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News -
Gamers Dungeon
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Written by Breego
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:46 |
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 I know I may not have come across very serious when discussing Crackdown on the latest edition of Gamer's Dungeon. So in the second installment of my Podcast Companion I'll be revisiting one of my absolute favorite games on the Xbox 360. The futuristic, action platformer Crackdown.
When I originally heard about Crackdown I couldn't help but be excited. After all when the creator of Grand Theft Auto decides to make a sandbox game where the protagonist has the ability to jump incredible differences, the ability to throw heavy objects such as cars, and blow up a bunch of crap it tends to pique my interest. Looking back at the game more than a year after release I must admit it has aged very well. The choice to use their unique graphical style that just felt like a living, breathing comic book was a very smart decision. It doesn't suffer the problem that many games that go for the realistic approach that just wind up looking dated even a year after release. Like Saint's Row for instance, an open world game that went for a realistic look that now definitely shows its age. One thing about Crackdown's art style I never quite understood was why when your character levels up does he get all pierced and tattooed up? I loved that Realtime Worlds put the time into the game to include the four very distinctive looks for each character.Also still impressive is the sound design. The 5.1 mix is very well done. Putting great care into weapon and vehicle sounds (again noticeable differences based on what level your character was at). The games audio was always a very high point of the game in my book. The gameplay is still as solid as it was last February as well. Starting the game up grabbing an Agency vehicle and hauling a$$ out into the city into the middle of a firefight (that I always join by jumping out of my car while in midair) and laying waste to all the gang members and cops is still every bit as satisfying as ever. I had forgot how automatic the gunplay was. The lock-on system made taking down the enemy so easy with your guns. A favorite tactic of mine is to equip the satchel charge and lock on to a gang member and stick the charge to him and let him be my own little unwilling kamikaze bomber. I always felt that the melee combat could have been a little deeper. Just the ability to holster your equipped weapon and have access to punches and kicks. I'm not asking for Soul Calibur ummm... caliber of fighting mechanics but, Battletoads maybe. One of the best aspects of the game remains to be the verticality of the city. When faced with the task of climbing some of the higher structures in the game it's still fun to find your way up them. I always looked at reaching the top of a building as a puzzle unto itself. Coupled with the Orb hunting and it always felt like a nice little reward for finding your way to the apex. Oh how I miss finding agility orbs. Hell as I'm writing this I'm taking little breaks to navigate around the city (and chase down my daughter). Having said all this with the story that we had discussed on the show this week about the future of Crackdown I have to wonder why Microsoft didn't try to commission them to make a sequel already. I know that many believed the game sold so well simply because it had the Halo 3 Beta. I personally bought Crackdown for Crackdown. Hell I only played the Halo beta twice. I like to believe that a large part of the 1.5 million that the game sold feels the same way I do. Crackdown was and still is a good game on its own merit. A good game very deserving of a sequel. Hell the sequel could even have a story that goes beyond blowing stuff up and getting bigger.
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