Wow, three months without a blog entry? Either I’ve had nothing to say or I’ve been lazy. I think the latter.  

Anyway, to get straight to the point: Crackdown is evil. You’ll find out why soon enough, but let me provide some backstory and impressions first.  

I’ll admit that were it not for the Halo 3 beta, I would have never even considered getting Crackdown. Before hearing the news that beta invites would be packaged with marked copies of Crackdown, I wasn’t really following the game at all. I knew it was a sandbox game and was made by one of the creators of Grand Theft Auto, but that was just about it. Just going off the screenshots and previews, it seemed quite mediocre. However, after realizing that getting Crackdown may be my only chance to play the beta, I decided to give the demo a try. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. I spent more than a few hours playing the demo over the next few weeks. Even after my invitation to the Halo 3 beta was guaranteed thanks to the Rule of Three, I still found myself wanting to play Crackdown. The only thing holding me back from rushing down to the store was the thought in the back of my mind that I would get tired of the game quickly and I wouldn’t get enough time out of it to warrant paying 60 bucks (looking back on it, a painfully ironic thought). But I caved and decided to take my chances. Plus, I found a gift card with 32 dollars left on it sitting around. Yay.  

Crackdown doesn’t have one particular area where it shines; it’s a well rounded game in all aspects. The graphics, while not spectacular, are impressive when considering the sheer size of the map. The cel-shading and unique graphical style works perfectly and does make the game feel like it was ripped from a comic book or graphic novel. Obviously, when a game has such a huge playable area there is some fog and pop-in, but the draw distance is still commendable. From the top of the Agency Tower (not for those with a fear of heights) you can see just about everything, and it gives a real sense of scale. The explosions also look awesome, and me likey ‘splosions.  

Crackdown’s storyline, or lack thereof, has been generating some complaints. Yeah, it is true that the plot is almost non-existent. Basically, you’re a genetically enhanced cop and need to go out and kill all of the bosses of the three gangs that control the city. That’s it. The lack of plot isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. A complex storyline simply isn’t necessary to drive the gameplay. The gameplay drives itself. Crackdown is a simple game, but at the same time there is so much to do. Running around and killing gang members is always entertaining of course, but even after clearing a section of the city you will find yourself going back just to play around. Climbing up buildings and jumping from skyscraper to skyscraper simply never gets old. The abilities of the agent are obviously so outrageously exaggerated and unrealistic, but that is exactly why it is so much fun. Driving around (well, ‘crashing’ would be a more accurate term) the city is also a blast, and we all know how much I love driving. Jumps allow you to pull off insane stunts and airtime, and various stunt markers scattered throughout the city give you further reason to cruise around. When your driving skills level up, the three Agency cars will transform, which leads to even more amusement. The SUV, for example, gets the ability to actually jump up in the air when you reach four stars (Yeah, I have a four-star driving rating. Take that doubters of my awesomeness!). There are also a large number of orbs hidden throughout Pacific City for you to grab as you are wreaking havoc. The 500 green orbs help increase your agility and the 300 blue hidden orbs help increase all of your skill areas. Finding these orbs becomes an obsession (as of this writing I have about 130 hidden orbs and 470 agility orbs), which leads me to why Crackdown is evil…  

Driving in Crackdown is awesome.

To say that Crackdown is addicting would be an understatement. It’s addicting to a disgusting degree. The game will consume you. I bought the game three days ago, and have already spent probably about 30 hours playing it, including one 12-hour marathon (After which I was just babbling incoherently to my friends. What else is new eh?). I have become determined to collect all of the orbs, finish all of the races, and go through all of the stunt markers. Simply put, the game is just so immersive that I can’t stop playing it. Crackdown also makes it very difficult to go back and play other games such as Halo 2. I find myself wanting to jump on top of bases and pick up and throw Warthogs. Needless to say, I have been doing extremely poorly at H2 the last few nights.

Whether the addictiveness of Crackdown is an asset or a drawback I will leave for you to decide. What I can tell you is that Crackdown is an immersive and visually impressive game that is also, most importantly, very fun. It’s much more than just a Halo 3 beta invite.