Microsoft’s strategy of spreading out their first-party Xbox 360 releases instead of jumbling them together during the holiday shopping season will be put to the test with the arrival of “Crackdown” on February 20. Unlike E3 where “Crackdown” fell victim to the “Gears” hype machine, this isolated release will afford Microsoft the opportunity to put their undivided attention behind marketing the game. Already, Microsoft is handing out a golden ticket to the “Halo 3” public beta to anyone who purchases “Crackdown,” a move sure to put the new intellectual property into a slew of additional homes.
What if, instead, Microsoft senses an imminent dud and is using “Halo 3” as a lure to desperately drum up sales? The idea is not far-fetched, especially considering “Crackdown’s” E3 debut was in the form of a show-and-tell demo with no hands-on exploration. Given the facts I would have leaned towards that ominous conclusion until Microsoft recently provided us with a playable preview build of the game, something publishers are typically hesitant to do unless they have at least a hint of confidence it plays well.
“Crackdown’s” story is set in sprawling Pacific City where three large gangs have taken control of the streets. In an ode to “Robocop,” you play a prototype genetically altered super cop who must take down each gang’s generals and kingpins one by one. You can jump high, fall far, and regenerate upon death. This is a war, and war on crime, and thus you must do anything to rid the city of its vermin.
On paper, “Crackdown” draws heavily from recent sandbox games in the “Grand Theft Auto” and “Spider-Man” series, along with THQ’s sleeper hit, “Saint’s Row.” In action, the same rings true. You must traverse the city section by section while collecting hidden power-up orbs, racing cars, capturing supply points to save weapons at, and ultimately locating your assigned targets before moving onto the next. Thanks to the genetic alterations, seemingly impossible to reach rooftops and other vertical locations are never out of reach and running across town on foot won’t result in your character keeling over desperate for air.
Helping steer “Crackdown” from falling into the category of being labeled an unimaginative clone of other sandbox games is its emphasis on visceral destruction. Typically games featuring grenades and other explosive devices allow players to be relatively close to the explosions without fearing a grisly death. In “Crackdown,” the HAVOC engine turns explosions into thunderous spectacles that will destroy anything within a large radius of their detonation spot and put a smile on the face of a subwoofer and rear surround speakers. Concocting a chain of these explosions and watching vehicles and people fly through the air is fun whether the first or hundredth time. Lobbing grenades is a heck of a lot easier to take out any level of thug with an explosion rather than the abundance of bullet hits they’re capable of absorbing before keeling over.
My gut tells me the real draw to “Crackdown” is one this preview build doesn’t allow me to evaluate: cooperative online play. Taking out thug after thug does grow a bit tedious after a couple hours, but with a friend to aid in tackling the higher psychotic difficulty setting over Xbox Live, the challenge and fun should be increased 100-fold. We’ll all find out if my assumption is true on January 18 when Microsoft releases a free playable online cooperative demo via Xbox Live Marketplace. Microsoft wouldn’t throw the game’s main draw prematurely to the gaming wolves if they weren’t confident, now would they?
