Crackdown tried to ruin GTA for me. It hasn’t worked, but as I played Rockstar’s latest epic last night I couldn’t help but think of Crackdown. The first thing that got me was the blocking of the bridge. I couldn’t drive through due to cops, so I decided to go up to the pedestrian section and walk across, only to get an immediate five-star wanted level and be shot to death by a helicopter as I made a run for it. In Crackdown the whole city was your plaything from the getgo. Yeah, you couldn’t use the tunnels into the Volk and Shai Gen islands at first, but nothing was stopping you from using the bridges or swimming across to these areas. And once there, the tunnels from the Agency opened. You weren’t ever blocked off from just screwing around wherever you wanted.

So that’s my only real gameplay gripe regarding this. The other stuff is just in regards to my adjusting to being a mere average guy again. Running and driving around last night I found myself wishing I could just jump up the buildings and over to the tracks or bridges above. Games like Crackdown and Spider-man 2 have spoiled me with the ability to go from point A to point B quickly and, uh, vertically. I’m not a quick and agile bullet-sponge anymore, and that takes some getting used to again. Like I said, this bit’s not really a complaint so much as an observation that I’ve gotten quite used to being super-human in sandbox games while GTA was away, and couldn’t stop thinking about Crackdown last night.

But y’know where GTA outshines a game like Crackdown all the way? Variety. Yeah the islands in Crackdown were all different, but they were really all the same if you know what I mean. Not only that, but you spent the entire game doing the same thing, climbing and shooting. It was a whole lot of fun, and made for one of my favorite gaming experiences so far this generation, but I can admit it was all pretty shallow. GTA is a deeper pool, with more options as to what to do and how to do it, and I appreciate that.

So there it is, my obligatory ZOMG GTA IV IMPRESSIONS!!! post. It’s not much, but it’s what was on my mind, and I wouldn’t want to do too much work here at, uh, work…