Review | Crackdown 2

There’s no question that Crackdown was one of my favourite Xbox 360 games, and seeing as you can pick up the game cheap as chips at most gaming stores you should know exactly why.

The gameplay used the open world approach seen by the likes of Grand Theft Auto and proceeded to shed all pretences of seriousness, instead concentrating on purely being fun. The question is, where will the sequel go from here and does Crackdown 2 have what it takes to improve on the original? The answer in the end will most likely rely on the way you choose to play the game.

Unsurprisingly Crackdown 2 once again has players controlling a genetically modified cop of sorts, working for a group called ‘The Agency’, who are responsible for maintaining law and order. Once again the events of the game take place in the fictional Pacific City. In fact to the delight of some and the despair of others it’s the same city from the original game – same islands, roads, parks and buildings. Except it’s about 20 years into the future and things have turned to custard.

During a mission in the original game players inadvertently released some sort of virus. The result is that a most of the population have been turned into zombie-like mutants hell-bent on killing pretty much everyone else. Oh and a ‘hippy with guns’ type organization called ‘The Cell’ have set up their own terrorist organization to wage open war during the daylight hours on the beleaguered members of The Agency.

The result is two different ways of playing in the same but different city. Daytime where you fight car driving and gun wielding human enemies who will wrestle for control over marked strong points scattered throughout the city. And night time when mutants erupt from underground and take to the streets with at times a good couple of hundred roaming the screen at once, happily ready to pound their fists into anything in reach – including you of course.

Gone are the open assassination style missions of the first game. Instead it’s all about taking those strong points and setting off beacons whose U.V rays disintegrate those ravenous mutants. The downside is that by doing this by yourself it gets rather repetitive. I won’t quite say boring since there is always something happening and something to do – blowing things up, racing, blowing things up, collecting orbs, blowing things up etc. But a bit more variety would have been appreciated.

This is all sorted however by Crackdown 2’s greatest addition to the series – co-op.

Certainly the original had 2 player co-op but the sequel immediately ups the ante by allowing 4 people (friends or strangers) to play together on the one map. There’s no limit to where the other players can go, riding shotgun in your latest set of wheels or on the other side of the city taking down a control point on their lonesome – its completely open. It also supports players joining and dropping out of the game internally so you won’t be victim to a ‘game over’ type screen should that annoying kid from the other side of the world decide to pack a sad and leave the game. Like most things co-op adds bounds of fun value to the game and many of the over the top exploits will have you in fits. Co-operatively is how Crackdown 2 should be played making an Xbox Live account pretty much a must for those of you considering a purchase.

As well as co-op play for the campaign there’s also competitive multiplayer for up to 16 players. I certainly had some good times playing a rocket tag type mode. But when it comes down to it I can’t see it really taking off – it’s just shoot and shoot some more, which erodes all the fun to be had by exploring and destroying Pacific City in the main game.

Frustratingly Crackdown 2 is both better and worse than its predecessor. As a single player experience I felt let down. Sure there’s orbs to collect, you get more powerful (so do the enemies) as you progress and there’s a certain kind of satisfaction found in leaping from building to building. But I’ll drop back to my earlier point – variety, there just isn’t enough to be found. That said as a multiplayer co-op experience the game is astounding. I’d give it two scores if I could but instead I’ll have to settle for something in the middle.   [7]