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Crackdown Review
When it was first announced that Halo 3 Beta keys were being included in the retail release of an Xbox 360 game, I rolled my eyes. I assumed that whatever they were slapping that key onto was going to be a crappy bargain basement eyesore. It has been a great pleasure to learn that, maybe, they bundled the Halo 3 key with Crackdown so that more people would be exposed to the simple greatness this game contains. To be sure, the game has deep flaws; not much of a story, a few racial stereotypes, and somewhat unsatisfying boss fights mar the experience. At the core, though, this is a mindlessly fun game that does a lot of things right. If there's a sequel, and there's no reason not to think there won't be, it's good to know that Realtime Worlds has established an extremely solid base for future endeavors. Read on for my thoughts on this superjumping shooter.
This power progression is wrapped in a paper-thin story wrapping. You're a genetically engineered police officer cooked up to combat an overwhelming gang presence on the planet's capital city. As a part of a world-girding (kind of fascist-sounding) law enforcement organization called 'The Agency', your character is charged with the general task of 'killing all the bad guys'. As you bound and drive and run your way around the island-based city, you'll get intel on the kingpins who run the three gangs that run the town. You're given leave to take out the crime bosses and their henchmen any way you please. The only time the Agency gets cranky is when civilians get caught in the crossfire (or under an onrushing car). Individually, none of these criminals are a challenge to take out. The bosses are also fairly easy targets; all that separates them from their underlings is a bit more health. (Though you do get a well-voiced cut-scene after each.) The challenge here is that in a given fight you may be facing upwards of 15 or 20 gang members at once. If you allow them to surround you and set up a crossfire, even a super-powered agent can succumb to the stinging of gnats. This backdrop and the 'plot progression' of killing crime lords is all you'll get for a storyline. While it's disappointing, it's just barely enough to keep your attention.
Where the game fails with story, it excels with presentation. Over the course of the game you'll raise your character's skills by taking out gang members. It's immediately obvious what skills you are improving: kill a ganger with a gun, and little colored spheres with guns in them rush into your character. The game's voiceover enthusiastically calls that 'skills for kills'. Your five skills are Agility, Firearms, Explosives, Driving, and Strength. You start with zero stars, and can advance to four stars in each skill. Agility is the only skill that is raised through different means. Beautiful green glowing orbs on the tops of buildings (500 in all) tempt you to reach new heights and leap wider gaps. The collection of that sweet, sweet candy will probably be what catches your attention in the early part of the game. There's a wonderfully formed hum that alerts you to the presence of nearby orbs, and a cheery 'ping!' that sounds when you collect one. This mechanic is easily the most addictive in the game, but pretty much everything you can do is amusing in one way or another. Seeing how far you can throw things (like, say, cars in the later game), discovering the hidden orbs which improve all of your skills at once, running the rooftop and street-level races scattered across the map; giving you the chance to make your own fun is what this game excels at. The comparisons to Grand Theft Auto are understandable insofar as this is a well-made sandbox of a world, but Crackdown offers you even fewer barriers than GTA does in what you can and can't do.
And, on that note, anything you find you can't do by yourself can probably be achieved in co-op play. Online co-op mode is as flexible as any other portion of the game, allowing you and one friend to bound and race around the city in whatever fashion you desire. The whole city is open to your duo, and if you're not interested in staying together there's no reason to do so. Unlike with Gears, say, the co-op is only the icing on the cake for Crackdown; there's plenty of fun to be had on your own. It's still tremendous to play in such a wide-open environment with another voice ringing in your ears. We can only hope that GTA IV and future sandbox games take a page from Crackdown's very attractive book.
That attractiveness extends beyond the game's design to its visual style. Using a mild form of cell shading and an incredible draw distance, the city you've been charged with protecting is occasionally breathtaking. It's certainly not pushing the limits of UT-style imagery, but the game's look is still extremely appealing. The title's sound presentation is equally engaging, and especially in high places really adds to the game's sensation. Standing atop the Agency building, the highest in the gameworld, the wind rushing past you adds a real sense of vertigo to your extreme height. Beyond the sound, I especially enjoyed the city's architecture. Each portion of the city has a distinct look, and within the districts every building (it seems) has its own personality. From two-story flats to the black and neon skyscrapers, they've made your urban playground as varied as they can. They urge you to ever greater heights, and it's hard to overstate just how much fun it is to leap from a tall building into the midst of a firefight; it just never gets old.
