Crackdown for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

The only thing that would make Crackdown MORE like a sandbox was if the environment was actually made out of sand. Real Time Worlds had this basic concept: take the mayhem part of GTA and turn that into a game. You get the freedom to tackle the "missions" (if you can even call them that) in any order and in a variety of different ways. The basic idea is that there are three gangs that are taking over the city. Each gang has 6 bosses and a kingpin, for a total of 21 gang leaders to take out (7 from each of the 3 gangs). You play on the side of the "Agency" as a supercop, with all the perks of being "super" such as super speed, super strength, super... uh... driving ability. Like the Elder Scrolls series, your skills increase with use. Kick a guy in the teeth or throw a dumpster on a dude and your strength increases. Shoot people in the face (which we all do in real life, right Jack Thompson?) and your firearms skill increases. Blow stuff up with a rocket launcher or grenades and your explosives skill increases. Get the idea? The only skill that doesn't increase this way is agility, which requires you to hunt down "Agility orbs", normally found at the tops of buildings. Collect enough orbs and your speed and jumping height increases. You then utilize your skills to tackle the enemies whatever way you see fit. Jump over the peons to get to the boss, or use your explosives skill to blow EVERYONE up in one move.

The best part about this game is the ability to play with a buddy. The crazy things you can think up with two players are just awesome fun. If you aren't agile enough to scale a building, get in a car and let your friend throw the car onto the building. Or use a car as a bomb by having one person drive it into the enemy and dive out at the last second before the other person shoots the gas tank. The fun is limited only by your imagination. There's no story, really, which may be a bummer to some people, but I think it just gives it more freedom. A solid 9.

Take a Saint's Row, GTA style game, subtract the story, add some rather insane player character abilities, sprinkle a little chaos in the mix and you have Crackdown.

As with most of my reviews, I'll start off with the goods and bads, then go into more detail.

Goods:

- Combat is rather intense at times
- Graphics are solid
- Character abilities (super-human) are FUN
- Online co-op is a blast (chaos²)
- Targeting system works well
- Wide open city from the start
- There are plenty of bad guys

Bads:

- Lack of story
- Missions are very repetitive
- You're penalized for doing harm to civilians
- Civilians are too easy to hit with cars (if I weren't penalized, I wouldn't care)

When considering Crackdown, I believe the deciding question one should ask is, "Do I need to have a great story line?" and "Do I want to create mayhem in all sorts of different ways?".

If you can't live without a solid story, you will be disappointed by this title.

If you're looking for a game you can pick up and play for 15 minutes, or hours on end, and cause havoc, this is a good pick, ESPECIALLY if you have a friend to co-op with. My Cousin and I had a blast playing this on live.

The weapons in this game are pretty standard for the most part, but they fit in well and are decently balanced.

Character abilities (as far fetched as they are) are also pretty balanced and add a lot of fun to the game. If this title did not have the ridiculous factor that these abilities bring, it would be a sub-par experience.

The graphics in this game are pretty good. I have seen a few user reviews who say they're absolutely rotten, which I frankly don't understand. Was your TV on? They're definitely not the best in the world, but they are far from terrible.

In the time I spent playing I did not run into any killer glitches or other problems that would make my face hurt.

Overall I found this game to be a lot of fun, and I plan to rent this again down the line.