Crackdown

• Platform: Xbox 360
• Published by: Microsoft Game Studios
• Developed by: Real Time Worlds
• Release Date: Early 2007
• Genre: Action
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Online: Yes

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Crackdown Co-Op Hands On

-- November 13, 2006 by: Chris Remo

David Jones is best known as the founder of DMA Design, the Scottish development studio that created notable games such as Lemmings, Uniracers, and, perhaps most crucially, Grand Theft Auto. By the time the Grand Theft Auto series really hit the big time with the epic 3D reimagining of GTA III and DMA Design had become acquired by Take-Two label Rockstar, Jones had split off to head up a new division of Rage Software. That division eventually became Real Time Worlds, which is now hard at work on two GTA-inspired action games, the MMO All Points Bulletin, and the single-player/co-op Xbox 360 sci-fi destructionfest Crackdown. I recently had the opportunity to catch up on the game's progress as well as play a few hours of co-op with a fellow journalist.

Crackdown's structure

For those unfamiliar with the game's premise, Crackdown places the player in the middle of a sprawling city dominated by three ruthless gangs vying for dominance: Los Muertos, low-level street thugs whose members are recruited via promises of special favors at boss Violeta Sanchez' brothel; the Volk, ex-military hardasses from Eastern Europe with access to military grade weapons, explosives, and vehicles; and Shai-Gen Corporation, which tries to maintain an illusion of running a legitimate business operation but which is corrupt to its core. Each of these three gangs has staked out its territory, and traditional law enforcement is no longer able to combat the threat. You are a genetically enhanced agent sent by the appropriately named Agency to clean up the city essentially single-handedly. To achieve this, you level up skills such as agility, strength, effectiveness with firearms and explosives, and so on, to the point where they can become truly superhuman in their power. By the time you max out your skills it is not uncommon to be tossing trucks into busy streets and leaping to safety on a nearby rooftob as nearly everything on the screen explodes in series of sequential grenade detonations.

To complete the game, you must take out the 21 kingpins, seven per gang, that direct the city's vast crime empire. One thing that makes Crackdown so unique is that you can do this any way you like--in any order, taking any route you like to get to your target and using any method of assassination to take them out. There's a general suggested progression--it's probably best to start with Los Muertos, as they will provide somewhat less of a challenge than their more highly trained counterparts in Volk and Shai-Gen--but everything is up to you. From the first moment of the game, nowhere in the city is artifially blocked off. If you can't reach a certain area, it's probably because your agility skill isn't high enough to leap over a wall or your explosive skill isn't high enough to blow open a gate, but it's never because you simply haven't completed a particular in-game goal. Even if an area does seem unreachable, there's a good chance you can bypass your obstacle by finding a different route. It is a very open, very non-linear game.

The skill system

Fortunately, your character is constantly improving in various skill areas, meaning that even if you don't feel like hunting down and destroying a kingpin and his or her henchmen, you can feel productive just by running around and blowing stuff up. One of the most all around useful skills, agility, is improved by finding agility orbs, which tend to be scattered in hard to reach places such as rooftops, meaning you'll appropriately do a lot of jumping and climbing to find them. Leveling up your agility allows you to jump even higher, and with the ability to grab onto just about any edge, including window sills, it becomes a fairly trivial task to scale skyscrapers with a bit of practice. In fact, one of the game's Achievements is to climb to the top of the incredibly tall Agency keep at the center of the city. Doing so will also net you a breathtaking view of all of the city, complete with vast draw distances and tiny cars driving around. (Another Achievement is to survive the fall from the top of the keep, which requires a bit of creativity.) For players who enjoy such Spider-Man-like activities, the world is scattered with foot race challenges that have you racing from rooftop checkpoint to rooftop checkpoint trying to beat a certain time. Each of these races will have its own Xbox Live leaderboard so you can tell how you stack up against parkour wannabes elsewhere in the world.

Firearms is your other meat and potatoes skill, and is leveled up simply by using your guns. Crackdown's targeting system allows you to lock on to people, vehicles, or other destructible targets with the left trigger, then adjust the particular area you're targeting with the right analog stick. On people, you can select the torso, legs, arms, or head, while on vehicles you can select the front, rear, driver, tires, or gas cap, and so on, as long as you have line of sight to that particular element. Shooting a few rounds into a vehicle's gas cap will of course result in an automotive explosion, a handy trick when a dozen gang members are taking cover behind a couple of parked vehicles. As you use your firearms and level up your firearms skill, you'll become more accurate with your weapons, allowing you to hit targets from longer ranges. You'll also decrease the time it takes for your circular aiming reticule to shrink down, indicating that you've steadied your aim while standing still.

Turn the page for more about Crackdown's skills as well as its co-op mode.

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