Like a Burnout for action games, Crackdown has pared away superfluous things like 'characters', 'story' or 'originality' to get at the meat of the game mechanics on offer. For those that expect a little more from their games, be forewarned that you're not going to experience the next step in storytelling here. For a great time, though, and a heaping portion of extremely enjoyable mindless entertainment, it's hard to ignore Crackdown's charms. It doesn't hurt that, as advertised, you'll eventually get access to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta. There's talk that the beta for this retail offering may not be until May and, to be honest, this title won't keep you occupied until then. It's still a good few weeks worth of entertainment, and well worth your time for a rental or a borrow from a friend. Just don't forget to give co-op a try; racing from rooftop to rooftop with a friend is an experience not to be missed.
- Title: Crackdown
- Developer/Publisher: Realtime Worlds, Microsoft Game Studios
- System: 360
- Genre: Sandbox-Style Action Shooter
- Score: 3/5 - This game is flawed, but will appeal to genre fans. Any gamer might enjoy renting it, but this won't ever be a classic.
This power progression is wrapped in a paper-thin story wrapping. You're a genetically engineered police officer cooked up to combat an overwhelming gang presence on the planet's capital city. As a part of a world-girding (kind of fascist-sounding) law enforcement organization called 'The Agency', your character is charged with the general task of 'killing all the bad guys'. As you bound and drive and run your way around the island-based city, you'll get intel on the kingpins who run the three gangs that run the town. You're given leave to take out the crime bosses and their henchmen any way you please. The only time the Agency gets cranky is when civilians get caught in the crossfire (or under an onrushing car). Individually, none of these criminals are a challenge to take out. The bosses are also fairly easy targets; all that separates them from their underlings is a bit more health. (Though you do get a well-voiced cut-scene after each.) The challenge here is that in a given fight you may be facing upwards of 15 or 20 gang members at once. If you allow them to surround you and set up a crossfire, even a super-powered agent can succumb to the stinging of gnats. This backdrop and the 'plot progression' of killing crime lords is all you'll get for a storyline. While it's disappointing, it's just barely enough to keep your attention.
Where the game fails with story, it excels with presentation. Over the course of the game you'll raise your character's skills by taking out gang members. It's immediately obvious what skills you are improving: kill a ganger with a gun, and little colored spheres with guns in them rush into your character. The game's voiceover enthusiastically calls that 'skills for kills'. Your five skills are Agility, Firearms, Explosives, Driving, and Strength. You start with zero stars, and can advance to four stars in each skill. Agility is the only skill that is raised through different means. Beautiful green glowing orbs on the tops of buildings (500 in all) tempt you to reach new heights and leap wider gaps. The collection of that sweet, sweet candy will probably be what catches your attention in the early part of the game. There's a wonderfully formed hum that alerts you to the presence of nearby orbs, and a cheery 'ping!' that sounds when you collect one. This mechanic is easily the most addictive in the game, but pretty much everything you can do is amusing in one way or another. Seeing how far you can throw things (like, say, cars in the later game), discovering the hidden orbs which improve all of your skills at once, running the rooftop and street-level races scattered across the map; giving you the chance to make your own fun is what this game excels at. The comparisons to Grand Theft Auto are understandable insofar as this is a well-made sandbox of a world, but Crackdown offers you even fewer barriers than GTA does in what you can and can't do.
And, on that note, anything you find you can't do by yourself can probably be achieved in co-op play. Online co-op mode is as flexible as any other portion of the game, allowing you and one friend to bound and race around the city in whatever fashion you desire. The whole city is open to your duo, and if you're not interested in staying together there's no reason to do so. Unlike with Gears, say, the co-op is only the icing on the cake for Crackdown; there's plenty of fun to be had on your own. It's still tremendous to play in such a wide-open environment with another voice ringing in your ears. We can only hope that GTA IV and future sandbox games take a page from Crackdown's very attractive book.
