and tight and even though there might be a slight issue with locking on targets you may not necessarily be targeting, its still more than adequate for the games purposes.
This game boils down to eliminating the bad guys and collecting stuff scattered across the map. Rarely has it ever been this much fun. While there isnt as much to do as in GTA: San Andreas (lets face it though, I dont really think delivering pizzas would make sense in this game), theres still a lot of searching, collecting and wiping out of scumbags to make this game a hell of a good time.
Highly recommended.
Its Cool That Finally the Mobsters(Gangsters) are the Ones Getting Blown Away
On: 2007-02-27This game is really fun, some official reviews have been too harsh on this game. One reason its got a bad wrap is just that with a little more, time and features this game could have been really FANTASTIC. Like adding versus multiplayer matches. We are never satisfied these days.
I marvel at the detail here, the mechanics of the jumping are great. There is so much beautiful work here.
What I am really enjoying in this game is not being on the side of the criminals, not having the streets filled with prostitutes with all the wonderful things they say. I couldnt believe the things they would say in the Demo of Saints Row.
There is also no good reason to kill civilians and you feel you are trying to protect them.
Finally a game where we get to take down the gangs, one that does not venerate the gangs and the gang culture. Saints Row was also beautifully made but it was glorifying that gang lifestyle which is a problem for so many of our communities and the bad language of Saints Row was awful.
This game is totally worth the money and you get into the Halo 3 beta test which should be fun too.
Recommended.
Fun
On: 2007-02-27This game is pretty fun. Its hook is the ability to build your characters strentgh, agility, driving and firearm abilities. The cities are pretty life-like with people, cars and realistic highways. The downfall here is the game is too short and too easy. An advanced gamer can easily beat this game in 1 day if determined. The collecting of orbs and gaining achievements will probably give the replay value a week or two longer.. But after that its doubtful anyone will play it again. There is no multiplayer "Versus" support.. there is a co-op mode, but that becomes pointless after completing the game/achievements. The creators will do well to make the sequel longer and more multiplayer involving. Grand Theft Auto with a superhero touch.
Crackdown lays the Smackdown.
On: 2007-02-27Probably one the funnest games I have played since buying my 360! The replay value is huge and the challange of wanting to max out your character will have you putting this disc into your 360 again and again. The openness of the game is huge. Go where you want when you want. Dont want to take out the generals? Just want to go right for the Kingpin? Go for it! Theres nothing stopping you. If youre afriad to spend another $60 on a game that doesnt deliver the goods then fear no more because this game delivers!
Play it for the jumping alone.
On: 2007-02-26Without the jumping abilities you get in this game, it would be very average. The shooting isnt all that great, and the driving kind of sucks. But its extremely fun to jump this high. This game feels more like an open world platformer than action game. There some good city design that gives you good reasons to jump all over the place. And theres also rooftop races which are fun. Even with average shooting, the action is fun because there are so many guys shooting at you at once. It gets intense. The upgrade system is cool too. My weapons are at level 2 right now, and that causes a guy to go flying when you shoot him. Im eager to see what happens when my explosives experience levels up. This game also feels alot freer than other open world games. The missions come up as you approach certain areas, rather than the missions dictating what parts of the city you visit and in which order. This is definitely worth playing if you like GTA type games, or if you like platformers.
Phenomenal game
On: 2007-02-26This is GTA, without all the overhead of plot and missions. Just tons of fun running around the city, blowing everything up, and upgrading your character.
Fun
On: 2007-02-26This game is pretty fun. Its hook is the ability to build your characters strentgh, agility, driving and firearm abilities. The cities are pretty life-like with people, cars and realistic highways. The downfall here is the game is too short and too easy. An advanced gamer can easily beat this game in 1 day if determined. The collecting of orbs and gaining achievements will probably give the replay value a week or two longer.. But after that its doubtful anyone will play it again. There is no multiplayer "Versus" support.. there is a co-op mode, but that becomes pointless after completing the game/achievements. The creators will do well to make the sequel longer and more multiplayer involving. Grand Theft Auto with a superhero touch.
