Monday, January 25, 2010

CRACKDOWN 2: STICKIN' WITH WHAT WORKS WELL


The sleeper hit of 2007: Crackdown. Sure, the Halo 3 beta invite that came along with the first Crackdown game didn't hurt sales, but those of us who actually played Crackdown, found out it was more than just a gimmick and a portal to play the Halo 3 beta. It was deep. It was engrossing, and it had a seamless multiplayer mode which made blowing shit up and searching for those oh-so-hard-to-find glowing orbs, a sandbox game I never got bored with. There was always something my friends and I could in the game to keep it fresh. Crackdown may be one of the best sandbox games I've ever played. Sorry GTA IV, you've gone a bit too realistic for me. After weeks and months of playing Crackdown and searching for orbs to level up my character, I still remember hearing those same damn orb-ringing sounds while walking around downtown. The game was stuck in my head.

No official release date yet, but we should be seeing Crackdown 2 sometime this year. Though I still believe the first Crackdown had so much more potential for DLC, and I mean.. tons of DLC (Where were the boats? Where were the planes? More Islands to go to? More vehicles? Characters? This game had no limits.) The environment of Pacific City could have easily expanded, but I guess Microsoft didn't believe gamers wanted it. Maybe I'm the minority. Or maybe not. Because what I believe the first Crackdown could have been, is now called Crackdown 2. Same city, different name and things have definitely changed as you can see in the video above.

What's with the zombies though? Why does every game have to have some type of zombie character or mode in it? I'm sure it's going to be fun but c'mon! Do developers not realize this is old? It's been done before. It's kind of like the whole Vampire craze.. everybody has to get in on it and rake in as much cash as possible before the craze dies out. But what they really end up doing by hopping on the bandwagon, is assist in it's own demise.

Sorry, but movie after movie and game after game, it's time both the zombies, and vampire craze be put to rest. There is so much more creativity out there than this in the game industry. Yet they're handcuffing themselves from reaching epic potential by sticking with the tried-and-true methods. I guess that's what sales, so what can you do?

Until this realization comes to pass... more zombies please. And the zombies better be badass!

Credit: Machinima.com

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Posted by Branden Brushett at 3:18 PM

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