That attractiveness extends beyond the game's design to its visual style. Using a mild form of cell shading and an incredible draw distance, the city you've been charged with protecting is occasionally breathtaking. It's certainly not pushing the limits of UT-style imagery, but the game's look is still extremely appealing. The title's sound presentation is equally engaging, and especially in high places really adds to the game's sensation. Standing atop the Agency building, the highest in the gameworld, the wind rushing past you adds a real sense of vertigo to your extreme height. Beyond the sound, I especially enjoyed the city's architecture. Each portion of the city has a distinct look, and within the districts every building (it seems) has its own personality. From two-story flats to the black and neon skyscrapers, they've made your urban playground as varied as they can. They urge you to ever greater heights, and it's hard to overstate just how much fun it is to leap from a tall building into the midst of a firefight; it just never gets old.
Like a Burnout for action games, Crackdown has pared away superfluous things like 'characters', 'story' or 'originality' to get at the meat of the game mechanics on offer. For those that expect a little more from their games, be forewarned that you're not going to experience the next step in storytelling here. For a great time, though, and a heaping portion of extremely enjoyable mindless entertainment, it's hard to ignore Crackdown's charms. It doesn't hurt that, as advertised, you'll eventually get access to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta. There's talk that the beta for this retail offering may not be until May and, to be honest, this title won't keep you occupied until then. It's still a good few weeks worth of entertainment, and well worth your time for a rental or a borrow from a friend. Just don't forget to give co-op a try; racing from rooftop to rooftop with a friend is an experience not to be missed.
That will be awesome. I like crackdown for a silly playability, lack of storyline stuff..and i will love halo 3 beta
I'd like to issue a correction for this review. The correct score should be 4/5.
This guy's the limit!
I'm not Jack Thompson, but is anyone else even remotely disturbed at the subtext of this sort of game? The demo floating around on XBL features some good old-fashioned ultraviolence perpetrated by a Caucasian protagonist (the player, natch) against your stereotypical Latino gangbangers.
My younger brother is totally unconcerned with this--he wants to super-jump and shoot people--but I can't help but wonder whether this sort of thing isn't necessarily part of a complete mental breakfast.
At least justify why you think a correction is in order.
All of the white characters are portrayed as barely-employed blog editors, living in the parent's basement and begging for pizza crusts.
OK, this was a sub-par review. I still have way more questions about the game.
Can you go inside buildings? Or is everything outdoors?
What is the driving like? Are there decent car chases? Or are they a weak subgame?
Is there any depth to hand-to-hand melee fighting? Or is it just punch, but the goal is to get strong enough that punches do more damage?
Can I throw a bad guy? How far? What if I punch him really hard? Does he go flying?
*sigh* I guess I'll just rent it.
"You cannot find out which view is the right one by science in the ordinary sense." - C.S. Lewis on Intelligent Design
Can someone tell me whether there will be a sequel or not?
Are you kidding me? The game has been released for about two weeks. Of course there will be a sequel! In fact, it was started soon after the original game was pitched to publishers. It should be coming out in September, as part of Microsoft's one-three punch with Halo 3 and a price drop to annhilate the Wii, PS3, DS, PSP, Dreamcast, Genesis, and all other competition from the historty books and all eternity. Other consoles will only be a comma taught to game designers everywhere thanks to this game's sequel Crackdown 2: When Crystal Meth Attacks!
Sorry, went a little overboard there.
they bundled the Halo 3 key with Crackdown so that more people would be exposed to the simple greatness this game contains ... To be sure, the game has deep flaws; not much of a story, a few racial stereotypes, and somewhat unsatisfying boss fights marr the experience.
Yeah, basically, the boss fights are almost all the same. The driving isn't nearly on par with GTA. The "skill penalty" imposed for bad behavior is lame, and hinders enjoyment of just being out and about.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Not a justification, just a note that X-Play gave it a 5 out of 5.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
If there's a sequel, and there's no reason not to think there won't be
Two wrongs don't make a write. This double negative, with a negative chaser, is painful.