Buy it even without the Halo 3 beta
On: 2007-02-26Ok I admit it one of the reasons I bought this was for the Halo 3 beta. Well Microsoft surprised me and made a great game!! Crackdown is a blast. First ignore anyone review that writes it is a GTA ripoff. The only thing similar is it is an open environment game and you can drive around if you want. My favorite part of the game is jumping around the city finding agility orbs so you can jump farther and higher. I dont even drive the cars I jump around the city. You can increase you agility, firearms, driving, explosives, and strength. As you increase your skills you open up the game to even more mayhem. As a bonus any time a friend can jump in online and help. People who are slamming this game are missing the fun of the game. Its a fun diversion from Gears, Rainbow six and the like. It also has mini things to do like agility races, driving races and things. Its a great way to spend hours. I will be buying crackdown 2 without any Halo beta thats how good the game is
Snooooore.....
On: 2007-02-25God this game is boring. GTA1, the original was even better than this. You drive around...you shoot...you jump. Ooh and its all cartoony. But thats it. Mind-numbingly repetetive. Will be taking this back for a refund I kid you not.
Play it for the jumping alone.
On: 2007-02-25Without the jumping abilities you get in this game, it would be very average. The shooting isnt all that great, and the driving kind of sucks. But its extremely fun to jump this high. This game feels more like an open world platformer than action game. There some good city design that gives you good reasons to jump all over the place. And theres also rooftop races which are fun. Even with average shooting, the action is fun because there are so many guys shooting at you at once. It gets intense. The upgrade system is cool too. My weapons are at level 2 right now, and that causes a guy to go flying when you shoot him. Im eager to see what happens when my explosives experience levels up. This game also feels alot freer than other open world games. The missions come up as you approach certain areas, rather than the missions dictating what parts of the city you visit and in which order. This is definitely worth playing if you like GTA type games, or if you like platformers.
halo 3 beta and crackdown AWSOME
On: 2007-02-25Sure lots of people just want this game for the beta . i just wanted the beta at first. So when i knew the beta would not launch until spring i was a little disapointed but when i played crackdown it was so cool and i knew it would last me till the beta starts .this game has it all a good storyline cars a big map online skills you could increase and savilians you could kill for fun . This game is worth every penny
Fun for a couple hours, then....
On: 2007-02-25I found the game fun at first, but after playing it for a while, it got a little boring. The most fun I had was playing it in coop mode with my roomate. We stayed up past 3am blasting dudes and getting orbs. After a little while though we got bored and he wanted to play a different game. Next thing I know Im laying sideways on the couch and his finger is inside me. I think the graphics could be better.
Buy it even without the Halo 3 beta
On: 2007-02-25Ok I admit it one of the reasons I bought this was for the Halo 3 beta. Well Microsoft surprised me and made a great game!! Crackdown is a blast. First ignore anyone review that writes it is a GTA ripoff. The only thing similar is it is an open environment game and you can drive around if you want. My favorite part of the game is jumping around the city finding agility orbs so you can jump farther and higher. I dont even drive the cars I jump around the city. You can increase you agility, firearms, driving, explosives, and strength. As you increase your skills you open up the game to even more mayhem. As a bonus any time a friend can jump in online and help. People who are slamming this game are missing the fun of the game. Its a fun diversion from Gears, Rainbow six and the like. It also has mini things to do like agility races, driving races and things. Its a great way to spend hours. I will be buying crackdown 2 without any Halo beta thats how good the game is
Absolute waste of time and money
On: 2007-02-25So lets see: Microsoft has decided to bolster sales of Crackdown, its pathetic "Grand Theft Auto" rip-off, by letting anyone foolish enough to buy it on the "Halo 3" beta. Sorry, but that stinks. This game is absolutely horrible, and completely unfun, unless of course the idea of running down pedestrians in various types of vehicles still appeals to you a decade after GTA. This game isnt worth $19.99, let alone $59.99. Shame on Microsoft for this, and shame on me for falling for it.
