Although there are many mini-games unlocked within the campaign, most of the gameplay is in the Campaign and Time-Trial modes. The game is almost exclusively a single-player experience, but online cooperative gaming is possible over Xbox Live or System Link. There is no split-screen play, so each player much have their own copy of the game, and their own console.
Playing co-op with a friend (or even a complete stranger) is a complete blast, and the pun is very intended. Gamers can jump in and out of a game without penalty, or they can stick it out for the long haul and complete the entire game together (which earns a special Achievement). The world is completely open for both players, who can play completely independently. You don’t have to join your teammate on his particular mission… you can goof off doing anything you want. You can collect orbs independently of each other, which means there is no competition for orbs. You can also check the Xbox Live leaderboards for how you fare at the mini-games and time trials.
Leveling up is a big part of Crackdown, having simple role-playing elements. Your Agent improves five core skills: Agility, Strength, Firearms, Explosives, and Driving. Skills are improved by using each one, not by arbitrarily assigning points to them. Once you’re maxed out, you are like the Mighty Thor, but without the funny costume (although Agent uniforms are kinda funky). Agility is necessary for jumping from rooftop to rooftop, which lets you navigate around the city with ease. To upgrade your other abilities, you’ll have to drive in races, use grenades, launch rockets, throw things to gain strength, and shoot everything that moves to gain Firearms skill.
Controlling your character is simple to understand. Your body is aimed and controlled with the left analog stick, and the camera is rotated using the right stick. Agents can walk, run, crouch, swim, shimmy, and from ledges and drive cars. You are not limited to the cars you drive, and can enter any vehicle in the game (a la GTA again). Swimming is interesting, as you can shoot out of the water like a freaky dolphin-human freak thing.
Lock-on shooting is a necessity, since many enemies will appear above (and below) you, and hide behind corners. Press the left trigger to lock onto a target and squeeze the right trigger to shoot. You can even spin in the air and target multiple enemies in mid-leap. Free-form shooting can be difficult, because it’s very easy to become disoriented, go too far, or just find yourself in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, once you’ve killed an enemy, the auto-aim stays locked onto the corpse.
Driving in Crackdown isn’t as fun as other games in this genre. The driving mechanics suffer from a design standpoint. Although you can drive any car in the game, you’ll avoid civilian cars, because they apparently have tires made of tar. Even your Agent vehicles are slow, turn poorly, and generally don’t accelerate very well.
The vertical is explored at great length in this game. You really can’t navigate alot of the buildings at the beginning, because your Agility hasn’t progressed enough to allow jumping that high. Because of this, you will be hunting down green Agility Orbs like Cortney Love in a maze full of heroin. The more you collect, the higher your Agent jumps, the more Orbs you see, the more you rack your brain figuring out how to get to them… it’s a downward spiral.
There are even super-secret Blue Orbs and three kinds of Green Orbs (with Single, Double, Triple, and even Quadruple-strength agility power-ups), 500 green orbs in total. The more powerful ones are found in higher places. The blue orbs don’t do all that much, but unlock an Achievement once you’ve collected all 300 of them. You don’t have to collect one single Orb to progress through the game; they’re just one of the addictive elements that keep your hands glued to the controller.
The main story can be completed in a relatively quick six to eight hours. After that, there’s not much to do except to unlock all the Achievements, which means alot of rooftop hoofing, racing, and over-the-top stunts. The only place you can go at first is the Los Muertos’ district (serves as the “tutorial” level, conveniently having shorter buildings to accommodate your stubby legs). You get a little taste of the world so you don’t become overwhelmed, then as you complete a bit of the story, it all opens up, and you can go anywhere you want.
The game is also well-designed in another aspect. Once you get close to a boss, a game tracker identifies him (or her). If you read the dossier on the Boss, you’ll find how they fit into the crime organization. If you defeat critical sub-bosses first, then the Big Boss is weakened, giving you a distinct advantage. If you strategically take out the right mini-bosses, then bigger bosses won’t have an army of rocket-launching maniacs. Bosses are only as tough as their henchmen, so you weaken the henchmen, and the boss is only as tough as his health bar.