"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
The demo floating around on XBL features some good old-fashioned ultraviolence perpetrated by a Caucasian protagonist (the player, natch) against your stereotypical Latino gangbangers.
Have you seen the demo first-hand, or is that just something you heard from a friend of a friend? Every download of the demo I've played (and the retail game) has an african-american as the default character.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I purchased the game the day it came out and I just got around to playing it this weekend. 3/5 stars is a little low I'd personally give it 4/5. The game has no real plot, this is true but it is insanely fun to play and the main characters abilities are like Blade meets Chuck Norris (Jumping rooftop to rooftop and roundhouses a plenty). I love the targeting system it is especially fun when you aim at a character while hopping from rooftop to rooftop taking out an enemies legs mid-air then landing on top of them (Super Mario style) and giving the few other enemies around you roundhouses that knock them into midair. If you want a game that will allow you to zone out for a few minutes during breaks and have fun this is definitely it. If you want a game with detailed plots and a complex storyline you'll be bored to death.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
Does anyone else remember "Major Damage" from Capcom USA? For the Saturn and PS1. This sounds like a 3D version of that. Of course, I guess that "kill everything that moves and get powerups to do it better and faster" describes 95% of the games out there...
The game has a certain quality that makes you keep playing it when you're playing it, looking for just one more orb or taking out one more boss or so on... its mindless fun and it taps into the improvement/levelling vibe in ways few games have... And for any of those who complain about its lack of social responsibility, its all okay because you're a cop. I'd love to see them come out with expansion areas for this via xbla...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Ok, I have not bought the full version yet, but I will soon. However, I thought I would comment on the demo (which basically times out 30 minutes after you make any skill reach level 2).
I had a blast. Granted, story line is moot, the boss fights are pretty much the same. When you increase the difficulty, it just makes your shield/life go down faster and enemies are stronger and come around faster.
The graphics I think are good, the style is great. It had a very E-SWAT feeling for me, which is extremely positive. As for audio, come on, it has DJ Krush (-esque?) music during the main menu, what else you want?
Being able to run around the city, jump around the city, blow things up, etc, is great fun. You can't go into buildings, and I have not done much driving yet (too much fun jumping around skyscrapers to worry about it) but it did not so much appeal to me.
There are other minigames like racing around the building, following a green beam of light.
As for the penalty issue, its no big deal. Sure, sometimes there is "collateral damage", but long as its not a habit, your fine. Plenty of gang hit squards to blow up if you need to destroy something.
Regardless, beauty of all this is, you can get the demo and decide for yourself. I really liked it.
However, I do see what everyone else says. This game *could have been* great. No major flaws, its just a solid base waiting for a sequel I think at this point.
I've had the game since the day it came out, and I had been playing the demo for several weeks prior to that.
I am probably one of 6 people who bought the game for the game, and not the Halo 3 beta invite. The demo was a *blast* and was probably the most fun I've had on the 360. Yes, more than Gears of War.
The game starts off a bit slow. You're not really sure what to do. Eventually you'll realize that this open ended game play is what makes Crackdown so much damn fun. Don't feel like doing the missions or taking on the bad guys? Fine. Go have fun leaping from rooftop to rooftop, or leveling up your explosives skills to the point where a single grenade can take out a dozen cars sitting in traffic.
The whole concept of "leveling" your character through the various power ups turns out to be extremely, extremely addicting. It turns into an almost uncontrollable compulsion to get those green orbs. And the blue orbs? Forget about it. They're like heroin. Even the animation that you get when you reach the next level is addicting. You're guy does a highlander style quickening with a bit of an explosive blast wave added in for effect. Everything around you gets knocked over and thrown about 10 feet... including bad guys. I often find myself trying to time my level-ups so that I'm in a crowded area or next to a bunch of cars. Something very satisfying about having things blown away from you... quite the power trip.
