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Xbox 360's 'Crackdown' is an over-the-top game of cops and cops |
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Written by Justin Hoeger, McClatchy-Tribune
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Saturday, 03 March 2007 |
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Get ready for a little game of bad cop, worse cop.
"Crackdown" takes the open-world sensibility of "Grand Theft Auto" and applies it to a totally over-the-top game world. It's a world of action-movie logic and superhero physics, with a slick comic book-inspired visual style and some very impressive graphics.
("Halo" fans take note: Early copies of "Crackdown" include an invitation to the online beta test of the upcoming "Halo 3.")
Let us take a moment here to call the reader's attention to the "Mature" rating plastered all over the game. "Crackdown" is not, not, not for kids. It's extremely violent, often tasteless and usually crude.
And it's an absolute blast to play.
The story is pretty thin. It's set in a sprawling island metropolis called Pacific City, which is overrun by a trio of huge, heavily armed gangs that each conveniently occupies one-third of the urban sprawl encircling the central island, which houses the Agency.
The Agency is an international police force dedicated to getting rid of the gangs. To this end, the Agency has created a new breed of police soldier, called - what else? - Agents. These supercops are much stronger, faster and more skilled than a normal human, and that's just as the game starts.
An Agent's powers evolve through use. And it's not a slow, barely noticeable increase. The player's mission as an Agent is to rid Pacific City of its organized criminal element by any means necessary. And to the player, that means a lot of gunplay and mayhem.
Each Agent has five core attributes: agility, driving, explosives, firearms and strength. Each of these is increased in an intuitive manner, and each can be increased by up to four levels beyond its starting level.
Training in explosives and firearms is easy: Blow things up or shoot them. Increasing these skills raises the effectiveness of weapons, and there are a lot of different weapons to choose from, most of them satisfying and all of them effective. They range from submachine guns to automatic shotguns to homing rockets to sniper rifles. There are several types of grenades as well.
Driving is a little trickier - finishing street races, performing stunts and rolling over bad guys. Increasing this rating causes the Agency's custom vehicles - a supercar, an SUV and a truck cab — to change shape and take on new powers.
Run-of-the-mill vehicles are unaffected.
Which brings us to strength and agility. Strength is easy enough: Use physical attacks, throw dumpsters, barrels and so on, and an Agent will increase in strength (and size, noticeably buffing up over time). Eventually an Agent will be able to fling cars dozens of yards and send enemies flying like rag dolls.
Agility is a bit different. Scattered throughout the city are rooftop race markers and agility orbs. The races give a big agility boost upon completion, but the orbs are the most entertaining route to follow. These tend to be hidden high up on rooftops and landmarks; scrambling up buildings and leaping from roof to roof to get to them is great fun.
Heightened agility is the most entertaining power on its own. Combined with strength, a player can feel more or less invincible, bounding over buildings and throwing cars at gangsters, all in the name of justice.
The only thing more fun than building up an Agent's powers is using them. Each gang has a kingpin who relies on a number of lieutenants. Hunting these lower criminals down before taking on the leader is fun and adds to the probability of success against the big fish.
There are three gangs: Los Muertos, the Volk and Shai-Gen. Each is a stereotype and a caricature; "Crackdown" has no interest in subtlety, tact or political correctness. Los Muertos is a Hispanic gang, the Volk are European, and the Shai-Gen is a Chinese-dominated corporation.
The road to a gang kingpin is paved with carnage, and the game really means it when it says "by any means necessary." A player has to try pretty hard to irritate the regular police enough for them to intervene, usually by killing a lot of civilians or cops by accident (or on purpose).
But there's a lot of leeway for collateral damage, which makes one wonder if the cure to Pacific City's ills is as bad as the disease. Most players won't stop to think about that, especially when a friend joins in via Xbox Live to help paint the town. | Only registered users can write comments.
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