When it was announced that Crackdown was going to be bundled with the Halo 3 online multiplayer beta, most people put it on their wishlist without hesitation. Videos of the game released beforehand looked pretty interesting. The combat seemed pretty cool, especially the way you could develop your skills in an RPG-like fashion. It also appeared to be a sandbox game in the style of the GTA series, so that was definitely promising. So was the fact that your character could leap from building to building like Mr. Incredible. The cel-shaded graphical style of the game made it stand out as well. With these factors in mind, it can clearly be seen that the game is quite a unique bundle and innovative on its own standards. So why distinguish it even further by adding the beta? Not enough faith in the game to sell on its own merits perhaps? Cheap marketing ploy to milk Halo as much as possible? Or maybe a little thank-you gift for buying an incredible game? To be honest, the answer’s not very clear.

The game puts you in the role of a genetically modified super agent that works for a government agency simply known as… the Agency. You have no name and no personality. When you die, a clone is used as your replacement. The only guidance you have comes from a disembodied voice that reveals the plot and informs you of your objectives. Apparently, Pacific City has been taken over by three gangs that each control their respective area of town. Your job is to eliminate the seven bosses (one of which is the kingpin) of each gang (21 in total) to cripple their strength and deliver the city into the hands of the Agency. Your lifeless character, combined with a rather simplistic plot, pretty much significantly weakens any emotional attachment you could have had for this game. To be fair, however, that’s not really the point of Crackdown. This game is a sandbox in a very pure form, where the main focus is exploration instead of plot. Although it doesn’t appear this way at first, you’ll realize it soon enough.

But first you need to know the game’s mechanics. The engine is, again, very similar to GTA, where you can walk the city streets hitting/killing anything you want and hijacking any car you want (when you don’t have or want the cars the Agency provides for your use). Harming innocent civilians, though, will cause your roaming allies, the ever-present agency police force, to turn on you. They won’t stop targeting you until you’re killed or things settle down. A large part of the gameplay comes from your agent’s five upgradeable skills: Agility, Strength, Firearms, Explosives, and Driving. All of the skills can be upgraded a total of four times (represented by stars) and then maxed out after that. Like an RPG, skills are upgraded by performing a task that relates to the specified skill. Agility is increased by jumping to certain places and collecting agility orbs or completing foot races. Strength, firearms, and explosives are upgraded by killing enemies with their respective tools, while the driving skill is increased by running over enemies, completing vehicular checkpoint races, or driving through hard to reach “stunt markers.” While it can be argued that agility and explosives are the most important skills, the game does require development in all areas (except perhaps driving) in order to defeat the later bosses. This isn’t a bad thing, however, since upgrading skills is incredibly fun. There is a strong sense of satisfaction in finally getting that difficult-to-reach agility orb. The same can be said for shooting a rocket at a cluster of enemies and seeing their flaming bodies fly, while a plethora of purple explosive experience orbs come rushing at you. Getting four stars in driving is one of the most rewarding feats since it gives each Agency car a special ability, which really enhances the gameplay and is necessary for the maximum enjoyment you’ll get out of this game. Unfortunately, it is not necessary to complete the main game.

The campaign in this game revolves around unlocking Agency supply points, which allow you to save your game, restock your weapons, and spawn, as well as killing enemy gang bosses. Every time you go up against a boss, the disembodied voice will tell you what your percentage of success is. This is dependent upon your skill progression and is a very nice feature to see how much more you need to progress in order to have favorable odds. Every gang boss has a unique purpose and killing them will make the gang kingpin easier to defeat. For example, killing a gang boss who specializes in explosives will reduce the number of explosives the kingpin has at his disposal, but ultimately is not very important. Each gang boss is surrounded by a large amount of minions that you must dispose of or avoid before attacking the head honcho. This is where the game falls apart. Sure, it’s fun to just take out a bunch of bad guys with your super jumping skills and powerful weapons the first time, but doing it 21 times is just tedious. And it literally is the same for every single gang boss. Go to the boss; Kill a bunch of enemies; Work your way up to where the boss is hiding; Take him out; Escape without getting killed (or not). This isn’t frustrating or aggravating, it’s just the same. Taking out your first gang boss will feel very similar to taking out the last kingpin since all that changes is the amount of enemies and how strong they are. There’s just no variety to these missions which is a disappointment considering it should be the bulk of the game. The fact that it takes around maybe a little more than an hour to finish all these bosses doesn’t help either. Neither does the fact the game culminates with a less-than-spectacular ending. I may sound like a broken record, but I must stress that Crackdown has pretty much zero depth since all of its objectives are basically simplified down to doing the same thing 21 times. Sure there are some races to take part in, but they really don’t contribute much to the gameplay and seem tacked on. This really hurts the game since depth is where the GTA series, probably the most direct competitor, really thrives.

But does this mean the entire game is terrible? Well, thankfully, no. As I said before, this game seems to be more about exploration. More fun is to be had jumping from rooftop to rooftop looking for agility orbs than completing the actual campaign. Your super agility and strength really make you feel the sense of freedom that sandbox games should all strive for. The achievements in this game also contribute to the fun, since they require you to perform unique feats, such as climbing a certain building or throwing an object a certain distance. The achievements are your first step into realizing what really makes the game enjoyable: creating your own fun. The whole environment is there for you to abuse and enjoy, which allows for many possibilities. You can perform crazy jumps in cars or shoot out tires on the highway, or simply just pick the car up (with people still inside) and throw them off a bridge. See a light pole? Kick it down, pick it up, and throw it at some enemies for strength experience. Objects that can be picked up range from cars to poles to pipes to people to rubber duckies. This really helps the immersion into the game, as do the beautiful environments. While some may argue the cel-shaded style of the game does now allow for as much detail people expect from next-gen systems, I felt that the look gave the city a greatly vibrant, lively and colorful feel. The draw distance in Crackdown puts the GTA series to shame, as there are very few, if any, instances of pop-up and the view from atop the Agency Tower will let you see the entire city. If you leave an object somewhere in the city, it will stay there until you reset the game, a feature that is quite impressive. However, although the variety of the objects in the game is enormous, the same cannot be said about the weapons. Pistols, sniper rifles, and shotguns are all there, but seem to be quite useless. The best combination tends to be the machine gun that holds the most bullets and the rocket launcher that holds the most rockets, which also tends to make grenades unnecessary. Since all the bosses follow the same formula, it’s unlikely you’ll be straying from this combination.

The severe lack of depth in Crackdown pretty much destroys any chance that it might have for being a GTA-killer. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t do some things much better. The environments work better and exploration is more fun. Realtime Worlds must also be applauded for their effort in allowing online multiplayer co-op to work so well on such a massive world. If you have a friend to play with, teaming up to cause ridiculous events to happen, such as crazy vehicle jumps and explosions, is a great addition that many would like to see other sandbox game have. The game’s engine, controls, and environment are all nearly perfect. All that it needs is some variety and depth. Realtime Worlds seems to have realized this, since they just issued some great downloadable content that is really (mostly) worth the price. It adds some great weapons (harpoon gun!) and vehicles along with some new modes as well. Some may say that its lack of depth make it more of a rental than a purchase. Although I’m glad I bought it, I can definitely see where these people are coming from. So why the high score if it’s just a rental? Well, basically, it’s still a game everyone must experience, even if it is only briefly. Its unique design offers pure fun and something we haven’t seen before, and for that it gets the B+. Crackdown 2 (with Gears of War 2 beta?), however, if presented the same way, will not get the benefit of the doubt.