Once you've defeated the baddies in Los Muertos, you'll probably wander over to Volk's territory. Previously, the game didn't really offer *that* much of a challenge on the default settings. As long as you weren't stupid and stayed in one place too long, dying wasn't all that common. That changes fast. The Volk will kick your ass. They're smarter. They have MUCH bigger guns (um... rocket launcher = pain), and they have double life meters. And don't get me started on the Shai Gen.
Are there flaws? Yes. The bosses are often too weak... although if you turn up the difficulty level a notch they can give you your money's worth. The story line is iffy. There aren't enough... um... structured missions. One of the strength's of GTA is that while it was very open and non-restrictive, it also had structure if your chose to participate. Crackdown lacks this.
There are also a few control glitches. I've found myself trying to pick up a car, but not be given the option for no real reason. It can also be frustratingly difficult to attack the correct baddie when there are lots of bodies laying around because you target all bad guys, not just the alive and kicking ones.
That said, the game is a LOT of fun. It's the first time on my 360 that I've had "Mario Thumb". (You know... the sore, red thumb caused by repeated button mashing.) And when you start playing co-op... wow. It really doesn't get much better. Honestly. Especially when you decide it's more fun to try and kill each other than complete the missions. (Supercop vs Supercop = BOOOOOOM!)
At one point I set a trap for my co-op nemesis. He was chasing me and I drove past a large group of cars stuck in traffic. In essentially one motion I leaped from my car, spun around, and fired a rocket into the group of cars just as he was passing them. The resulting explosion sent his car flying through the air uncontrollably. I then targeted his car and nailed it with 6 or 7 rockets, keeping it flipping through the air. It was like something out of a movie... and man was it fun.
This is one of those games that you really just have to play. Give it 30 minutes of you're time and all of a sudden you'll realize you've been playing it for 6 hours.
Other than the interesting physics.. it is an average shooter game. Making stuff blow up was about the only fun they had with it. So yes, it is a "rent me" but not worth buying... unless you just gotta have Halo 3...
For the most part I'd agree with the review. There isn't much of a story, but it works pretty well without one...you're a super-agent cleaning up crime. The game leaves it up to you to play the game anyway you want.
It's definitely addicting, as you gain your skills/abilities, you want to keep playing and max them all out.
The Halo 3 beta is just the icing on the cake. I probably wouldn't have bought Crackdown if I didn't actually enjoy playing the demo, $59.99 is too much to be able to play any beta for a month. The game is quite enjoyable, but I do wish there was a bit more to it. Once you play through it, level up to maximum ability and kill all the bosses, there isn't much incentive to go back and play through it more/again. I played through the whole game in about a week of me playing maybe 2 hours a day after work.
It's very addictive, until you finish the game, where there isn't much to bring you back in. I never tried the co-op but it didn't really seem to add much to the game IMO. In the end, it's worth a play if you want the Halo 3 beta and want a fun game with a similar style of GTA. Don't expect it to be the greatest, but it does what it does well, but not much more.
I absolutely love the voiceover. His little comments and quips are very entertaining and well spoken. "Skills for Kills!" I love it when he yells at you for running over citizens :-P
"and there's no reason not to think there won't be"
I love it when people use so many negatives that they get lost in their own sentance.
Everyone I know who has this game loves it. One has even temporarily given up Burning Crusade for it. The physics and the jumping (and searching for agility orbs) really make it for me.
It's more of a two week game than a two month game, but I think you get your money worth in sheer fun and 'Ahahaha did you see THAT?'
I've played about 10-20 hours of the game, so I gotta say I know a little about this game. I've beat it completely and I'm done.
There's a few problem that just stick out. The biggest is the game is not fun alone, and it doesn't mesh well with co-op. You never have to do anything together so why is there co-op? On the other hand the co-op is why the game excels, the game is just not that interesting solo.
The only way to play co-op is system link (over a lan) or to pay for Xbox live. So now you're paying Microsoft money to get onto Xbox live. Now Xbox live is great, I use it all the time, but the fact that to have the true game experience you have to have Xbox live is a sad thing.
