Goofing off with friends in a marginally different virtual playground
Format: Xbox 360 Dev: Ruffian Games Pub: Microsoft
Out: 09/07/10 Players: 1, 2-16 online
It’s been three years since Xbox owners had the chance to clean up Pacific City from criminal scum. Now we’re back with Crackdown 2, perhaps the purest example of open world gameplay. 10 years have passed since the events of the original game and Pacific City has undergone quite a few changes, most importantly the outbreak of hideous mutant creatures, known as Freaks, that roam the city at night in their thousands, coupled with a notorious terrorist group, known as The Cell, that has claimed most of what is left of the ruined city.
Apart from that there really is not much story to be found in Crackdown 2. The emphasis is more on emergent gameplay, which comes in pretty fast and furious from the beginning. You play as a genetically enhanced supersoldier clone, an Agent. You are granted abilities such as super strength and agility, add to that a host of toys and gadgets in the form of advanced weaponry and vehicles and you start to get the idea of what Crackdown 2 has to offer. Each of your abilities can be levelled up granting you more and more power. For example, shoot a lot of enemies and your firearms skill will increase, collect a lot of agility orbs conveniently placed atop tall buildings and your agility skill will increase.
Unlike most other open world games, like inFamous and Red Dead Redemption, Crackdown 2 isn’t exactly the most structured, but it is a hell of a lot of fun – especially in co-op. As much fun as it is on your own to storm down a street filled with angry Freaks wielding a giant minigun and blowing up cars with duck-shaped explosive devices, add another player into the fray, or even two or three, and now you’re really cooking. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t set objectives for you to carry out. The majority of which sees you taking on Freak lairs and activating a specialised beacon to help rid the city of their scourge. You can also take on Cell hideouts to gain more drop zones to call in agency weapons and vehicles. For the compulsive completionists out there, you can also take on a variety of on-foot and vehicle races as well as collecting hidden audio logs that fill you in on certain aspects of the city’s troubled history.
Visually, Crackdown 2 is far from the most impressive, it takes on a somewhat charming cel-shaded art style, but lacks a lot of detail in the environments and character models. It’s not terrible but it’s not great either, also there is only really one voice actor to be heard of – the ever present Agency narrator, giving you constant advice and sometimes criticism, well, mostly criticism. He does a pretty good job but after a few hours of playtime it’s understandable if you end up giving him the mute.
These kind of criticisms would normally lose a game such as this some serious brownie points, but what Crackdown 2 lacks in certain areas it more than makes up for in the pure fun factor category. It certainly isn’t for everyone and it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that Ruffian could have added a few extra features here and there, but for those who really enjoy open world over-the-top madness, Crackdown 2 is definitely for you.
Stuart Kent
