Upon release, Crackdown was looking cool. You don't get the opportunity to be a cybernetic robot-ass enhanced Agent in most games so this title had to perform. Developer of Cooldown, Realtime Worlds, needed to show they had cojones in order to compete with Saints Row and set a benchmark for the Action Adventure genre, knowing GTA IV was a mere six months away.

Of course, a lot of people bought Crackdizzle as it came bundled with a Halo 3 BETA code which turned out to be dire. Moving on...

I LOVE this game. I love the 5 level skill system which slows down if you inflict GBH on civillians and the Feds. If you want to bulk up, throw things at your enemies. If you want to drive like a god, run over your enemies. If you want to jump like a god, find the Orbs. If you want your grenades to be like atomic bombs, throw them at your enemies. If you want to be as accurate as that guy from Shooter, use a gun to defeat your enemies. The system is so simple, addictive and effective that even when the top levels are reached, it's still fun to play.

The entirety of Pacific City is available from the get go and given the choice to take down the bosses how you want is superb. Taking out Strongholds to boost your armoury and then deciding to run in all guns blazing is perfectly acceptable - taking out the Kingpins weapon dealer to decrease their arsenal is perfectly acceptable - it really is a do-whatever-you-want game, this.

The weaponry on hand is top notch. Homing rockets are my personal favourite; watching the ballistic twist and turn through uncomplete rooftop structures into a Generals face is priceless. Another preferred tool is the Remote Mine. Launching 3 or 4 of these into a Generals safehouse only to sit and watch from above as they detonate in the strategic places I put them can only be described as heart warming. Obviously the standard weapons from 99.9% of games are included, such as several pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles and other hand-thrown projectiles. All of your treasured items are stored at the Strongholds acquired over the progression of the story and are simple and quick to access.

Orbs. The Orbs are annoying. Spending hours jumping around like a tool only to hear the throbbing noise is 2 feet above your possible jump height sucks. Annoyingly, 500 of the Orbs are there specifically to improve jumping and take a good amount of ingenuity to reach - when youre Level 1, that is.



The Hidden Orbs provide a boost to every category. There are 300 scattered around the city and much like GTAs infamous Hidden Packages - are a challenge to find and too like Hidden Packages - are rewarding when found. Plus one.

Cel Shaded graphics are cool. Crackdown doesnt exactly follow the same cel shaded style as games like XIII but the graphics are distinctly comic book-esque and a pleasure to jump around like a fool in. Blowing things up is great in this game, too. Partly down to the graphics and partly down to the Havok physic engine Crackdown runs on. As I mentioned about weaponry, hiding 5 remote mines around a heavily fortified base then detonating from afar is nothing like Ive seen before. Pure awesomeness.



One of the stand out features of Cooldown is the Multiplayer co-op. Wanna tackle the story? Go ahead. Wanna tackle each other? Go ahead. Wanna race, bitch? Go ahead. Car or foot, bitch? Take your pick. Wanna free roam? Ok, lets go. Brilliance.

So, what's next? No official news of a sequel has been announced but Realtime Worlds did have this to say [some time ago, might I add]:

"We would still dearly love to take on the development of Crackdown 2, but only if the opportunity presents itself at a time when we have available team resources to develop the game to the quality it deserves."

Recently comments have surfaced from RTW after vanishing off the face of the Earth has included them saying that the door's not closed. Just make the damn sequel, fools.

Crackdown is a truly excellent game. Had RTW produced steady downloadable content and other co-op features such as a mayhem mode or something, she would be up there with the best. If only.

--

First of all, Id just like to say a thank you to anyone that reads this. Ive been lolling around here for a few months now and thought today: Sod this, Im going to sign up and write something. Being Crackdowns biggest fan, it had to be involved in my first Dtoid post.

Secondly, this is my first article/blog/attempt at written gaming shizzle so please, dont threaten to kidnap my family with a bag over your head (I watched The Strangers last night, brr) if you spot some silly mistakes or simply have no clue what Im on about.

Finally, thanks again for reading. Hopefully I improve so much that this site and all of its members pay me a salary to keep blogging.