Customer Ratings & Reviews

Crackdown was an early 360 title that exceeded expectations, spawning a sequel that didn't especially push the bar forward. As such, perhaps it isn't fair to compare it to later Rockstar sandbox games (GTA IV), but those are the obvious comparisons. It's kind of like GTA minus a compelling story and a lot of the depth, but with more focus on climbing/rooftop exploration, which is one of the most fun parts of the game. The basic story sets you in a dystopian future where three violent gangs control three separate areas. The Agency, the peacekeeping group for which the player accepts missions, has made a technological breakthrough, creating a clonable supersoldier (you). Armed with infinite lives, it is your job to explore the three areas, find the gangs' underbosses and leaders and eliminate them, and ultimately rid the areas of gang influence by killing off a final wave of gang members. Your supersoldier, true to form, is quite overpowered (though if you aren't paying attention, later enemies or large groups can take you out). You can rely on fairly standard guns, some overpowered punching, vehicular combat, or throwing items/bodies early on, and later rocket launchers are added to the arsenal. Lock-on targeting makes shredding through enemies pretty simple. One thing that works well in the game is the leveling system. Your character starts out with lower damage, less jumping ability, less driving ability, less health, etc. Killing enemies with guns, your hands, explosives, cars, and from rooftops will add experience to the various categories, strengthening your character quickest in the sections that you use most. Another strong feature is the rooftop transportation and climbing. Supply checkpoints (respawn after dying/fast travel/reload and change weapons) are usually found on buildings, and jumping from building to building after a fast travel can be the quickest, safest way to move between boss locations. It's also just a really fun way to get around, especially once your character approaches max athletic ability. The way you gain new weapons is pretty unique, too. You have to kill a gang member and switch your weapon for their new one, but then you have to make it back to a supply point without dying. Perhaps the only consequence for dying in the game. The main task in the game, as I mentioned in the story section, is going up the gang's hierarchy and eliminating important members. These members, which are housed in a solid variety of buildings/locations, functionally serve only to weaken the main boss's defenses once defeated, but you have to kill everyone to clear the islands/areas anyways, so might as well. In addition, though, there are rooftop races, car races, aerial orbs which give you athletic experience, and hidden orbs which give experience in all categories. The orbs serve as the main collectible, and there's a ton of them (not needed for experience, but good luck finding them all for the achievement). All in all, Crackdown doesn't really break new ground, but it still serves as a fun experience that doesn't ask much in the way of strategy or investment. Especially worth a look now that it's bargain bin.

Crackdown was a good game to show off the Xbox 360's capabilities when it first launched but it doesn't hold it's time well like older game such as the first Bioshock or Devil May Cry 4. The gameplay is decent but after a few hours you pretty much experienced everything the game has to offer, and there's not much of a story but no one really expects that when playing this game. Overall for the price of 5 dollars you will find your moneys worth and get some decent hours of gameplay.

I had an absolute blast with this game, The agency super car, SUV, and truck cab were phenomenal. The 4th star vehicles gave the cars an extra thrill. Be it machine guns, nitrous, or great hydraulics.