halo 3 beta and crackdown AWSOME
On: 2007-02-24Sure lots of people just want this game for the beta . i just wanted the beta at first. So when i knew the beta would not launch until spring i was a little disapointed but when i played crackdown it was so cool and i knew it would last me till the beta starts .this game has it all a good storyline cars a big map online skills you could increase and savilians you could kill for fun . This game is worth every penny
Crackdown= one of the funnest 360 titles
On: 2007-02-24I played the xbox live demo several times and was hooked. There is nothing better than gathering orbs, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, driving sweet vehicles everywhere and causing insane explosions while taking down ganglords. This is the free roaming game I always wanted. There is so much to do that the entertainment is only limited to your imagination. If you think the game is boring than you might have a boring imagination because really the game is about creating the fun, not having it spoon fed to you like a story-path based game. Swim, jump, climb, drive, throw, shoot, ect... this game rocks. I have spent many an hour playing Crackdown and I am loosing sleep--thats a good sign. (Oh, and the first release includes an intvite to Halo 3 beta) Not why I bought the game but a nice touch. They should advertise the game like the Milk companies do- "Got Crack?"
A Fun Cel-Shaded Sandbox Shooter
by: lisashea-dot-com On: 2007-02-24
Crackdown is a cel-shaded sandbox style fighting game in the style of Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row - but this time youre on the side of justice. Sort of. Best of all, you get into the free beta of Halo 3!
Its funny how many people are instantly buying this game just to get into the Halo 3 beta. We of course are thrilled about the Halo 3 part - we are avid fans of the Halo series - but Crackdown actually isnt bad on its own merits.
First, you have to accept that its cel shaded. The graphics are a little cartooney. They did this on purpose, and if you dont like being immersed in a dirty, swear-filled comic book, you might not take to this game. However, those who enjoy anime, manga and an alternate view of reality will appreciate the more-than-human powers you have here.
Youre an enhanced human in a future where three criminal gangs have taken over the world. You get the traditional types of enemies - a wisened old Chinese guy, a Hispanic drug lord and a Soviet mob boss. You get a variety of cars to jump into, a variety of weapons to shoot, and a fairly large world to roam around in.
There are tunnels below the ground, places to jump across roofs, places that you can leap cars across, and much more. As you do things, you gain experience and better skills, meaning you can now shoot better or jump higher. This gives you incentive to build up your talents to get to those just out of reach areas.
The game is pretty lenient - if you hide out for a while, your armor regenerates as does your health. When you die, they just give you another clone of yourself to keep playing with. You activate teleport spots around the world so you can get to places quickly.
The soundtrack is reasonably good - theres a lot of variety here to choose from. The in-game sounds of local Hispanics chatting at you in Spanish, or the high pitched screams of scared civilians, all seem to fit in resaonably well with your cartoon environment.
Graphics are, as mentioned, cel shaded. I enjoy cel shading and found it an interesting take on the GTA world. The HUD is esay to understand - its clear what part of the body youre targeting and what is near you on the map. You get a mix of Kingdom Hearts orb-collecting with Vice City night clubs, Scarface swearing, and a bit of do-gooding in there, too. Assuming of course that you actually go after the bad guys rather than driving over the civilians.
So where does that leave you? Youre not getting top-drama and acting as in The Godfather. The cel shading might annoy some people. But really, for a fun jumping, shooting, roaming-the-world game, this is really quite fun.
Just Plain Fun
On: 2007-02-23Im not usually a huge fan of sandbox games (I played GTA III, VC, and SA but never got into them) and eventhough this game has its flaws (lack of depth, shallow story, etc,), it is insanely fun. FUN FUN FUN. Last night, I spent 8 hours playing co-op with a friend (had 1 hr of sleep before work) and we have not had so much fun with a game in a long time. Most of the time we ran around hunting for agility orbs and causing mass chaos. But the funnest part of the night was when we found a couple of mobile ramps and tried to execute impossible jumps, mid-air collisons, and movie-style explosion scenes. My friend was the camera man and I was the driver, which coincidently allowed me to earn the "stunt driver" achievement. Im sure we will eventually get tired of the car stunts, but as we continue ranking up, I am ceratin that we will find new "activities" to entertain us. Oh, yeah, eventually we might finish the campaign as well =)
I would like to change my review.
On: 2007-02-23This game gets a lot better the more you play it. I would like to change my earlier review and say that this game is in the top 5 xbox 360 games out there.
