Crackdown 2 is fun, but it is not as good as the original, and gets far too repetitive after a few hours....
User Rating: 6 | Crackdown 2 X360
Having played the original Crackdown barely for 10 minutes, I thought I would pick this up for $10 in the bargain bin. After putting the disk in, I wasn't impressed. The graphics, for one, look nearly identical. They still look like crisp, cool graphics, but there's just not much life in them. The next part, the shooting mechanics and combat, haven't changed at all. In fact, the lock-on shooting when you zoom in with LT is damn annoying and it makes it harder to shoot down enemy's. But no worry's, the game doesn't even offer a slight challenge. Speaking of not even offering, the story in this game is just nothing at all. Just deactivate beacons and collect orbs. It gets highly repeatable after a hour or two, and you'll find yourself becoming bored with the game. Even though it's open world, there's not much to do but kill zombies (which aren't even satisfying to kill because there are 200 of them on the screen at once) do some race where you jump across buildings while you try to deal with the clunky climbing controls (your character doesn't even grab on the ledge over half the time),deactivate or charge a beacon which isn't even fun after the second or third time, or drive around the town in a vehicle which controls incredibly poor. To top it off, the announcer is annoying as hell and gives you useless tips when he has already said it 15 times. Oh, and he tells you whenever you get an achievement! How much more annoying can it get?
Overall, Crackdown 2 is a fun, but repetitive sandbox shooter that is full of doing the same thing over and over, clumsy car and climbing controls, lifeless graphics, and an annoying announcer that you would love to strangle to death. Play Just Cause 2 or Saints Row if you are looking for a real sandbox.
