Post by Gilvan Blight on Apr 9, 2011 9:51:17 GMT -5
Quickly: Crackdown 1 + Dead Rising = Crackdown 2
Summary:
The second Crackdown game from Ruffian and Microsoft continues the story of a city gone bad and has you playing the supercop to fix it all. At the end of Crackdown 1, the Agency had pretty much wiped out crime. In just 10 years everything has gone to crap. There's some cute viral style vids released that tell the story of what happened which is basically: The Agency hired a brilliant scientist, scientist invented a virus, scientist was fired, scientist forms a huge rebellious gang, scientist releases virus. So now what we have is one huge rebillous gang named cell and a bunch of zombies called Freaks.
Other then the change in theme from taking out heads of criminal gangs to fighting one force and zombies there isn't much different from this and Crackdown 1. The graphics are a bit better, the controls a little tighter and there are some new weapons. What's nice is that this is a good thing. If you played Crackdown 1 this is pretty much pick up and play and just more of the same. I loved Crackdown 1 so this is perfect.
Controls are the same as Crackdown 1 which is to say the same as Grand Theft Auto and all of it's clones. Walk around, steal cars, shoot things and toss grenades. That's about it. The difference here for people new to Crackdown is that you re basically playing a super hero. You can jump high, shoot extremely accurately, and punch people across the street. As you play you can level up in 5 different areas: Athletics, Strength, Accuracy, Explosives and Driving. Each area has 5 levels you can obtain. As you level up each area you get more and more super heroic. As you level Acrobatics you can jump higher and farther eventually getting a limited ability to fly. Explosives gives you bigger and badder booms and allows you access to better weapons. Strength gives you more health and also eventually lets you toss around semi trucks. You get the idea.
The main plot has you re-establishing something called Project SunSpot in order to wipe out the Freaks (Zombies). Along the way you will face many Cell agents and can take over zones they control so that you have more bases of operations. The plot is fairly solid and near the end starts to hint at the fact you may be on the wrong side.
The Good:
More of the same, which is great. This is a perfect case of "if it isn't broken don't fix it." If you liked Crackdown 1 you will like Crackdown 2. It's just more of the same improved slightly. The improvements are all welcome, new equipment, tighter controls and up to 4 player co=op. Graphics are also improved quite a bit. I still love running around on rooftops collecting Agility orbs. I spent hours and hours this week just doing that and letting the plot wait. I don't quite know what's so fun about it but I dug it in both part 1 and 2.
The Bad:
I'm actually not a huge fan of the way the game changed from fighting a bunch of different gangs each with their own style to this new system of one gang and the Freaks. In general the freaks come out at night and the gang is out during the day, so that changes up who you are fighting. While I had fun and all, I just felt the zombie like hordes of freaks was just odd for a Crackdown Game. It made me feel like I was playing Dead Rising with a super heroic character instead of a cop game.
The Ugly:
In the last quarter of the game you start getting the idea from the story that you are on the wrong side. This led me to think the game was much longer then it was. Instead of exploring this possibility the game just ends with a teaser for Crackdown 3. This was somewhat frustrating though I understand why the devs did it this way. I definatley made me want the next one in the series. Just don't be surprised when the game ends before you expect it to.
Overall:
If you liked Crackdown 1 you will like this. It's just more of the same game with a new twist of having only one bad gang and some new enemies in the form of Zombies. This is a great case of taking something that works and keeping it the same. If you haven't played Crackdown 1 I suggest checking it out and if you like it playing it through, then checking out part 2. While I wasn't a huge fan of the zombies and the ending came quicker then expected I still had a great time with this game.
Summary:
The second Crackdown game from Ruffian and Microsoft continues the story of a city gone bad and has you playing the supercop to fix it all. At the end of Crackdown 1, the Agency had pretty much wiped out crime. In just 10 years everything has gone to crap. There's some cute viral style vids released that tell the story of what happened which is basically: The Agency hired a brilliant scientist, scientist invented a virus, scientist was fired, scientist forms a huge rebellious gang, scientist releases virus. So now what we have is one huge rebillous gang named cell and a bunch of zombies called Freaks.
Other then the change in theme from taking out heads of criminal gangs to fighting one force and zombies there isn't much different from this and Crackdown 1. The graphics are a bit better, the controls a little tighter and there are some new weapons. What's nice is that this is a good thing. If you played Crackdown 1 this is pretty much pick up and play and just more of the same. I loved Crackdown 1 so this is perfect.
Controls are the same as Crackdown 1 which is to say the same as Grand Theft Auto and all of it's clones. Walk around, steal cars, shoot things and toss grenades. That's about it. The difference here for people new to Crackdown is that you re basically playing a super hero. You can jump high, shoot extremely accurately, and punch people across the street. As you play you can level up in 5 different areas: Athletics, Strength, Accuracy, Explosives and Driving. Each area has 5 levels you can obtain. As you level up each area you get more and more super heroic. As you level Acrobatics you can jump higher and farther eventually getting a limited ability to fly. Explosives gives you bigger and badder booms and allows you access to better weapons. Strength gives you more health and also eventually lets you toss around semi trucks. You get the idea.
The main plot has you re-establishing something called Project SunSpot in order to wipe out the Freaks (Zombies). Along the way you will face many Cell agents and can take over zones they control so that you have more bases of operations. The plot is fairly solid and near the end starts to hint at the fact you may be on the wrong side.
The Good:
More of the same, which is great. This is a perfect case of "if it isn't broken don't fix it." If you liked Crackdown 1 you will like Crackdown 2. It's just more of the same improved slightly. The improvements are all welcome, new equipment, tighter controls and up to 4 player co=op. Graphics are also improved quite a bit. I still love running around on rooftops collecting Agility orbs. I spent hours and hours this week just doing that and letting the plot wait. I don't quite know what's so fun about it but I dug it in both part 1 and 2.
The Bad:
I'm actually not a huge fan of the way the game changed from fighting a bunch of different gangs each with their own style to this new system of one gang and the Freaks. In general the freaks come out at night and the gang is out during the day, so that changes up who you are fighting. While I had fun and all, I just felt the zombie like hordes of freaks was just odd for a Crackdown Game. It made me feel like I was playing Dead Rising with a super heroic character instead of a cop game.
The Ugly:
In the last quarter of the game you start getting the idea from the story that you are on the wrong side. This led me to think the game was much longer then it was. Instead of exploring this possibility the game just ends with a teaser for Crackdown 3. This was somewhat frustrating though I understand why the devs did it this way. I definatley made me want the next one in the series. Just don't be surprised when the game ends before you expect it to.
Overall:
If you liked Crackdown 1 you will like this. It's just more of the same game with a new twist of having only one bad gang and some new enemies in the form of Zombies. This is a great case of taking something that works and keeping it the same. If you haven't played Crackdown 1 I suggest checking it out and if you like it playing it through, then checking out part 2. While I wasn't a huge fan of the zombies and the ending came quicker then expected I still had a great time with this game.