YankeeH8er
08-10-2006, 11:17 AM
Link. (http://www.planetxbox360.com/index.php/articledetails/show/206)
"Crackdown Preview
by Eric Bush
The Grand Theft Auto series revolutionized the way gamers approach mission-based games. Linear paths are a thing of the past, “go anywhere, do anything” is the way of the future. It is this free-roaming genre of gaming that Crackdown, developed by Real Time Worlds and published by Microsoft Game Studios, is going to attempt to conquer this fall on Xbox 360’s around the world. It is by no coincidence that David Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto franchise is the mastermind behind this Xbox 360 exclusive game. Real Time Worlds may be new to the gaming industry (formed in 2002) but the collective staff has been around the block more than a few times. Crackdown will be the first action title to offer a non-linear style of gameplay similar to that of Morrowind or other MMORPG’s, and Microsoft is taking no chances at making this one a winner. Not only is this Grand Theft Auto on a dose of superhero crack but it also offers very interesting achievements and a full online co-op mode.
Crackdown’s storyline goes something like this: it’s a world (Pacific City) run by gangs, not your ordinary Bloods or Crips but hardcore gangs with leaders that would put fear into the eyes of the most brave of superheroes. There are three different gangs that terrorize the citizens of Pacific City, they are: the Volk, Shai-Gen Corporation, and Los Muertos. There are seven kingpins that run each gang and until you kill all seven kingpins that specific gang is not wiped out of the city. Add in the main boss of each gang and you are talking about 24 boss fights, can I hear a hell yes? Your character is a new breed of police force, a cloned super agent whose only purpose in life is to destroy enemies of the state. The government body that you work for is known as “The Agency” and is really the last hope for the city to survive as a functioning society. Although there are many missions throughout Crackdown the main focus of “The Agency” is to clean up the city of all the thugs and baddies. From the get go you are released on the thugs of the city, after your first does of superhero experimental drugs of course. These drugs allow you to jump over buildings, toss cars, and send bad guys flying through the air like they were rag dolls. The typical missions in Crackdown do not have a beginning, middle, or end; they are continuous and may take more than a few hours to complete. Meanwhile you will be doing other things even though you are in the middle of completing the mission you started two hours ago.
Completing missions will be easier if you enhance your characters special abilities and make him stronger. To do this each character has five key skills to improve: strength, agility, firearms, explosives, and driving. Killing criminals, completing missions, and doing side objectives are ways to bump up these abilities. The action is all designed for simple, accessible gaming. L controls movement, R controls the spinning manually controlled camera, and the two analogs handle pretty much everything else. When walking forward, any person or object in your path indicates their health with a horizontal health bar. This is a soft lock, and you can change it by hitting the left trigger to connect with a hard lock. You can shoot anything, humans, vehicles, buildings, and most will explode. You can aim at a car tire and blow it out, or a gas tank, and when hit, it explodes the car. Your character can walk up to a car, throw out the person, and tear off the door to use as a shield. The A.I in Crackdown is something to talk about, the bad guys will not only use everything in the environment to attack you but they also take cover behind objects that would be considered worthless in many other games.
You start the game as a newbie in the world of super agents, moving up is easy enough but to complete many of the missions in the game you must be at a certain “level” in your training and abilities. This may sound like a RPG and to be honest Crackdown has many of the same aspects that grace the great RPG’s of today’s gaming world. Not only does your character get you around the world by running, jumping, and sometimes flying but you can also jump in any car and cruise around Pacific City. That is cool enough but add in the “transformers” effect that cars do when you get in them and this game is just amazing. The world is wide open so getting around without mastering the art of driving is just improbable and a waste of time, plus these cars are so cool how can you pass that up? The graphical department is something gamers will surely argue about, it is a style that can easily be mistaken for shoddy graphics. The comic book style look of Crackdown is something that is very rare in the industry and for one I am happy to see a game that looks this good. The explosions and car transformations are beautiful to the eye, as are the fluid movements of the characters and the scenery (draw distance) of the city itself. Of course if realistic style graphics is your thing then Crackdown probably will not appeal to you, but for gamers like me that have been itching for a game straight out of the comic book world I cannot wait for this game to hit store shelves.
Xbox Live Achievements, something that has became an obsession of many gamers around the world, don’t sit there and act like you didn’t rent King Kong just for the 1000 gamer points. Crackdown has boasted that there are over 50 secret and not-so-secret achievements hidden throughout the game. These achievements range from things as simple as exterminating a gang from Pacific City to juggling a person with your rocket launcher or seeing how far you can fall to your death. Easily the most exciting aspect of Crackdown is the fact that the entire single player mode can be played online with a partner or co-op as some of you may know it. This feature will make the replayability of Crackdown go through the roof, as the game will be different depending on whom your partner is over Xbox Live. Currently Crackdown is scheduled for an October 2007 release, stay tuned to Planet Xbox3 60 for a more through hands-on preview as the release date approaches. This is one of the few sleeper hits for the Xbox 360 to keep your eyes on."