Crackdown= one of the funnest 360 titles
On: 2007-02-23I played the xbox live demo several times and was hooked. There is nothing better than gathering orbs, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, driving sweet vehicles everywhere and causing insane explosions while taking down ganglords. This is the free roaming game I always wanted. There is so much to do that the entertainment is only limited to your imagination. If you think the game is boring than you might have a boring imagination because really the game is about creating the fun, not having it spoon fed to you like a story-path based game. Swim, jump, climb, drive, throw, shoot, ect... this game rocks. I have spent many an hour playing Crackdown and I am loosing sleep--thats a good sign. (Oh, and the first release includes an intvite to Halo 3 beta) Not why I bought the game but a nice touch. They should advertise the game like the Milk companies do- "Got Crack?"
60 Bucks for a Beta!? AWESOME!!!
On: 2007-02-23I dont know anything about Crackdown, but who cares! We are all buying this cheap looking debacle of a game so we can access Halo 3 beta. Crackdown could be a Fusion Frenzy retread for all any of us care. Really cool that Microsoft is letting us play an unfinished game for only the price of a new complete game. FPS games are the best, and Halo is totally original in that it lets you movce around WAY slower than other FPS games. Also your name is Master Chief on the game which pretty much pwns. The beta rocks btw. Tons of shooting stuff and you can hear other players cuss and get mad. So awesome. I wont be sleeping for at least 4 weeks.
Not Just for the Halo 3 Beta
On: 2007-02-22Ill be honest, I was more inclined to buy this game because of the Halo 3 beta invite. However, now that Ive started playing, I cant stop. Ill sit down to do one or two things for 20 minutes and then four hours later I havent eaten dinner and its time to go to bed. Its a very open world. Climbing buildings and jumping from rooftop to rooftop is a big part of the game, so if you see a building and youre thinking "I bet I can get up there", then you probably can. It might take some thinking and some delicate maneuvers, but it just goes to show how well this game was put together. The demo doesnt do it justice. If youre still skeptical, rent it. Youll be dying to own it once you have to return the thing.
Just Plain Fun
On: 2007-02-22Im not usually a huge fan of sandbox games (I played GTA III, VC, and SA but never got into them) and eventhough this game has its flaws (lack of depth, shallow story, etc,), it is insanely fun. FUN FUN FUN. Last night, I spent 8 hours playing co-op with a friend (had 1 hr of sleep before work) and we have not had so much fun with a game in a long time. Most of the time we ran around hunting for agility orbs and causing mass chaos. But the funnest part of the night was when we found a couple of mobile ramps and tried to execute impossible jumps, mid-air collisons, and movie-style explosion scenes. My friend was the camera man and I was the driver, which coincidently allowed me to earn the "stunt driver" achievement. Im sure we will eventually get tired of the car stunts, but as we continue ranking up, I am ceratin that we will find new "activities" to entertain us. Oh, yeah, eventually we might finish the campaign as well =)
Fun Game That'll Keep Us Entertained Until The Next Big 360 Exclusive..
On: 2007-02-22I know most people only bought this game because of the Halo 3 beta, which is really funny considering you have to own the crackdown disc to use the invite (a lot of people thought that they would just get the code and sell crackdown) but the game merits enough on its own to be well worth a purchase. I mean, weve all played through and beat Gears on all the difficulty settings, and this game is the perfect filler for those times when you dont feel like playing Vegas online. Its unique, its original, and most importantly its what a game should be. Fun.And to the idiot who said that it was a lame copy of Saints Row..dude Saints Row wasnt even good. If anything, THAT was a 10X bigger rip of GTA then people would ever consider this to be. And as for the next gen graphics comment you made? Its cell shading. Its supposed to look how it does, duh, and im pretty sure they did a damn fine job with it. The beta IS a REALLY nice bonus for buying this, and since its limited it may be worth the purchase now. But dont blow crackdown aside completely as a game, it holds up very well on its own and the multiplayer rocks. The next exclusive we have to look forward to, and with Gears, Vegas, and now Crackdown, Im sure peoplell be pretty busy. Pick it up now.
