Crackdown Co-Op Review

Review System(s): XBox 360

Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin
Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo Thursday 14th of May 2009 08:00 PM

Jim:

I've always believed that the subtle freedoms in a game can end up being the key ingredient that makes a sweet experience, and sometimes even a "sleeper hit". Crackdown is no sleeper -- not by a long shot -- but for me it was an extremely pleasant surprise, especially when playing with a friend.

The high-value qualities of a sandbox game are all there: quick loading and a solid framerate, outstanding physics both on foot and in vehicles, interesting and detailed locations, an incredible draw distance, and plenty of neutral AI to give life to an already colorful city. The storyline is simple: go here, kill this person...repeat. It's on the bland side of tedious, but thankfully you are not required to play the campaign missions in order to advance in skill, and the entire city is open from the start. If you can see it, you can reach it.

On top of Crackdown's excellent citysphere, there are subtleties -- which I mentioned above -- that really make the game stand out for me. What other game lets you lift and carry a car...that your co-op buddy is still occupying? And not since Painkiller has a game featured spearing your enemies to moving objects. A good five minutes of play time was spent watching a poor thug swing from our car by his impaled hand. Hilarity, I tell you!

Don't tase me bro!

As with most co-op games, this one is best when played with a friend. All of the orbs that you gather are carried over to your saved game, as are weapons collected. Climbing towers together, cruising the streets looking for a fight, or competing in super-human parkour-style rooftop races will hold most gamers' appeal for a long time. There's a certain Incredible Hulk-esque satisfaction to leaping from a nightclub roof to the sidewalk across the street; picture that scenario combined with a massive firefight started by your co-op partner -- that's Crackdown. As Nick and I patrolled the city, he mentioned that he had enough game time logged to have maxed out his stats four times over...and he was still finding areas that he didn't recognize. It's not so much that the city is large as much as it is detailed; you could literally spend thirty minutes exploring one four-block plaza, if windowsill hopping is your thing (it is, trust me).

Thanks to its horizontal and vertical freedom, parts of Crackdown feel like an old favorite of mine: Spider-Man 2. Sure, scoff, but the sheer joy of just being able to scale full buildings has become a fad (see: inFamous, Prototype, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, etc). Unfortunately, scaling buildings with a friend has not. Crackdown did what others dared not do, and my only true regret is that the co-op is limited to two players.

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Tags: xbox 360 2 player co-op crackdown reviews

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Reader Comments

Jackel at 03:15 AM on 5.15.2009

At some point here I'll have to buy myself a 360 just to try this game. I hear nothing but good things about it.

justabaldguy at 08:12 AM on 5.15.2009

Rating this solely on my own experiences in co-op I'd have to say 3 out of 5. Maybe it's because I've never played with the right people, I don't know. I tried specifically to do the move Jim mentioned, the move I read a developer bragging about: get your friend in a car, throw the car at people, and when he lands he tear off running them over. Never got it to work once. It was blown up in my hands every time.

I also got annoyed by the enemy's uncanny ability to pick up your location as soon as you fired a single shot. There was no hiding, one you've fired you're on their radar.

The goofing off that y'all mentioned (running on rooftops, watching your friend fall, etc) was just fine. The actual combat though in co-op never worked for me.

hedgehogaj at 11:01 AM on 5.15.2009

I have to agree with justabaldguy. The playground aspects of the game are good, but the actual combat/missions feel like an afterthought. At least until you get the homing missle launcher. Then they're just background noise.

I also dislike any system that gives you an insanely fast car, then doesn't give you anywhere to drive it that you don't have to focus entirely on dodging pedestrians so the cops won't show up and blow up your ride.

smurphster at 11:14 AM on 5.15.2009

what about the mountain area? no peds out there

Biohzrd451 at 09:45 AM on 5.19.2009

Fun game but needed alot more work to make it an awesome title, I love the open world crime fighting type system I would have just liked to see it a little more polished.

I am hoping for a similar open world type game like GTA only where it is an open playground where you pick up missions start gangs with friends via coop and just do stuff.

I really agree with baldy when going to one of the enemy locations it felt like once I fired a shot there were all on top of me leaving very few options other than blow the entire place to hell.

SirAlec at 09:15 PM on 5.19.2009

I was surprised that there was no mention of the ramp truck glitch, which allows you to launch your co-op partner miles into the air or 1/2 way across the map. That's one of the best things about Crackdown co-op!

The car races available in the DLC are great for co-op as well. Nothing like setting up barriers or popping tires of the competition with a well placed shot.

Total Comments: 6

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