The Grand Theft Auto series revolutionized the way gamers approach mission-based games. Linear paths are a thing of the past, “go anywhere, do anything” is the way of the future. It is this free-roaming genre of gaming that Crackdown, developed by Real Time Worlds and published by Microsoft Game Studios, is going to attempt to conquer this fall on Xbox 360’s around the world. It is by no coincidence that David Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto franchise is the mastermind behind this Xbox 360 exclusive game. Real Time Worlds may be new to the gaming industry (formed in 2002) but the collective staff has been around the block more than a few times. Crackdown will be the first action title to offer a non-linear style of gameplay similar to that of Morrowind or other MMORPG’s, and Microsoft is taking no chances at making this one a winner. Not only is this Grand Theft Auto on a dose of superhero crack but it also offers very interesting achievements and a full online co-op mode.
Crackdown’s storyline goes something like this: it’s a world (Pacific City) run by gangs, not your ordinary Bloods or Crips but hardcore gangs with leaders that would put fear into the eyes of the most brave of superheroes. There are three different gangs that terrorize the citizens of Pacific City, they are: the Volk, Shai-Gen Corporation, and Los Muertos. There are seven kingpins that run each gang and until you kill all seven kingpins that specific gang is not wiped out of the city. Add in the main boss of each gang and you are talking about 24 boss fights, can I hear a hell yes? Your character is a new breed of police force, a cloned super agent whose only purpose in life is to destroy enemies of the state. The government body that you work for is known as “The Agency” and is really the last hope for the city to survive as a functioning society. Although there are many missions throughout Crackdown the main focus of “The Agency” is to clean up the city of all the thugs and baddies. From the get go you are released on the thugs of the city, after your first does of superhero experimental drugs of course. These drugs allow you to jump over buildings, toss cars, and send bad guys flying through the air like they were rag dolls. The typical missions in Crackdown do not have a beginning, middle, or end; they are continuous and may take more than a few hours to complete. Meanwhile you will be doing other things even though you are in the middle of completing the mission you started two hours ago.
Completing missions will be easier if you enhance your characters special abilities and make him stronger. To do this each character has five key skills to improve: strength, agility, firearms, explosives, and driving. Killing criminals, completing missions, and doing side objectives are ways to bump up these abilities. The action is all designed for simple, accessible gaming. L controls movement, R controls the spinning manually controlled camera, and the two analogs handle pretty much everything else. When walking forward, any person or object in your path indicates their health with a horizontal health bar. This is a soft lock, and you can change it by hitting the left trigger to connect with a hard lock. You can shoot anything, humans, vehicles, buildings, and most will explode. You can aim at a car tire and blow it out, or a gas tank, and when hit, it explodes the car. Your character can walk up to a car, throw out the person, and tear off the door to use as a shield. The A.I in Crackdown is something to talk about, the bad guys will not only use everything in the environment to attack you but they also take cover behind objects that would be considered worthless in many other games.