Well let me explain that, the game is "fun" for the first playthrough. When you've beat the 21st boss, you have NOTHING to do with the world but hunt for the 800 orbs, if you get all 800 orbs you officially have nothing to do. You can turn on "random crime" but the random crime is nothing more than a murder simulator. There's races that are moderate at best, there's stunts that are just annoying to do. There's just not enough optional content or ways to replay the mission. Time trial is about all the fun there is after the game is over.
The only way to start the game over is to delete you're save file. That's not fun either! It's just an uncool way of doing gameplay. At least give us two save files, or a new game+. Forcing the player to only be able to play through the game once is just a poor suggestion.
There's a reason GTA is a classic and crackdown is poor. There's supposed to be DLC to improve the game... Where is it? They should have hung on to the game and put the DLC on the disc. Even the fact that there's only 910 achievement points hurts the game because you know it's an incomplete game. This might be a good game but after the first week or so you realize that it's a poor version of the sandbox game. Mercenaries worked, Storyless crackdown didn't.
I just re-watched the x-play review and they didn't say anything like what you just said. They said that they though it wouldn't be any good when they found out that the halo 3 beta came with it but "wonders never cease." They loved the game and gave it a rare 5 out of 5 rating. Last 5 of 5 rating was Guitar Hero II which was about 100 reviews ago. Never did they mention renting it. The online review said "It's an absolute blast to play." They basically said the opposite of what you think they said.
Damnit, every time I see blurbs on this game I end up thinking of the old 16-bit Genesis title...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
Youd be fun to rent but youll never be a classic. Your opinions are flawed and you dont deserve a rating you smelly pirate hooker
I've been through the game once, and although (imho) I find the graphics amazing, especially when you're up very high and you look around and you can see things far away, the progression through the story line was too repetitive for me (but I still did it). The problem for me was that to kill the bad guys, you only need to run, jump and shoot. That can be a lot of fun, but you don't need to do anything else. Games like Call of Duty 2 and 3, Halo 2, and GTA III and Vice City all have what you could call "forced diveristy" in terms of mission gear, but Crackdown does not (run, jump, shoot with the heavy machine gun once you get it). For instance, if you want to advance the storyline in GTA: VC, you have to use motorcycles, drive a limo, steal and drive a tank, fly an RC mini helicopter, pick people up and take them places, and drive a boat. CoD (2 and/or 3) makes you drive a tank, a jeep, shoot various big weapons, use a sniper rifle, paddle a boat (which I thought was a bit dumb), and other things. These games force you to use different weapons and vehicles. Crackdown doesn't care if you can drive or not. I don't think there's any reason to ever use a pistol (unless you are totally out of ammo and you can't find anything better). I think some people will definitely like this less-forced storyline, but I found it too repetitive, especially given that the idea for "forced diversity" is out there in successful games. If they build that into Crackdown 2, it could be amazing.
I would go buy Crackdown today if it supported Legacy and Southpaw. All games should support multiple control schemes.
I think it needs to be mentioned that there are only 900 Gamerpoints available with what is on the disk. All Retail Xbox360 games have to have 1000 points unlockable without having to purchase any addons, this means that there will be a FREE addon (or addons) available via Xbox Live Marketplace to unlock the last 100 points, so don't think that now you have finished that you have done all the game has to offer.. There will still be plenty more FREE content for it.
I too spent my time leaping around the city & looking for ways to climb the tallest buildings. But after I'd maxed the other stats, I turned my attention to the driving - and it's at least as much fun as the jumping and explosions :-)
What the review didn't mention is that, as your driving skill increases (mostly by driving right over those pesky gang members), the Agency cars (supercar, SUV and truck cab) actually morph progressively into sleeker, beefier, more dangerous-looking vehicles, and get correspondingly faster, tougher, more manoeuverable and generally gnarlier. Best of all, when you get to four stars (the max), they all gain a whole new ability (mounted guns in the supercar, turbo boost in the truck cab, and this very cool suspension "leaping" ability in the SUV).
