Summary
For the few of us who didn't like GTA III, possibly
The Good
I'm surprised to say I'm quite taken with Crackdown, a game which sounded in premise like a lot of other games I dislike. After talking with a friend of mine who, like me never saw what the fascination was with Grand Theft Auto III, I downloaded the demo and was nearly instantly hooked. I will do my best to put my finger on precisely what it is that wins me over in Crackdown that GTA never managed.
Firstly, the obvious one - the graphics are really stellar. Use of color is varied and vibrant (especially for a game of this type), animations are excellent, textures are possibly over-slick and slightly unrealistic, but it's still a great looking game. Secondly, the powering up of your character really helps to keep the game interesting to me. Acquiring orbs and the ability to run faster, jump to insane heights and the like sort of includes a super-hero element that GTA never had. Thirdly, while both games are "open" and allow you to do whatever you want whenever you want, Crackdown just feels more purpose-driven and less pointlessly exploratory somehow. Admittedly, all of the missions that are piped in really boil down to "Now kill this guy" or "Now kill this gal", and they're not very interesting in and of themselves, but it does keep the game moving at a good pace somehow.
And one final thing that's hard to truly pin down - I really liked how believable the world is in Crackdown in little ways, and how dynamic the events are. As a car of gangsters pulls up, I start shooting at it. The car stops, and two or three baddies get out and we have at it with some gunplay. Possibly, a car or two of police officers shows up to help out. Possibly, a car or two of gangsters arrive to heighten the battle. Often, it becomes a scene of real carnage and destruction, all at random. You often come across scenes of battle between gang members and police, and can pass it by or stop and join in. Throw a grenade into the fray for fun, or run right in and start using some melee attacks, or drive on by if you choose. It's all very intriguing, very free and yet not aimless or pointless.
The Bad
I did think that nearly all of the music in Crackdown stunk. I realize that the music may possibly be appropriate for the area you're in, but I just personally can't stand 99% of the tracks they've selected. They're all in the metal / rap fusion category which I often like, but just not in these cases. I wish the game gave you more choices for music style, but it's easy to get over as I spent a lot of the game on foot when there's not much music anyways.
The Bottom Line
In all, I'm surprised by how much I like Crackdown. It doesn't seem on any level to be my kind of game, and yet I find myself playing it a lot. It's easy and fun to hop into, shoot some baddies for a while, climb some buildings and leap from rooftop to rooftop, clear out an area of town from crime, get in a fancy car and smash it up, level up the character and take out more baddies.
