Let's start with the basics. I bought Crackdown for the Halo Beta. There, I've said it. I feel better. I could have given a rat's arse about the game the Beta was packaged in, I wanted early access to Halo 3 multiplayer. Who would have guessed when I hit that preorder button that the game might actually be worth playing?
Microsoft has done a real injustice in one, small way, to the Crackdown developers. By attaching the Halo Beta, most of us won't have given Crackdown a fair shake. On the other hand, I expect an awful lot of people who were burned by the GTA-wannabe Saint's Row will have never looked twice at Crackdown - Saints Row didn't just burn to the ground, it salted the earth beneath it and put up little radioactive markers that say "Radioactive: Not Fit For Humans Until 12,006 AD".
Crackdown, it turns out, is a joy to play. I spent the whole of yesterday taken in by it - not just the clever graphics (which are realistic enough to feel like you're looking at the real thing without getting anywhere near the mechanisms in your head which trigger the Uncanny Valley; it has all the "reality" of a memory in its appearance, stylised and flawlessly perfect in colouring and gradient). It's a pretty thing. In motion, the game is ever-so-slightly hypnotic.
Better yet is the breadth of play style. Here's a game that will let you drive around if you're that kind of person, but as a pedestrian I'm far more in love with the ability to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Here's where the GTA clone develops a personality of its own: You play a genetically enhanced "supercop", and pick up powerups scattered throughout the four corners of the game world. Agility powerups extend your jumping range, and let you leap from building to building in a kind of flashy parkourgasm that twenty years of Superman games haven't been able to recreate. You get vehicle upgrades, powerups to driving skills, and develop the ability to use handguns accurately at insane distances. It's Lara Croft: Grand Theft Auto of War.
It's the first time I've ever played a GTA clone and truly, truly felt it was something unique and beautiful; it's also the first time I've ever felt really absorbed by any of the GTA family or its stepchildren. The developer, Realtime Worlds, has done something I'd have considered impossible - they've turned a genre on its head. Stylised violence without the gory aftertaste, super-vehicles that would give Jeremy Clarkson wet dreams, and real, honest-to-goodness gameplay that doesn't feel like theft.
Hats off to the developers for a runaway streetcar of a hit - they deserve all the success they get out of this. Whether you bought the game for Halo Beta or are yet debating whether it's worth the bother, this is a game worth owning, playing, and proudly admitting you enjoyed thoroughly.
Comments (1)
I didn't have you down as the Halo 3 type ;-)
Agree about Crackdown though. Best game in absolutely ages and the online coop mode is just the icing on the cake. Wotz your gamertag then? (andy)
Posted by Andy | March 21, 2007 3:15 PM
Posted on March 21, 2007 15:15