60 Bucks for a Beta!? AWESOME!!!
On: 2007-02-22I dont know anything about Crackdown, but who cares! We are all buying this cheap looking debacle of a game so we can access Halo 3 beta. Crackdown could be a Fusion Frenzy retread for all any of us care. Really cool that Microsoft is letting us play an unfinished game for only the price of a new complete game. FPS games are the best, and Halo is totally original in that it lets you movce around WAY slower than other FPS games. Also your name is Master Chief on the game which pretty much pwns. The beta rocks btw. Tons of shooting stuff and you can hear other players cuss and get mad. So awesome. I wont be sleeping for at least 4 weeks.
Great fun, great game!
On: 2007-02-21This actually turned out to be a great game. A lot of people, myself included, figured it would only sell because of the Halo 3 beta invite included with it and that the game itself would suck. But Crackdown itself actually ROCKS!! This game is great, adrenaline filled fun!
You basically play as a cop with superpowers that grow better as you play. So, the more you jump around, the better your jumping ability gets, and eventually you can jump over buildings. The more you fight, the better your fighting ability gets, the more you drive, the better your characters driving ability gets, and so forth.
Its an open world style game (but please, dont compare it to GTA, its really quite different!) The guy who created GTA made this game, but the comparisons should really end there. This game is an original take on the open sandbox style of game. In some ways this game is more fun than the GTA games. You have superpowers! You can jump tall buildings! You can pick up and throw cars! In other was, it falls short of a GTA comparison. For one thing it doesnt have as much depth and as many varied things to do. But still, Crackdown will keep anyone entertained for a long, long time, and theres sure to be plenty of downloads to expand the game further.
All in all, this is a great game, tons of fun (just what a video game should be!), and it is well worth the purchase by its own merits! The Halo 3 Beta invite is just a bonus (although a really, really GREAT bonus!) But you dont have to take my word for it; go play the demo on Xbox Live!!
Note on the Halo 3 beta invite: You must own the game disc at the time the beta becomes available (late spring). So, no, you cant buy the game and then sell it and still get into the Halo 3 beta. You must have the Crackdown game disc in your XBox 360 drive to download and play the beta when it comes out.
Fun Game That'll Keep Us Entertained Until The Next Big 360 Exclusive..
On: 2007-02-21I know most people only bought this game because of the Halo 3 beta, which is really funny considering you have to own the crackdown disc to use the invite (a lot of people thought that they would just get the code and sell crackdown) but the game merits enough on its own to be well worth a purchase. I mean, weve all played through and beat Gears on all the difficulty settings, and this game is the perfect filler for those times when you dont feel like playing Vegas online. Its unique, its original, and most importantly its what a game should be. Fun.And to the idiot who said that it was a lame copy of Saints Row..dude Saints Row wasnt even good. If anything, THAT was a 10X bigger rip of GTA then people would ever consider this to be. And as for the next gen graphics comment you made? Its cell shading. Its supposed to look how it does, duh, and im pretty sure they did a damn fine job with it. The beta IS a REALLY nice bonus for buying this, and since its limited it may be worth the purchase now. But dont blow crackdown aside completely as a game, it holds up very well on its own and the multiplayer rocks. The next exclusive we have to look forward to, and with Gears, Vegas, and now Crackdown, Im sure peoplell be pretty busy. Pick it up now.
Fun game but MIGHT get old quick.
On: 2007-02-21I found myself wanting to get this game for the Halo 3 beta but soon after playing the free demo 13-15 times Ive decided I want to buy Crackdown for Crackdown. Ive read that there are already free content downloads for this game and its just been released. Maybe this is a good sign that there will be many content downloads for this game that will keep it alive.
For the poster before me... Hes a fool. Selling the game right after you sell it? You obviously dont know how the beta works. If one buys Crackdown to get into the Halo 3 Beta, you need to use the disc to login to the Beta when it becomes available in the SPRING. Also... this user obviously doesnt know this is a game that is in another graphic genre. Of course its not going to look like GTA...
As for the coop, Ive heard they are NOT fixing the jumping in the game problem which will suck because people will be blocked when trying to join a coop game. BUT they release of this game today should fix the tremendous lag problem.
If you feel like waiting another 4-8 months for new 360 game thats going to be really fun (other than Virtua Tennis 3) dont get this game.
