Platforms: Xbox 360
Developers: Ruffian Games
Players: Offline – Single Player / Online – 4 Player Co-Op / Max 16 Player Match modes
Let us just kick off this review by telling you a funny anecdote. We inserted our copy of Crackdown 2 into the Xbox 360, sat down with a cup of herbal tea and waited joyfully as the game loaded. We selected our Agent, and proceeded through the training course after which you are dropped into a gun fight between Peace Keepers and the Cell terrorists – we hadn’t even time to check our equipment before our body now lay twitching on the ground filled with holes and leaking…we thought this a tad unfair until it was pointed out that we’d accidentally selected to play the game on ‘psychotic’ difficulty – DO NOT PLAY CRACKDOWN 2 ON PSYCHOTIC.
After choosing a more comfortable level of difficulty we restarted and got stuck right in, so kudos to the ten year old who explained where we went wrong and saved us from giving up on the game before we even got started.
Crackdown 2 is brought to us by Ruffian Games and is a direct sequel to the first game titled Crackdown released in 2007. A sandbox style third person shooter, you take on the role of an Agent, a genetically enhanced, super cop, who is Pacific City’s last hope for peace.
Ten years after the first game’s storyline ends, the Agency has been destroyed and a deadly virus was released into the public, the city has fallen into chaos under the control of Catalina Thorne, leader of the Cell group and mastermind behind the Agency’s downfall.
Crackdown 2 plays very much like its predecessor, as the unnamed Agent, you must complete various tasks, reclaim the city and enforce justice once more. This time round though you must contend with more than just thugs with big guns, as much of the city’s population has been mutated by the ‘Freak’ virus and the mutants are almost impervious to regular attacks.
The Agent’s skills are still raised by collecting orbs – using your guns to kill enemies will earn you Arms exp, scaling tall buildings will earn Agility orbs and completing races and running villains over will increase your Drive experience – increasing your skills will turn your Agent from a run of the mill genetically engineered officer into a super powered tall building leaping, car smashing, gun toting God.
Multiplayer Co-Op sees other Agents venturing into your ‘city’ to lend a hand against the rising crime rates and mutant armies. Certain elements of the game are only available when played with two or more players so make sure to have a buddy lined up to patrol the mean city streets with. Multiplayer versus features the usual game modes, death match, team death match etc but there is something new for you to play with and it has certainly provided us with hours of fun. Rocket Tag is a new PvP mode in which one player uses an orb to become ‘it’ and the other players have rockets and have to chase the ‘it’ player down and steal the orb from him and hold it as long as possible – it is so very entertaining.
Being honest, Crackdown 2 feels more like a large expansion pack for the prequel than a genuine sequel. This isn’t a bad thing; we just felt that there wasn’t a lot of new stuff for us to take this serious as a sequel. Rocket Tag is fantastic but it isn’t enough to refresh the game – Don’t get us wrong though Crackdown 2 is a very enjoyable game with enough missions, collectibles and challenges to keep you playing for hours.
Crackdown was an award winning game and most likely Ruffian Games were reluctant to take any risks in altering the original gameplay or were wary about adding too much to a sequel – unfortunately we wish they had taken some risks with the sequel, we’d like to have seen more new features and abilities added to spruce up the game. Nevertheless protecting/exploring the city is fun, protecting/exploring a city with your friends is even more fun – the multiplayer mode is definitely the strongest feature in the game.
Aside from that one grievance we have, we still think Crackdown 2 is worth getting a copy of…Now who is up for a game of Rocket Tag?
Rent or Buy: If you looking for some quick four way action then rent but if you want real value then buy it now!
Gold Stars: 7.5/10
