Crack Down

aka: Crackdown
Moby ID: 1425
Buy on Genesis
$29.99 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
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Description official description

At the beginning of the 21st century, a mad scientist by the name of Mr. K has created an army of artificial soldiers. He conquered the industrial city of Atlantis, and is now preparing to take over the world. The United Nations decided to retaliate by sending two of their top class Special Forces officers, Ben and Andy, to infiltrate the city and destroy the enemy base using a newly developed time bomb--Sigma.

Crack Down is a time-limited action game. The two heroes, Ben and Andy, have to get through the levels as quickly as possible placing bombs on X marks scattered around the levels. Although the levels are heavily defended, the player has an array of weaponry including a cannon, machine gun, and superbombs.

The game may be played as either a one or two-player game.

Spellings

  • クラック ダウン - Japanese spelling

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Screenshots

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Credits (DOS version)

Programming

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 42 ratings with 2 reviews)

Good fun but too short

The Good
This is a top down arcade game which is good fun for one or two players. Players have to maneuver their characters through a maze like environment, sneaking by enemies or try to blast their way through. There is a time limit for each level and you need to set bombs at specific spots. After all bombs are set, players must make their way to the exit before the time is up. The various enemies are quite amusing, and the environment offers some interesting challenges.

The Bad
The game is too short. The graphics are too small. The game is relatively easy to beat.

The Bottom Line
A short arcade adventure good enough to rent for a weekend.

Genesis · by BeaconBlue (15) · 2006

Set the bombs and get the hell out of there

The Good
At the beginning of the 21st century, Mr. K builds an army of androids that will take over the world, and two secret service agents called Ben and Andy are called in to destroy the enemy facilities using a special type of time bomb. Crack Down is a 1-2 player action game that uses a top-down perspective.

The game is faithful to the coin-op version. You control Ben (or Andy in two player mode) as you attempt to set the detonators on the areas marked on the map. You use the map to help you locate these areas. After you do that, you then get the hell out of there. The good thing about this game is shooting the androids that get in your way using machine guns, cannons, and super bombs. You can switch between these weapons at any time during the game. Unless the game is played with two players, the right side of the screen lists the enemies in the level, as well as the weapons they use. As well as enemies, you will be faced with conveyor belts and several dangers such as laser barriers and pools of acid.

Crack Down starts out with an introduction in which the two men places a bomb near a gate to blow it up, and cut-scenes during the game show Ben and Andy making their way to Mr. K's headquarters. These cut-scenes are viewed after every fourth level. The animation of the characters and enemies are good. Both Ben and Andy, as well as the enemies, look different so that you can tell them apart. The music in the game is catchy, and the sound effects are appropriate to the actions you take.

The Bad
Compared to other ports of the game, the characters are really small. As well as this, the graphics and in-game map don't look as detailed.

The Bottom Line
In Crack Down, the objective is to set bombs that are marked on the map, then get out before the facility explodes. There is a lot more features in the Genesis version than in other ports. This includes the addition of the introduction and cut-scenes, as well as a display telling you the enemies in the level, and the weapons that they are carrying. In my opinion, the Genesis version is a decent port as it comes as close to the coin-op version as possible.

Genesis · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2006

Trivia

Amiga version

A mastering error on most copies of the Amiga version causes the final level to crash. A working version is preserved by the SPS project.

Copy protection

The manual had got words from the game ("Dockyard, Atari, Bio-bot", ...) printed on each of the four edges of each page. The copy protection scheme asked questions from these words.

Information also contributed by Martin Smith

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  • MobyGames ID: 1425
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Macintrash.

Genesis added by Tibes80. Arcade added by FatherJack. Wii added by Sciere. Linux, Macintosh, Windows added by Foxhack. ZX Spectrum, Atari ST added by Martin Smith. Amstrad CPC added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Thomas Perl, formercontrib, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Patrick Bregger.

Game added May 11, 2000. Last modified January 25, 2024.