Crackdown 2

More orbs? Why yes please…

It has been over ten years since I played and completed the first Crackdown game. Starting Crackdown 2 has been a long time coming and it was worth the wait to start collecting orbs again. Ironically the plot of the game takes place ten years after the city was freed of crime with the elimination of the gang Kingpins. In present Pacific City a terrorist organization lead by an ex-agency scientist has you fighting off a bunch of zombie like creatures called freaks. It also asks the question is the Agency corrupt as the terrorist group claims. The hero in a round about way is also the villain. I am not a fan of this type of storytelling. There is no real resolution in the storytelling. So you can take that aspect of the game with a grain of salt and just go exploring.

The game in many ways is the same as the original Crackdown. It has a similar ability leveling system. There are stunt challenges and there are another 800 orbs for you to collect throughout the city. Woohoo! However there are tweaks to the game that was developed by a different studio. There is an added set of new orbs called Renegade orbs. These are more challenging and require you to chase them to acquire them. The world map is the same, all the landmarks are where they belong with a layer of destruction from the new threats the city is facing. It’s like having a battle damage skin applied to a place you have fully explored already.

The verticality of exploration is still there but the world is smaller. By that I mean you can not enter some of the buildings like you did in the first game. You also have access to a helicopter right away. This makes collecting orbs incredibly easy. It is not as satisfying as when you had to figure out how to climb up a building when you can just fly to the top, park, get out, and collect your orb then move on to the next one. Orb hunting however is still a fun activity.

As much as the new developer adhered to the old game the one thing that they should of improved on was the world map. It was nested within a sub menu and was annoying to access when trying to figure out where you were and what to do next. The size of the map is also small. It is less then half the screen when you open the sub menu. Adding to that annoyance was trying to track some achievement progress which was spread across two sub menus. Then within those menus the locked achievements were at the bottom of the list forcing you to scroll through a bunch of completed activities. This gets old fast when you are checking progress a lot.

The game also has Co-Op functionality, so you can invite three of your friends to take on the challenges of the city. New to the game is the Deluge game mode, which is a form of Horde. You battle waves of enemies in a timed round. After each wave battle you will have to travel to a different part of Pacific City for the next wave before the timer runs out. Finish early and time is added to what is left on your counter.

This review may seem like a bit of a downer with my tone, but let me say that the game is fun. I enjoyed running around Pacific City again. That familiar orb audio cue brought back fond memories from the first game. So, to be clear this is definitely a good game. It just doesn’t have that same impact that the first game gave you. In the end I think the original game is a better game, but you should still have a go at this one too.