Crazy Fun, Like A Comic Version Of GTA
by: ethanallen95 On: 2007-02-21
I found this to be an interesting game in the sense that it reminded me of the game Mercenaries and GTA3 in the sense that it is free roaming while also having elements of mission-based combat. The jumping is insane and with the first powerboost you feel like a superhero and invulnerable to anything as pedestrian as a rapid succession of bullets, but then you are quickly humbled be the firepower of a gang hitsquad. Yes you have to take cover, yes you will probably die a few times taking on odds that are not in your favor. I found it easier just go around kicking the gang members instead of shooting them. When your strength rises to the level where you can pick up a truck and throw it a few yards, punching and kicking adversaries turns into comic slapstick what with the Havoc-ragdoll physics at work. The city-scape is amazing and has the endless feel. The city seems more South American to Eastern European. The citzens dont really interact, they arent mindless though, they run when bullets start flying. The gangs are not too dumb, especially as you advance in stats, the gangs actually get more sophisticated and deadly weaponry to deal with your enhanced genetics. Sometimes just rushing the main bosses and smacking them down does more than ducking and shooting at them. I dont agree that this is a Saints Row knock off. The graphics are next gen and the game is geniunely fun to play especially on-line which is where the game seems to shine the most. Its definitely worth the buy!
Great fun, great game!
On: 2007-02-20This actually turned out to be a great game. A lot of people, myself included, figured it would only sell because of the Halo 3 beta invite included with it and that the game itself would suck. But Crackdown itself actually ROCKS!! This game is great, adrenaline filled fun!
You basically play as a cop with superpowers that grow better as you play. So, the more you jump around, the better your jumping ability gets, and eventually you can jump over buildings. The more you fight, the better your fighting ability gets, the more you drive, the better your characters driving ability gets, and so forth.
Its an open world style game (but please, dont compare it to GTA, its really quite different!) The guy who created GTA made this game, but the comparisons should really end there. This game is an original take on the open sandbox style of game. In some ways this game is more fun than the GTA games. You have superpowers! You can jump tall buildings! You can pick up and throw cars! In other was, it falls short of a GTA comparison. For one thing it doesnt have as much depth and as many varied things to do. But still, Crackdown will keep anyone entertained for a long, long time, and theres sure to be plenty of downloads to expand the game further.
All in all, this is a great game, tons of fun (just what a video game should be!), and it is well worth the purchase by its own merits! The Halo 3 Beta invite is just a bonus (although a really, really GREAT bonus!) But you dont have to take my word for it; go play the demo on Xbox Live!!
Note on the Halo 3 beta invite: You must own the game disc at the time the beta becomes available (late spring). So, no, you cant buy the game and then sell it and still get into the Halo 3 beta. You must have the Crackdown game disc in your XBox 360 drive to download and play the beta when it comes out.
Fun game but MIGHT get old quick.
On: 2007-02-20I found myself wanting to get this game for the Halo 3 beta but soon after playing the free demo 13-15 times Ive decided I want to buy Crackdown for Crackdown. Ive read that there are already free content downloads for this game and its just been released. Maybe this is a good sign that there will be many content downloads for this game that will keep it alive.
For the poster before me... Hes a fool. Selling the game right after you sell it? You obviously dont know how the beta works. If one buys Crackdown to get into the Halo 3 Beta, you need to use the disc to login to the Beta when it becomes available in the SPRING. Also... this user obviously doesnt know this is a game that is in another graphic genre. Of course its not going to look like GTA...
As for the coop, Ive heard they are NOT fixing the jumping in the game problem which will suck because people will be blocked when trying to join a coop game. BUT they release of this game today should fix the tremendous lag problem.
If you feel like waiting another 4-8 months for new 360 game thats going to be really fun (other than Virtua Tennis 3) dont get this game.
A Cheesier Saints Row
On: 2007-02-20I cant really say much about this game other than it is like Saints Row and the graphics are a bit undertoned for being dubbed next gen. I onl;y bought the game for the Halo3 beta code that comes inside, Ill probably be selling it soon after today. I wasnt thoroughly impressed but the co-op online made the game a bit better, I suppose that is only because you get to screw around with people.