Ever since I got them, I've been "leaping" my SUV off the top of parking structures, doing insane double-front-flips, bouncing it into ever-more inaccessible places, and occasionally taking time out to plough the truck through oncoming traffic on the freeways, or to do donuts with the supercar in gang-controlled carparks with the mounted guns blazing.
The game isn't perfect, but I've been more addicted to it than even Gears of War or Viva Pinata. Rent it if you like, but I don't think that'll give you time to do more than scratch the surface. That city is *huge*, and full of little secret tunnels, massive exploding barrel chains, carefully placed ramp opportunities (not to mention the mobile ramp trucks), giant globes to crush bad guys with, and other areas to explore. I've been playing it for 30-40 hours now, I've been all over the city and I'm still continually finding places I never realised even existed.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
This is one of those games you can just screw around with for hours... Just run out to the highway with a couple of machine guns and shoot out tires... The cars will slide around a bit, and even catch and flip if they hit the right angle... (It's hilarious to watch the car slide sideways, the rims catch, and it flip over to land right on top of your agent)...
First of all a disclaimer, I do work in games for MS. That said, I try not to play favorites. For example, Perfect Dark Zero? Not very good. 99 Nights? Yeaahh, not much either. But I did like Gears of War and Crackdown. I haven't worked on any of these titles either. I also have been a big fan of various games for other consoles and platforms (PS2, DS, etc.). Anyway, my thoughts ...
... yeah, having a short game isn't that great. I'd be bored fairly quickly, and at that point, calling this merely "a rental" would make a lot of sense.
I see a lot of comments regarding Crackdown being a relatively short game. The same was said of Gears of War. Given a dedicated week of playtime, you can beat them, as well as go through many of the achievements. Basically, it's about 10-15 hours of single-player content. (Obviously playing online extends the length quite a bit, but that's all subjective depending on how much you like multiplayer to begin with)
So, is the game's relative shortness, compared to other games that boast things like 40-50 hours of playtime (many of which are RPGs, such as Oblivion and Final Fantasy XII), a bad thing? I think it depends on what type of gamer you are. If I were a kid again, with ample free time
But as a working individual, there's something to be said about having a product that's fairly polished and a lot of fun, and relatively short. A "short" game like Gears of War still took me several weeks to complete. I'm finding that Crackdown is similar. I've already beaten the campaign, but there's still a lot that I want to do (get the other achievements). I like the idea that I should be able to accomplish this relatively easily after a few weeks. On the other hand, with games like the aforementioned FFXII, I know I'll have to dedicate months if I want to get through much of the optional side-quest content. Heck, just beating the original game took a long time. I'm not saying that long games are a bad thing (especially if they're good), but for me personally, there's a boon in having shorter games as well.
I think most of us would agree that the alternative, having a game that's unnaturally lengthened (forcing the user to revisit levels for no good reason, etc.), is a bad thing.
What do the rest of you think? Are there any other "short but sweet" games that you can think of?
-- jchenx
I'm generally a fan of yours, Zonk, but trying to wrap my head around "there's no reason not to think there won't be" is giving me a nose bleed. That's a triple negative man! C'mon!
And because of that triple-negative goodness, it's a meaningless phrase! "There's no reason to think there won't be a sequel" means that there probably will be a sequel. I think that's what you were going for, because adding that third negation makes it very unclear and probably the opposite of what you intended.
Sorry to rant, I'm not usually a grammar nazi but this one was off the charts...
then the ending should come as a real treat to you. And hey, in the limited story provided in the game, they even manage to foreshadow it without completely giving it away.
I don't like games like this. I also didn't like GTA (I know Crackdown isn't a "GTA killer", but many people compare these two games). But Crackdown has a few things that make this game interesting.
First one - open space. You can do whatever you want (almost...), you can go wherever you want (almost...). Oh, I forget - there are borders of course, but a city is huge, so you won't be boring (at least in first 10 hours of gameplay).
Second one - you can pick up and throw anything. Do you like doing such things? I don't...
Third one - visual design in a cartoon/comic style. I don't like it, but I know it has to be like this.
Gadgets, heh?
Two Wongs Can Make It White!