Crackdown 2 Discussion

[sweetham]

I was playing through the first Crackdown today and noticed the difference between the two games. The subtle changes to the city yet pretty much the same street layouts. I did notice that some buildings in the demo had a lot less detail than the first, but others had more. I like the armor sets in the demo better than the first game. I like how the armour gets upgrades as you level your character.

The other big factor I like is the ability to pick up objects and use them as melee weapons without throwing them. The first game only lets you throw objects. Love being able to rip a stop sign up and going to beat some one down with it.

[neoadorable]

played the demo and didn't get any of the achievements. but will be getting the games, i'm more into this kind of thing right now after the pleasant surprise the first one was. the only concern are these zombies, if they're always on your case Far Cry 2 style, then it can get annoying real fast.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I guess were going to be hearing a lot more about Crackdown 2 very soon, the game looks to be all over the net.

[spaceelf]

played the demo and didn't get any of the achievements. but will be getting the games, i'm more into this kind of thing right now after the pleasant surprise the first one was. the only concern are these zombies, if they're always on your case Far Cry 2 style, then it can get annoying real fast.

Only at night on the roadways from what I noticed. I've heard you can use them as a weapon by shooting at the lights around the map, but I have yet to see this happen to any great effect.

[neoadorable]

let's hope you're right, endlessly spawning and attacking enemies tend to ruin a game, even ostensibly good ones like Far Cry 2 and Prototype.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Limewire lol, hope they didn't download it from there :p

[GameOverRob]

Limewire lol, hope they didn't download it from there :p

+1

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

My order from Game was dispatched today, I can't wait... wanted this game for a long time :)

Wonder if it will arrive tomorrow? it appears to have been dispatched quite early as its not released until the 9th in the UK.

[Unrealistic]

I bought it but I haven't opened it because of all the negative reviews. :/

[sweetham]

I bought it but I haven't opened it because of all the negative reviews. :/

I have played a few hours of the game now and honestly I do not get all the bad press. Sure the game has some drawbacks but I still find the game insanely fun.

Its still set in Pacific City so the environment is pretty much the same as the first with subtle differences.

To me car handling was drastically improved over the first game and even the demo. Others have said differently. Driving in crackdown was never fun because the handling sucked on almost all the vehicles and power sliding felt too hard to pull off unless driving at max speed. Now the handling feels decent even with your driving skill at level 1 and power sliding actually feels like it works. Plus with the freaks running the streets at nights, there are plenty of people to run over which actually gives driving a purpose. Agency cars no longer evolve wih each level of your driving skill, this sucks because it was a unique aspect of Crackdown and feels like ruffian went retroactive on this one.

The Armor suit evolves with leveling which is nice and looks badass. I can't wait to get it all the way up. Melee attacks have been improved as when your strength is leveled up, you can use objects as melee weapons. In the first crackdown you could only pick up and throw objects. Now certain objects you can swing like a baseball bat and go to town. You can also now pull mounted machine guns off their fixtures and tote them around as well.

Weapons are pretty much the standard crackdown 1 weapons with a few additions. Shotguns, SMGs, Assualt rifles, Heavy MGs, Snipers, Harpoon, UV shotgun are a few to name. Grenades have the new Quacker duck explosives and MAG grenades as the most notable additions. Could probably use more variety, but its enough for me.

Orbs are back and still addictive. I have not even left the old Volk controlled islands yet (first 1/3 of the game) and I already have close to half of the agility orbs (220ish and counting). New renegade orbs are something fresh and give a slight challenge. Also a fair number of orbs have been relocated from where they were in the first game to help spice things up. Online orbs which can only be collected co-op actually kind of annoy me. I love co-op do not get me wrong, but I dislike games that incorporate co-op achievements and that is the only way to get them. I am more of a single player person, but someday I would love to see co-op achievements that can be unlocked by yourself but with some addition requirements maybe (say the achievement is kill 100 enemies in a vehicle with at least 2 people in the vehicle, make the alternate option to do it solo but have to kill 200).

Mission variety does seem to suffer as its really only secure cell strongholds, activate beacons, or detonate becons in freak lairs. Crackdown 1 suffered from the same generic mission set (kill bosses minions, then kill boss). It begs to wonder if this game had a proper development cycle and not severely rushed, could ruffian hav expanded on this.

Story is also a little vague but I do have to give them credit for the opening sequence of the game. The first cinematic and the tutorial plus helicopter transport added something that the game has not really had some immersion. Once again if ruffian had more time, I think they could have added more sequences like this and made the overall storytelling of crackdown better.

Graphics are pretty much on par for a cell-shaded sandbox game. Pacific City has gotten darker and grittier to help match the tone of the city in chaos over the freak outbreak. Certain areas do however look a tad worse that the first as it looks like building detail was taken away. I am not a huge fan of cell shaded graphics as it feels that most games which utilize them overdo it and make the game too cartoony. Fortunately the crackdown series does not suffer from the over abundance of childish graphics and pulls off the look like a few other games (Borderlands comes to mind as another game where their use of cell-shading actually works for me).

