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Crackdown 2
Text Review
It is hard to blame Ruffian Games for what they have done to Crackdown 2, mostly because it doesn't seem like they have done anything at all...except zombies. Pacific City is now overrun by the infected, simply called Freaks, but more appropriate to Valve's Left 4 Dead series than Crackdown.
This is an odd franchise in that the enemies feel more like an annoyance. The enraged citizens "sniping" the player from a far off building are a nuisance, preventing the game from reaching the peak of its design: jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It is undoubtedly what Crackdown 2 does best, the true draw of the game being collecting bright glowing green orbs to level up and jump even higher. The sensation of free-falling, the joy of reaching a peak, and solving the jumping puzzle to get up there in the first place is still intact.
Pacific City is now littered with foes, from the Freaks to the rebellious Cell. Trying to sit on the ground and evaluate the location of orbs is either prevented by swarms of zombies, or in the air by rocket-launcher toting Cell members – so much for fun.
The design of Pacific City is immense. Imagine having to scale every building, install every window, and configure each ledge not just as a visual design, but as a playable surface. Realtime Worlds, developer of the original, nailed it. Ruffian Games agrees, changing little besides adding some barricades and some broken down areas of the city. Even the orbs are in familiar areas, although now with added Xbox Live-exclusive orbs, driving orbs, and rogue orbs that run away changing things up slightly.
It is hard to get the sense of being driven forward in Crackdown 2, especially as the main mission structure is so redundant. Nine times out of 10 missions (total) the player is required to activate three beacons, and then drop below the surface to ignite a light bomb to wipe out the Freaks. The only change in the final mission is that you set off gas line pipes instead of beacons. It is hard to feel like you are progressing. Freaks still run loose throughout the city even after completing these missions, so there is no visible benefit, short of fewer markers on your map (and you can't set way points either).
Shooting remains familiar, the auto-targeting never locks onto what you want it to, although when it works, it can be satisfying. The generosity of flicking the right stick towards a foe’s head and firing with a sniper rifle is a smart call, taking out entire waves and making the player feel skilled in something other than jumping.
Crackdown 2 also seems confused about whether it wants to be a solitary experience or one focused on rigid co-op. Multiplayer supports four Xbox Live members instead of two, but it doesn't like it when you play together. Players can go wherever they want, taking down specific objectives on their own with little sense of camaraderie. The Xbox Live orbs are a brief distraction, and baffling as it may be, only the host saves mission progress. Those helping a friend get nothing towards their own game besides experience. The benefit to multiplayer only comes into play once everyone completes their own campaign.
Maybe that is the draw though. The missions are seemingly included to appease the general gaming populace who need structures or goals, while the true greatness lies in exploration. Had this been a new city or location, or one radically redesigned that could be the case. What is here is the same game from 2007, seemingly developed as a DLC pack, but slapped onto a disc. That's unforgivable.
- Matt Paprocki
Developer: Ruffian Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform(s): Xbox 360
CGR Undertow review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqn54uE2y5A
This is an odd franchise in that the enemies feel more like an annoyance. The enraged citizens "sniping" the player from a far off building are a nuisance, preventing the game from reaching the peak of its design: jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It is undoubtedly what Crackdown 2 does best, the true draw of the game being collecting bright glowing green orbs to level up and jump even higher. The sensation of free-falling, the joy of reaching a peak, and solving the jumping puzzle to get up there in the first place is still intact.
Pacific City is now littered with foes, from the Freaks to the rebellious Cell. Trying to sit on the ground and evaluate the location of orbs is either prevented by swarms of zombies, or in the air by rocket-launcher toting Cell members – so much for fun.
The design of Pacific City is immense. Imagine having to scale every building, install every window, and configure each ledge not just as a visual design, but as a playable surface. Realtime Worlds, developer of the original, nailed it. Ruffian Games agrees, changing little besides adding some barricades and some broken down areas of the city. Even the orbs are in familiar areas, although now with added Xbox Live-exclusive orbs, driving orbs, and rogue orbs that run away changing things up slightly.
It is hard to get the sense of being driven forward in Crackdown 2, especially as the main mission structure is so redundant. Nine times out of 10 missions (total) the player is required to activate three beacons, and then drop below the surface to ignite a light bomb to wipe out the Freaks. The only change in the final mission is that you set off gas line pipes instead of beacons. It is hard to feel like you are progressing. Freaks still run loose throughout the city even after completing these missions, so there is no visible benefit, short of fewer markers on your map (and you can't set way points either).
Shooting remains familiar, the auto-targeting never locks onto what you want it to, although when it works, it can be satisfying. The generosity of flicking the right stick towards a foe’s head and firing with a sniper rifle is a smart call, taking out entire waves and making the player feel skilled in something other than jumping.
Crackdown 2 also seems confused about whether it wants to be a solitary experience or one focused on rigid co-op. Multiplayer supports four Xbox Live members instead of two, but it doesn't like it when you play together. Players can go wherever they want, taking down specific objectives on their own with little sense of camaraderie. The Xbox Live orbs are a brief distraction, and baffling as it may be, only the host saves mission progress. Those helping a friend get nothing towards their own game besides experience. The benefit to multiplayer only comes into play once everyone completes their own campaign.
Maybe that is the draw though. The missions are seemingly included to appease the general gaming populace who need structures or goals, while the true greatness lies in exploration. Had this been a new city or location, or one radically redesigned that could be the case. What is here is the same game from 2007, seemingly developed as a DLC pack, but slapped onto a disc. That's unforgivable.
- Matt Paprocki
Developer: Ruffian Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform(s): Xbox 360
CGR Undertow review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqn54uE2y5A
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