Finally, a one-of-it's-kind sanbox!
It was about time we got a game, that's alike in it's appearance to GTA but with superhero powers, be able to jump 40ft high and shoot so accurate, you'll kill almost every gang member in sight.
It's not all-in-all easy, thinking that you are a super-buffed out cop, doesn't mean you're untouchable. Wrong, there's three different settings of difficulty, there's normal, there's hard and there's hardcore. (Can't recall the specific names, but the hardest, really brings you to the ultimate challenge).
Crackdown is a real one-of-it's-kind for sure. And that's exactly what makes Crackdown worth playing.
Once you start, you can select one out of eight agents.(or twelve if you download the 4-additional agents right away). There's one for almost every race/life-style. Such as, Russian, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Norse, Thai, Gothic and Maori.
Welcome to Crackdown - Worlds' only crime-infested playground.
==GAMEPLAY==
Now, you're set in Pacific City, as a minor, yet slightly stronger and more agile agent. You'll start off on the for-now the safest spot to be - The Keep, AKA The Agency Island.
You can take one of the three cars right away and go up the streets.
That's one of Crackdowns' awesome elements, no "Go There, or else" things, no "Do that first" options. It's what you want, and how you want it to be happened.
You can take the main kingpins out right away, and i mean, start over, and go after one of the three.
Anyway, you're set in Pacific City, a crime infested city. There's three main gangs; Los Muertos, the Volk and the Shai-Gen. All three have their own islands, own ways of trying to kill you and all have their own kinds of guns and weapons.
Now, that i'm mentioning the bosses, that's the storyline. The only con about this game is, there's barely a storyline. But, if you want to make a game, where the player decides on how to take the gangs down, you cant make a set-storyline.
Onto what you're capable of. You'll have five main skills; Shooting, Driving, Agility, Explosives and Strength. Each of these can be leveled up to Level 5(From zero-stars, to four.).
By gaining levels, you're able of doing much more. With agility, you can run much faster, and jump higher. Strength makes you able of picking larger objects up. Firearms makes you shoot more accurate over time. Driving makes you handle cars better, and the Agency Vehicles will upgrade. Explosives lets you make major explosions once you level up.
The city itself, is for you, considered a playground. You can do whatever the hell you like. Go as a rouge agent? Sure... Wanna commandeer a vehicle? Rip that driver out! Wanna play some "Catch!" with the gangsters? Alrighty then, pick that car up and swing it at 'em!
The game itself has one major purpose, being fun. It wants to entertain you. David Jones, the man after GTA, The Lemmings and now this one, has listened to many requests, and we all know - When you were playing GTA, didn't you dream of picking that car up, and hurling it at that blasted cop for shooting at you? Didn't you wanted to go jumping over rooftops? Didn't you wanted to make one hell of some impressive explosions?
Exactly, that's what most wanted.
The gameplay, if you have some imagination, can keep you smiling and buzy for literally months.
Now, there's one other feature i need to discuss; Online-Coop.
I bet you got sick of playing the GTA: San Andreas multiplayer, going only in one car, staying together, not being able of going away from eachother.
Crackdown doesn't feature Split-screen, but it does features Online Coop. You're able of playing Crackdown with a XBOX-Live friend. With no limits set. Doing whatever the hell you want. And i tell you, it's extremely fun.
There's also, you can do this with System-Link aswell. But you'll need two tvs.
==GRAPHICS==
The Graphics might appear as cell-shading. Wrong again. The game features highly detailed graphics, but they added a little-bit of comic into it. They did added alot of detail, but they gave it a fatter-black borderline.
The graphics may not be perfect for everybody. But, downgrading it did allowed RealTimeWorlds to do another amazing thing. The draw-distance.
It's simply, amazing.
The physics are nice, but the vehicle physics might feel a bit weird now and then.
==SOUND==
Crackdown doesn't features the corny radio you had in GTA/Saints Row. It has a large soundtrack. Many songs, and most-likely, anyone will find something they like.
The vehicle sounds, sound extremely well. It sounds like they recorded it straight from real cars.
The gun sounds, are yet the best i've ever heard in a sandbox game.
The area sounds, are VERY nice and blend nicely with the theme.
The voicecast is a bit better, random civillians don't blur all kinds of cuss-word filled sentances. But, do get scared and hurl something offencive out. That's about it.
All-in-all, there's just one con about the sound. The narrator, never...shuts up. Sometimes he might sound handy, but overall he repeats the same stuff you've heard in the beginning.
==VALUE==
The value is really, it depends on what game-style you're into. If you like GTA-like games, with a impressive storyline, many odd-jobs and sort. That's not really what Crackdown all features, it has the boss-elimination modes and some Agility races and some Vehicle races. Collecting 800 orbs is the other thing. But thats it.
You'll need quite alot of imagination, to keep you buzy for a long time.
==SCORE==
+8.0 for Real Time Worlds, they created an impressive one-of-its-kind game.
+0.5 for the amazing battles, much shooting and stuff going on
+0.5 for a awesome coop mode.
+0.2 for a nice skill system
+0.3 for a very nice game, that's really worth buying for most.
-0.3 for a extremely short "story-line".
-0.2 for a now-and-then crappy driving system. -------- 9.5 SUPERB ---------------