February 20, 2007 - While it may look like a GTA clone and will inevitably get compared to Rockstar’s revered series, if we get right down to it, Crackdown is in no way, shape or form a GTA-type game. This will both please, alienate and disappoint many depending on your expectations. Personally, while I do enjoy the various Grand Theft Auto outings as well as their copycats on the Xbox 360 (Saints Row, The Godfather) I was looking forward to something different and Crackdown surprised, delighted and thrilled me in a way I simply wasn’t expecting. While there is a tiny hint of a plot therein, and while there might even be a point to the 21 gang-leaders to take down, Crackdown is a game about exploration, collection and leveling up. It has more in common with Spider-Man 2 and Mercenaries than with any other game and when all is said and done, it’s also a game that is more addictive than any the 360 has ever seen. I’ve played Oblivion, I’ve played Gears of War, I’ve played them all, but by its simple nature, Crackdown (while it lasts) is simply a game that is impossible to put down.

Crackdown isn’t about story, plot or characterization. Crime is running rampant and genetically enhanced humans are created to fight crime. Think of it as a mesh between Robocop and the Justice League. The point of the game is to eliminate the 3 heads of various gangs, each consisting of 5 “under-bosses” and 2 “lieutenants”. When you explore a certain area, a file will be played giving you background on a certain criminal in your vicinity and you must then take them out, at which point another brief clip will play. You can technically take out the various criminals in any order, but preferably, you’ll want to start at the bottom and work your way up. There’s also a difficulty curve regarding the various criminal factions and so you’ll want to take them on in the order your profile has them listed in. All told though, once you’ve acquired the rocket launcher, you can pretty much wipe out any crime figure in any order you so choose. In the center of all this violence is our hero. You get to pick a skin (which you can change every time you play) but they each play the same, they are all nameless and they do not impact the story in anyway. In fact, grunting from a high fall is the most vocal your character will ever get.

The point is simply that Crackdown is not a game about story, plot or characters. In fact, I spent over two hours at one point without firing a single bullet. Crackdown’s main draw and addiction comes from its 500 green orbs scattered on the rooftops of buildings. The green orbs are used to level up your ability which in turn will allow you to jump higher and gain access to higher orbs (the higher the orb, the higher its reward). There are also 300 “hidden” blue orbs located around the city, but unlike the green ones which are generally on top of buildings and easy to spot (getting to them is really the challenge here), the blue orbs can be located anywhere and are generally a lot harder to locate. The blue orbs will also level up the four other skills that Crackdown keeps track of: driving, explosives, hand to hand fighting and weapons. These other skills are generally leveled in-game by using, and taking out criminals with, grenades, guns (the farther away you are, the more level you gain), doing vehicular stunts/damage and fighting bare-handed. Whenever you perform a specified skill, the game will actually display the skill-drops to represent what type and how many of each you’ve gained. Once you’ve leveled a skill to a hundred percent, you will gain new abilities or powers, like being able to jump a lot higher and being more precise with firearms.