Back when Grand Theft Auto 3 hit it big on the PS2, a lot of people predicted that the market would soon be flooded with imitators. It has taken several years, and it’s more of a trickle than a flood, but the GTA-alikes are finally starting to pop up. The more successful ones have all excelled in one particular area: standing out from the pack. Crackdown, from one of the original GTA creators, does perhaps the best job of differentiating itself thus far in the pretender parade.

Dystopia, Party of One

Crackdown takes place in a near future that, unsurprisingly, sucks. The cities are overrun by criminal gangs, and the world has deteriorated to the point that all law enforcement has merged into a single police force called The Agency. You play as a new type of “enhanced” agent tasked with cleaning up Pacific City. Three major gangs control the sprawling metropolis, and you’ll have to take down all 21 of their bosses to liberate the place.

Luckily, you have an advantage in that your abilities can evolve with use. While you begin as a fairly typical man, albeit in top physical condition, eventually your core skills level up. Punch an enemy to death or toss an object at him and experience points will be applied to your physical strength. Run down a guy in a vehicle and your driving skill gets a boost. Shoot your opponents and your firearms skills will rise. Enough use of a single ability will cause it to gain a star level, up to a maximum of four. With each upgrade, you transcend to superhero status.

Believe It Or Not

Once upgraded, your agent is capable of 100-foot leaps, controlling vehicles in mid-air, and spin-kicking a bus down the street. It’s this aspect of the game that makes it stand out from everything else in the GTA-alike field. In fact, it’s not actually that similar to GTA outside of the “open sandbox” gameplay style. It most closely resembles Pandemic’s Mercenaries, in that there’s an emphasis on straight action over storyline. Crackdown actually has almost no story to speak of. Missions are issued via datafile download when you get near each boss’ hideout, and there are no characters in the game outside of your enemies and your Agency contact. Your agent never even speaks, which may be due to your contact’s inability to shut the hell up.

Anti-Social Darwinism

A lot of Crackdown’s appeal is in making your own fun. The boss assaults can be tackled in any order at any time, but there’s more to do in the game than just one-man assassination runs. Scattered about the city are 500 agility orbs and 300 hidden orbs to find, and you’ll have to get very good at navigating the rooftops to get them all. Also available are parkour-style footraces and driving challenges that pay off with huge experience points for their respective core skills.

When you do go after the kingpins of crime, a number of options are available for each mission. Frontal assaults are simple but dangerous. Each stronghold you attack has multiple entry points, some more strategically valuable than others. By the end of the game, survival is as much a matter of planning your attack as it is shooting straight. Crackdown’s combat is superior to every other game in the sandbox genre. Just remember to pace yourself, lest you find your enemies lying dead too quickly. It’s pretty easy to power through the game in about ten hours.

Friends in Live Places

Crackdown’s big draw for Xbox Live account holders is its no-holds-barred online co-op play. You can jump into a friend’s game at any time, joining in to help them take down the criminal bosses. Any progress you make is saved on their game, so it’s an ideal way to help out a stuck pal. Additionally, you can upgrade your character, collect orbs in their city, and finish races and it will all count towards your own development. This is the kind of co-op mode that the GTA games have demanded since their inception, and it’s a surprisingly excellent first implementation for the genre.

Art of the Blast

While some may take issue with Crackdown’s bare bones story presentation, those with an appreciation for the fine art of blowing things up and leaping impossible distances across skyscrapers will be in heaven. This is the kind of game that takes over your brain after long play sessions, leading you to scrutinize real-life buildings for handholds and leaping potential. It’s an absolute blast to play, and arguably one of the finest superhero games made thus far.

Article by: Matt Keil
Video produced by: Matt Keil