Crackdown (Xbox 360)

But it is a great step in the right direction for GTA-style games, co-op should be a must in most games and game genres as far as I am concerned and this is one reason that Just Cause failed to hit the proper mark. Mercenaries 2 might have it right but we’ll have to wait and see regarding that. It is a lot of fun to tool up on some big guns and then run around with a friend just wasting the gang members, blasting through the game with a buddy whose better at driving gives you the chance to see the Agency vehicles as they look in the hands of a pro etc.

So that’s the gameplay for Crackdown. It’s a solid game but lacks any real kind of motivation to continue on apart from blasting things and gangs to bits. It would do better if there was more of a story and more of a GTA-style mission structure.

The game’s graphics are a whole new ballgame as they say. Crackdown has a great draw-distance with none of the problems that plagued Saints Row such as disastrous pop-up and vanishing sections of road. There are a few glitches here and there but most of the time the game runs smoothly, at a decent frame rate and delivers fast past crime-fighting action for 1 or 2 players.

I love the use of this new Graphic Novel style comic-book look RTW went for, it is slicker than cell-shading and fits the game perfectly. It features nice lighting and a very smooth day-to-night cycle. The draw-distance is pretty impressive and looking out from the Agency tower top at night is quite breathtaking as the city seems almost alive.

The levels of eye candy are good, there’s enough pyrotechnical explosive joy that when coupled with a decent physics system makes blowing things up lots of fun. There’s the usual rag-doll physics and the bells and whistles are there for destruction – save for buildings ala Mercenaries.

The AI is a bit of a let down, it is rudimentary and simple stuff that presents a challenge when you are confronted by enemies with a tonne of explosive weapons, seven Shai-Gen, three of which are armed with Firefly heat-seeking rockets for example will often make mincemeat out of your agent.

It has some good sound (weapons, explosions etc), some excellent music tracks that are instrumental and so on lurk inside each vehicles futuristic equivalent of a CD-Player. The voice work (is few and far between) consists of random talk from pedestrians and your ever present (ever annoying) Agency liaison, nameless voice man.

All in all Crackdown could have been so much more with a great story, but it’s really all about taking down your enemies, powering up your agent and blasting them with style. It has numerous clever Achievements and when you complete the game you can turn random crimes back on so you’re able to keep on fighting crime solo or with a friend. I hope if RTW produces a sequel (and they should) that they take some of the faults into consideration and deliver a solid story.