When Realtime Worlds first announced Crackdown for the Xbox 360 gamers and critics alike were very skeptical.  A game that promises gang fights, car jacking, and open-ended game play sounded a little too familiar. People began calling it a GTA clone months before its release. After Crackdown's release I can confidently say that this is certainly no clone or cheap rip off.

Part of an Elite Force!

You are tasked with cleaning up the streets of Pacific City, taking control of an enhanced enforcement agent to dispense your own brand of justice. In this particular game there are no police so law enforcement is handled by a group referred to as 'the Agency'. Pacific City is massive, spanning three districts; each one run by a separate crime boss. The Los Muertos run one district while the Volk and Shai-Gen run amok in the other two.  The main antagonist is Shai-Gen's leader, Dr. Baltazar. Though you don’t have to take them on in any particular order it would be wise to eliminate the weakest gang first (Los Muertos) and attack the strongest (Shai-Gen) last.

At the start of the game you begin at the Agency and select weaponry. In the beginning you only have a selection of basic SMG’s and pistols. As you take down gangs you will have access to everything from cluster bombs and sniper rifles to *shudder* heat seeking rockets.

Fighting with the three gangs can vary with increased intensity. Throughout your trek you will encounter a car with two gang members. Once you engage them more members either show up on foot or arrive in more vehicles. Depending on how quickly and swiftly you dispense them a gauge will fill up for the particular gang you are combating. The moment this gauge fills is when the fun truly begins and you get warning of the Gang Enforcers. Gang Enforcers are enhanced thugs; they attack in huge clusters and drive suped-up SUV’s.

A well appreciated feature is the ability to use supply points throughout the city to store and reload weapons. Supply points are acquired by overthrowing the gangs that control each specific point. Supply points also serve as a restarting point if you should get killed (and believe me you will) instead of having to start at the Agency and drive back where you left off. Speaking of driving, after you select your arsenal at the Agency you can step into the garage and choose from one of three vehicles. The Agency Sports Car, a sleek Mercedes-esque car, the Agency SUV, and Agency Semi-Truck are the three choices. Each vehicle has specs similar to their real life counter parts; the sports car being the choice for speed, the semi is very slow but heavily armored, and the SUV straddles the fence on both speed and armor. While you can commandeer civilian cars and trucks for your disposal you may wisely decide to stick to Agency rides for one impressive reason: the Agency vehicles are upgradeable!

A nice aspect to Crackdown is the ability to "upgrade" key attributes to your agent. Attributes are broken up into five characteristics: Agility, strength, explosives, driving, and fire arms. Upgrading these skills entails collecting orbs for agility and eliminating gang members. For instance, if you shoot gang members, run them over with cars, punch them, or blow them up, you receive the points that correspond with that skill.

To make the game fair and balanced, shooting civilians takes points away from each core skill. Each core skill is rated by a star system, with four stars being the max. In order to get a star in each skill, you have to obtain 100 skill "points". The first star in each skill is fairly easy to obtain, but stars three and four will definitely take a hefty investment in time and effort.

Comic Book Appeal

Crackdown uses a unique blend of colors and shaders to bring you an elaborate and life like city. Color saturation is very nice and looks a little Cel shaded at times, while avoiding a cartoon look. Characters and vehicles resemble real life people and cars despite having the comic book look. Locales in the city include towering sky scrapers, mountains, vast beaches, huge industrial complexes, and marine docks.

A Faint Whistling Sound…

Sound effects are superbly done, immersing you into the game as you engage in fire fights. Each weapon has a very distinctive sound and each explosion will satisfy. Whether through gun fire, rockets, or bombs, blowing up cars will delight all gamers who pick up this game. For me, the most satisfying explosions come from firing the heat seeking rocket launcher. Firing this beast treats you with the sounds of whistling rockets, as each one finds its target and detonates. This can also induce huge amounts of paranoia as you scale city buildings, only to hear a faint whistling sound speeding right for you. This game thrives on chaos and destruction, and you will be pulled in with each bullet fired and grenade thrown.

Tag Team Back Again...

One huge factor that separates this from the competition is the well welcomed inclusion of co-op play. Unfortunately (and very realistically) co-op is only possible via Xbox Live or system link. As long as you’re signed in to Xbox Live, anyone at anytime can join your game and assist you in the clean up of Pacific City (with your permission of course). Adding a partner opens up a whole slew of strategic options, allowing for very strategic and effective two-pronged attacks.

Transform!

Remember when I hinted at the Agency vehicles' ability to upgrade? Well as you progress and level up your driving skills any of the Agency vehicles you choose will "evolve" with each level you obtain. Levels one though three yield more speed and armor but level four will definitely expand the game play (vehicular speaking at least). Gaining the fourth star not only increases speed, it also allows Agency vehicles an extra ability unique to the vehicle you chose. The sports car becomes outfitted with twin machine guns mounted on the hood, perfect for blowing away cars and eliminating the need to get out of the car. The SUV is able to hop in the air and do tricks, only useful for the driving achievements I surmise. With the added ability of turbo boost, the once snail like semi truck can now reach more tolerable speeds. Flying through the city with the semi plowing through cars and destroying everything in your path is fun. The extra abilities (particularly the semi and sports car) certainly come in handy once you fight the final gang in the game. Realtime Worlds went the extra mile for this feature and it earns the PlasmaFactor for me hands down.

Beta?

In general Crackdown is a very satisfying experience, adding fresh ideas keeps this game from being the average run of the mill. Not to mention Crackdown allows you to download some kind of Beta. Some game called Halo 3 that I never heard of, but it sounds like fun.