I have not tried out multiplayer yet so I can not comment on it and its potential for replayability of the game.

Achievements were also kind of a let down. So many of them seem story driven and do not feel very unqiue (activate a beacon, activate all becons, secure a stronghold, secure all strongholds, etc). Others have returned and I welcome those that did as they are the more enjoyable ones (collect all agility orbs, harpoon 5 people to the same car, etc). I wish there would be more challenging ones like (attach a car to the helicopter with mag grenades and crush 100 enemies while flying, or use satchel charges to set a trap for an incoming cell hit squad and detonate).

Overall I would give this game a 7 out of 10. The game is still fun and still uses the orignal crackdown formula to achieve that fun but it does suffer from actually advancing the overall series due to shorter development period. If you were a fan of the first go ahead and get this game. If you are interested or only slightly liked the first, i would probably recommend rental. Its a nice start for Ruffian Games but they should have been given another year to expand on the crackdown franchise. Its sad to see stupid publishers do things like this for the sake of money, but then again, its a money making business and money has to be made. Hopefully there will be another iteration into the series and it will actually get a proper development cycle. The could even maybe expand the agency into another city to explore (fingers crossed).

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

• Game is way better than the first
  
• Longer than the first (pretty sure)
  
• Online 4 player co-op was a must, and it lives up to being awesome
  
• Online matchmaking = solid. Haven't had a laggy game yet, although it's very HARD to kill or do good
  
• Graphics with gamma turned up = much better than the first
  
• FUTURE DLC LOOKS TO ALREADY BE MADE NAMED: DELUGE TOYBOX (I was looking at my avatar awards and saw these two items with it saying (Deluge or Toybox Add-on Only)
  
• I haven't beaten the game yet
  
• Flying helicopters = rape
  
• Agility Renegade orbs can **** you the f off!
  
• New future on the d-pad (pressing up) to find orbs around you is a gift from god.
  

I'm too tired to go into detail. Good night! Whew.

[Spookie]

• 
  
• Game is way better than the first
  
• Longer than the first (pretty sure)
  
• Graphics with gamma turned up = much better than the first
  

Pardon?

It's practically the same game in a new skin! The mission structure is even more simplified than the first. If any thing it's worse! How is it "way better"?

If DM reads this I was wrong about the 8 month development cycle. There is a quote over at SA which says they had only 12 months to develop this due to MS realising mid last year they had no exclusives for 2010.

[LaP]

The first one was such a big disappointment to me. The sountrack was cool and the gfx style too. Liked to move you could do. But everthing else was lackluster and felt half completed.

I'll try the demo but it'll be hard to know if the content will be less shallow from a simple demo.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Seems like it is quite a bit of a rehash then

[Unrealistic]

I'm going to open it later today and play with it. I loved the first one, so I might as well just keep it.

[what]

Seems like it is quite a bit of a rehash then

That's all it was ever designed to be. It was basically advertised as the same city but with monsters in it. Can't believe people have bought into it AND are willing to pay for the DLC it needs to make it more of an actual sequel.

[WastedJoker]

It's Crackdown. It's not meant to be a Dickensian masterpiece.

It's about collecting shiny glowy things and throwing cars at peoples faces and having a blast for a couple of hours per session.

Some people need to adjust their expectations or throw away their keyboards.

[what]

It's Crackdown. It's not meant to be a Dickensian masterpiece.

It's about collecting shiny glowy things and throwing cars at peoples faces and having a blast for a couple of hours per session.

Some people need to adjust their expectations or throw away their keyboards.

Then what's wrong with the original game, which you can pick up for less than a tenner?

[WastedJoker]

That's all it was ever designed to be. It was basically advertised as the same city but with monsters in it. Can't believe people have bought into it AND are willing to pay for the DLC it needs to make it more of an actual sequel.

So you're complaining because it's as it was advertised? :/ What have they bought into if the game has advertised itself accurately? :/

Then what's wrong with the original game, which you can pick up for less than a tenner?

Nobody is forcing you to buy the game :)

[spaceelf]

That's all it was ever designed to be. It was basically advertised as the same city but with monsters in it. Can't believe people have bought into it AND are willing to pay for the DLC it needs to make it more of an actual sequel.

The monsters were in the first game also, so that doesn't make sense.

[Spookie]

Nobody is forcing you to buy the game :)

Aye.

But I wouldn't be surprised if it sells worse Alan Wake though.

I wonder if they will start losing staff like RTW too. They have been culling after the god awful APB but that's another story.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

I have my right to view the game in my own eyes, correct? I enjoy this one a lot better than the first.

[Pygmy_Hippo]

Can't wait for Friday - Crackdown 2 and Predators released on the same day!!! :woot:

(could've made them a bit nearer to payday though!!)

[Spookie]

I have my right to view the game in my own eyes, correct? I enjoy this one a lot better than the first.

Sure, I never said you couldn't. :)

But I'm going to call you out on some things which are completely wrong. ;) :p

[spaceelf]

Sure, I never said you couldn't. :)

But I'm going to call you out on some things which are completely wrong. ;) :p

I'm amused that you feel the need to crap on other peoples opinions.