Bring the streets to a standstill with an array of impressive powers.
Throwing grenades and using some of the more powerful weapons, such as rocket-launchers, is much more fun than the initial range of hand-held weapons on offer. For example: lob a grenade into the path of half a dozen cars and watch them rocket into the air and land back to earth with an almighty bang or climb to the top of a building and aim a rocket launcher at a gang of thugs and watch them get splattered across the street. Crackdown is a slow starter and the initial weapons lack the punch and excitement that I’d expected, but give the game a chance and level up your full array of special powers and fighting becomes a whole different ball game.
The strength skill is one of the most visually impressive powers and showcases the physics engine to good effect. You level up your strength by hand to hand combat or through picking up street furniture and soon you’re able to pick up a car and toss it at an enemy or onto the busy freeway, in addition to being able to take out multiple enemies with your fists rather than needing to use weapons. The shooting and explosives skill are increased by, believe it or not, shooting enemies or using explosives to blow them up and once you reach the next level you’ll have access to a bigger and more explosive arsenal of weapons. It can take a great deal of time to reach the higher the levels in these skills, but the rewards are certainly worth the wait. Hold out for the homing rocket launcher and you certainly won’t regret it!
Click for larger imageUntil you improve your skills, the agility skill in particular, you’ll spend plenty of time driving around the city. In order to improve your skill behind the wheel you can take part in a variety of driving races. Once you level up you’ll physically notice the difference in the handling of the cars as they become easier and smoother to control.
Click for larger imageCars are driven in third-person mode and the driving objectives are extremely entertaining. The mechanics of driving are fairly smooth without ever being spectacular; it feels similar to driving cars in the likes of other free-roaming games, such as Just Cause or the GTA series. The main difference with Crackdown is how much traffic there is on the busy streets. Be careful! Knock down too many pedestrians and the police will be on your tail. There are no drive-by shootings in Crackdown so using vehicles is purely to allow you to get from point A or point B, although they can come in handy for mowing down multiple enemies! With a superb and robust co-op mode Crackdown has endless replay value. In co-op mode jumping into a car is far more fun. You can hop into a vehicle with a friend and head to an enemy stronghold to team up against the opposition; double the fun double the chaos or explore the city together in search of all the hidden orbs.