With the release of the Crackdown 2 demo it’s time to return to the streets of Pacific City and dole out the familiar brand of agent justice we have come to know and love.
Though the classic Crackdown world remains the city buildings have been renovated giving us new ground to cover, but still keeping it familiar. It feels as though time has progressed since the ending of the first Crackdown, but this is most definitely the same Pacific City. The developers have given the city a major overhaul in the visuals department. It is not to such an extent that it has lost its former comic-book stylings, this is a type of “super-hero” game after all, it just seems much more smooth.
I am a fan of cell-shading, when it’s done right, and Ruffian prove once more that they can deliver. However, it is not just the look of the city that has improved, the character models are also vastly improved too, as the citizens, criminals and freaks all look and animate very well. The Havok game engine is used once more to great effect, and as a game that has never taken itself too seriously this adds to the over the top action. Who needs realism?
Movement within the city is as simple and entertaining as it was in the first game, with players running, jumping, swimming and driving to the next location. Although not available in the demo, helicopters and a gliding suit will add new ways to traverse the open-world from the air. The driving has been tweaked to make it more fun, especially at night when the freaks come out to play. The game can become like the classic racer Carmageddon as players plough through enemies and civilians alike, turning them into red and green pools of blood and goo on the road.
Not much of the new narrative is revealed in the demo of Crackdown 2, other than the fact that mutant enemies, known as freaks, are running loose on the streets of Pacific City, and that it is your job to eradicate the threat using “project sunburst”. This means that players will have to charge up machines that can be used to power UV light bombs. Once the machines are ready the player will have to track down the freak lair and defend the bomb, when it is delivered, until detonation. On the gang side of the game, The Cell seem to be the only human threat in the game. Objectives involve taking over gang territory by calling chopper support, then killing the required amount of gang members. Both are simple concepts, but it doesn’t seem that these alone will keep the gameplay moving forward and the full version will have to include more variety for the narrative to work.
Upgrading in Crackdown 2 is as simple as it was in the original. “Kills for skills, agent!”, such a classic line and a simple concept. The more enemies you shoot, the faster your firearms skill will increase, allowing the player to access new agency weapons, such as the harpoon gun. The same applies to the other skills, with hand to hand combat increasing strength to lift objects so that they can thrown at enemies and used to beat them down, whereas an increase in the driving ability allows access to faster, more heavily armoured and weaponised vehicles.
New inclusions for the game, such as the Mag grenades, allow players to get creative. It is possible to create a slingshot with objects in the world, and use them to propel objects into the distance for no particular reason, or to hit as many street thugs as you can. While the harpoon gun was only available in the original game through DLC, it is now a weapon to be unlocked by levelling up. The inclusion of weapons such as this add a cartoony and humorous edge to a very adult themed game.
As with Crackdown, agility orbs make a return, though this time a quick tap on the d-pad acts as a sonar radar, allowing the player to see orbs on the map for a brief period of time. Along with the classic orbs, the game includes renegade agility orbs, which must be chased down before they can be collected, as well as renegade driving orbs which test the players driving skills.
Combat is as over the top as its predecessor. The player can lock on to targets and shoot at will, all the while having the ability to choose which body part they would like to target with the right stick. The player may also choose to free aim, and in Crackdown 2 that is possible, if you can manage it while leaping through the air and surrounded by enemies.
The game boasts a rather impressive four player co-op, however there is no option to join a game in progress with the demo, so you must have friends on your list with the demo to invite. That being said, I was able to find other players via social networking and get stuck into the game as a team. This option expedites the completion of tasks, such as eliminating gang opposition, and it is rather impressive to see three team mates bounding into the distance. It reminds the player just how agile their agent is. In online play lag was not an issue this time round and it is an absolute pleasure to play as a team.
The original draw of Crackdown remains true in this sequel, but with only half an hour you’ll have to be quick to explore the map, orb hunt and get your skill levels up. Players looking for a clear and concise narrative may well be disappointed, but this remains to be seen. The new gadgets allow players to experiment with the over the top game engine, and with a “go anywhere from the beginning” mentality, this could be the summer action blockbuster game for 2010.
