Review: Crackdown 2

More of the same - with multiplayer that is totally forgettable.

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8.1

The Good

Retains all the charms of the first game: You're a superhuman cop, you've a large city to explore and you're able to collect many, many items * New weapons, one new vehicle and new enemies * Good backstory * Pacific City is a personality unto itself * Capturing territories introduces some strategy

The Bad

More of the same with minor additions * The game asks that you complete the same objective for 9 consecutive times * Not really many meaningful activities to do in Pacific City * Problematic auto targeting system * Simplistic combat system * Shallow and forgettable online multiplayer

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Crafting a dark, twisted story within a mysterious world and allowing players to explore this unfamiliar world to gradually discover a tale of intrigue is one way to build an appeal of adventure. Dressing players in gritty military attire and providing them with contemporary arms to put bullets to heads on a street of a conflict-torn environment is another way to build an appeal – one of war realism. For Crackdown, the appeal has always been about entrusting players with the sheer power of a superhuman law enforcer and giving them the freedom to exercise any means necessary to upkeep peace in a large city overrun by criminals. More than just a tool of exploration for the very athletic law enforcer who is able to leap from roof to roof with ease, the open-world environment is a device which enhances the sense of responsibility that players would have over the well-being of the citizens. The final pillar of appeal which Crackdown brings to players banks on everyone’s love of being able to collect items – many of them.

The year was 2007. Crackdown was charming. It appealed to players in ways no other game could. As you progressed through the game, your superhuman cop was able to level up, enabling him to leap higher and further, shoot bigger guns, lift heavier objects, throw more varieties of explosives and drive bigger vehicles. Near the end of the game, you were already becoming invincible. You did all these in the open-world environments of Pacific City, your personal playground of fun and destruction as you explored various places of interest for hidden goodies and breached every criminal organization headquarter and shredded their leaderships apart. Orbs glowing in green littered the landscape, often perched on tall buildings. These were orbs which allowed you to level up your agility (aka jumping height and distance) when you had collected enough of them. Crackdown knew you wanted them because you loved collecting things so what ensued was some basic parkor across the rooftops. Every other attribute was boosted when you had used enough of them in combat. For a market saturated with too many of the same concept, Crackdown was a breath of fresh air, coming off as an entirely unique experience.

It’s year 2010. We have Crackdown 2. And what I have just mentioned prior to this sentence pretty much sums up the Crackdown 2 experience. While many sequels refine the core mechanics of their predecessors, significantly or otherwise, Crackdown 2 seems content to maintain its predecessor’s template. As far as core mechanics go, nothing has changed in Crackdown 2 so if you aren’t a fan of the first Crackdown, this sequel won’t do anything to change your mind about the franchise. But if you did like – or like me, absolutely loved the first Crackdown, this sequel adds a little more of everything to make the game a blast to play again. Does Crackdown 2 suffer from the lack of any new gameplay mechanic? No. It’s surprising that within the 3 years separating this sequel from its predecessor, no other game has managed to conjure a similar experience so as it is, Crackdown 2 remains an entirely unique experience.

Crackdown 2 takes place 10 years after the events of the first Crackdown. After you have subdued the Shai-Gen organization, Pacific City (yes, Crackdown 2 takes place in the same city as the first game) enjoyed some years of peace. However, new treats have recently surfaced. Some of the citizens of Pacific City have mutated into what the game calls Freaks, a life form which is similar to the zombie. At the same time, there’s a terrorist group who label themselves as The Cell. During the day, vehicles driven by members of The Cell roam the streets, opening fire on any peacekeeper. During the night, the Freaks come out of their lairs, turning Crackdown 2 more into Capcom’s Dead Rising. You play as a clone of the original superhuman cop and your objective is to wipe out both races, Freaks and The Cell.

That’s the exposition which you’re going to get in the opening cut-scene. It’s surprising how Crackdown 2 is so thin on story. Rather than having cut-scenes in-between missions, Crackdown 2 opts to tell its story via several audio logs scattered around the city. These audio logs contain recorded dialogues from various perspectives and collecting them will shed a little light on what’s happening – and what’s happened as well. However, it’s near impossible to get the full picture of the happenings in Pacific City as some better hidden audio logs will inevitably be missed by most save the most thorough explorer. The result is a general lack of motivation behind your actions. Fortunately, a simple Google search revealed a neat 5-part mini-series created by Microsoft prior to Crackdown 2’s launch. Readily available on YouTube, these videos bridge the decade gap between the first Crackdown and this sequel. It may not be the most elegant solution but at least it does mitigate what would otherwise be a huge plot hole in the game.