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/4.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/3.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/2.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/1.jpg
"Crackdown Preview
by Eric Bush
The Grand Theft Auto series revolutionized the way gamers approach mission-based games. Linear paths are a thing of the past, “go anywhere, do anything” is the way of the future. It is this free-roaming genre of gaming that Crackdown, developed by Real Time Worlds and published by Microsoft Game Studios, is going to attempt to conquer this fall on Xbox 360’s around the world. It is by no coincidence that David Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto franchise is the mastermind behind this Xbox 360 exclusive game. Real Time Worlds may be new to the gaming industry (formed in 2002) but the collective staff has been around the block more than a few times. Crackdown will be the first action title to offer a non-linear style of gameplay similar to that of Morrowind or other MMORPG’s, and Microsoft is taking no chances at making this one a winner. Not only is this Grand Theft Auto on a dose of superhero crack but it also offers very interesting achievements and a full online co-op mode.
Crackdown’s storyline goes something like this: it’s a world (Pacific City) run by gangs, not your ordinary Bloods or Crips but hardcore gangs with leaders that would put fear into the eyes of the most brave of superheroes. There are three different gangs that terrorize the citizens of Pacific City, they are: the Volk, Shai-Gen Corporation, and Los Muertos. There are seven kingpins that run each gang and until you kill all seven kingpins that specific gang is not wiped out of the city. Add in the main boss of each gang and you are talking about 24 boss fights, can I hear a hell yes? Your character is a new breed of police force, a cloned super agent whose only purpose in life is to destroy enemies of the state. The government body that you work for is known as “The Agency” and is really the last hope for the city to survive as a functioning society. Although there are many missions throughout Crackdown the main focus of “The Agency” is to clean up the city of all the thugs and baddies. From the get go you are released on the thugs of the city, after your first does of superhero experimental drugs of course. These drugs allow you to jump over buildings, toss cars, and send bad guys flying through the air like they were rag dolls. The typical missions in Crackdown do not have a beginning, middle, or end; they are continuous and may take more than a few hours to complete. Meanwhile you will be doing other things even though you are in the middle of completing the mission you started two hours ago.
Completing missions will be easier if you enhance your characters special abilities and make him stronger. To do this each character has five key skills to improve: strength, agility, firearms, explosives, and driving. Killing criminals, completing missions, and doing side objectives are ways to bump up these abilities. The action is all designed for simple, accessible gaming. L controls movement, R controls the spinning manually controlled camera, and the two analogs handle pretty much everything else. When walking forward, any person or object in your path indicates their health with a horizontal health bar. This is a soft lock, and you can change it by hitting the left trigger to connect with a hard lock. You can shoot anything, humans, vehicles, buildings, and most will explode. You can aim at a car tire and blow it out, or a gas tank, and when hit, it explodes the car. Your character can walk up to a car, throw out the person, and tear off the door to use as a shield. The A.I in Crackdown is something to talk about, the bad guys will not only use everything in the environment to attack you but they also take cover behind objects that would be considered worthless in many other games.
You start the game as a newbie in the world of super agents, moving up is easy enough but to complete many of the missions in the game you must be at a certain “level” in your training and abilities. This may sound like a RPG and to be honest Crackdown has many of the same aspects that grace the great RPG’s of today’s gaming world. Not only does your character get you around the world by running, jumping, and sometimes flying but you can also jump in any car and cruise around Pacific City. That is cool enough but add in the “transformers” effect that cars do when you get in them and this game is just amazing. The world is wide open so getting around without mastering the art of driving is just improbable and a waste of time, plus these cars are so cool how can you pass that up? The graphical department is something gamers will surely argue about, it is a style that can easily be mistaken for shoddy graphics. The comic book style look of Crackdown is something that is very rare in the industry and for one I am happy to see a game that looks this good. The explosions and car transformations are beautiful to the eye, as are the fluid movements of the characters and the scenery (draw distance) of the city itself. Of course if realistic style graphics is your thing then Crackdown probably will not appeal to you, but for gamers like me that have been itching for a game straight out of the comic book world I cannot wait for this game to hit store shelves.
Xbox Live Achievements, something that has became an obsession of many gamers around the world, don’t sit there and act like you didn’t rent King Kong just for the 1000 gamer points. Crackdown has boasted that there are over 50 secret and not-so-secret achievements hidden throughout the game. These achievements range from things as simple as exterminating a gang from Pacific City to juggling a person with your rocket launcher or seeing how far you can fall to your death. Easily the most exciting aspect of Crackdown is the fact that the entire single player mode can be played online with a partner or co-op as some of you may know it. This feature will make the replayability of Crackdown go through the roof, as the game will be different depending on whom your partner is over Xbox Live. Currently Crackdown is scheduled for an October 2007 release, stay tuned to Planet Xbox3 60 for a more through hands-on preview as the release date approaches. This is one of the few sleeper hits for the Xbox 360 to keep your eyes on."
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/4.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/3.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/2.jpg
http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/crackdown%20preview/1.jpg