Visually, Pacific City helps in getting a few details of the scant plot across to players. Landmarks like the gym, museum and observatory have been reduced to crumbling jungles of concrete slabs housing Freaks while members of The Cell have hoarded up areas with a handful of scrap materials, reflecting the extent to which the once beautiful city has fallen from grace. Torn bridges, buildings with broken ledges and circles of crudely built squatters’ shacks make up most parts of the city. The amount of effort and attention which the developers have invested into creating a city which is as believably dire as possible is remarkable. In the absence of a real character, Pacific City is a personality unto itself. Exploring this same geographical area from the first Crackdown may not be as exciting as driving down Pacific City 3 years ago, but what’s compelling about repeating this act is the promise of being able to understand a personality which has evolved. It all culminates into an intense and clearly ambiguous finale so you can come to care about Pacific City again when Crackdown 3 comes around.

Unfortunately, despite its impressive scale, there aren’t really many meaningful activities to do in Pacific City. The entire game focuses on the accomplishment of the same objective for 9 consecutive times before a different one sets you up for the finale. In that regard, Crackdown 2 isn’t as terribly challenging as its predecessor, and neither is it as interesting when put into comparison with the dynamic boss encounters from the first Crackdown. Like its predecessor, you can compete in rooftop and road races, and drive through stunt rings but these side missions don’t really add much to your campaign. Perhaps of more interest are the new renegade orbs and wing glide suit. The former are orbs which run away from you, compelling you to give chase on foot or in a vehicle while the later allows you to well, glide in the air. Renegade orbs are usually very difficult to catch and I have never felt that they were worth my effort and time. The wing glide suit is primarily there to complement the stunt rings in the air. Besides the aforementioned activities, you can also capture The Cell territories. A captured territory becomes a resupply point so claiming more territories means that it’s more convenient to restock on ammo, change weapons and call in a vehicle. One thing I like about the resupply point is how you can equip yourself with The Cell weapons and bring them into the point so that these weapons can be equipped the next time you decide to change your weapons. These benefits do well to add some strategy to an otherwise straightforward game.

The most palpable change yet comes in the form of multiplayer co-op. Up to 3 other players can join you in your rampage. Crackdown 2 does away with a lobby system so any player can just drop in or out at any time with any interruption to an ongoing game. Playing with other players doesn’t seem to bring about any tangible advantages, however. One missed opportunity with the 4 player co-op is how so few of the activities are designed around this element. Some orbs are only accessible when playing with at least a buddy but that’s about as beneficial going co-op can get. By the end of it all, the 4 player co-op feels more like a tacked-on feature than one which is designed to take advantage of the game.

Outside of the limited number of things which you can do in Pacific City, the auto targeting system can prove problematic. It’s nice to see that the developers have made an attempt to make shooting more accessible in a game where you are constantly running and jumping like a maniac but it’s annoying when the game seems more interested in directing your reticule at empty vehicles than enemies. There were times when it’s more effective to use your fists and legs to settle a situation but Crackdown 2 clearly isn’t helped by its simplistic melee combat. Besides throwing normal punches and kicks, you can perform a shockwave-producing ground slam attack as well. The absence of a combo command list means it’s up to you to experiment with your moves – there just aren’t many.

Capturing more than half of all the orbs in the game and uncovering a handful of audio logs in addition to completing a significant number of secondary activities, I managed to complete the campaign in just under a decent 13 hours. A couple of online multiplayer match types, including the standard deathmatch, team deathmatch and a unique mode called Rocket Tag, round up the list of offerings. With features which are severely underwhelming, there’s a general lack of interest after toying around with the online multiplayer for a couple of hours. All multiplayer modes do away with customization of any kind, meaning the weapons you get depends on the rank which you’re on. This introduces a great level of imbalance as the lower ranked players can be easily killed by higher ranked players with stronger weapons. Getting into a chopper on a map basically means you’re invincible as well. Like the 4 player co-op, online competitive multiplayer is shallow and forgettable.

Last comments
Crackdown 2 is Crackdown with more weapons, one more new vehicle, and new enemies. That being said, this sequel retains all the charms of its predecessor. But that also means Crackdown 2 has all the flaws of its predecessors – with a few new ones of its own. There aren’t many meaningful things to do in Pacific City and the auto targeting system, while created with the most benign intentions, is problematic. The combat system is too simplistic as well. Improvements have been made to enable other players to join in the fun together but both the 4 player co-op and online competitive multiplayer turn out to be severely underwhelming. On the other hand, Pacific City has developed so much of a personality that the absence of a real character doesn’t really matter anymore. Crackdown 2 is able to make you care about its city and when that happens, you know that the developers have succeeded in creating a very tangible, a very believable world. Play Crackdown 2 if you like or love the first one, but steer clear if you didn’t because the Crackdown franchise hasn’t changed – it’s just more of the same.