Alright, so I began playing Crackdown since Sunday evening and TBH the game is quite decent. From whatever I could gather so far, I'll sum it up as follows:
The gameplay is largely non-linear and draws a lot of resemblances from other sandbox style games like Infamous, Prototype, GTA IV, Just Cause and the likes. The protagonist referred to as the 'Agent' in the game, is genetically engineered and can wield some super powers - he can jump higher distances, climb skyscrapers, run super-fast, withstand high falls and all these powers can be enhances by collecting specific orbs or completing certain objectives that grant him these orbs. Agility for instance, determines how fast can he run and how high can he jump. Strength determines the health, how heavy an object can he lift and how far can he throw it. Vehicles can be driven and range from coupes to trucks - the races are arcade type needless to say.
2 arms and grenades can be carried around at any given time - these can be anything from semi-automatic pistols to sniper rifles to pump-action shotguns to HMGs. Grenades can be switched from type to type. Other than the standard issue available at the start of the game, all the other arms need to be acquired from the opposition which can later on, be supplied from the supply depots scattered around the city. Auto-aim is ON by default and cannot be changed - the crosshair needs to be aimed at the vicinity of the target and it locks down. Health is regenerative - however if the armor is completely depleted, the health drops down pretty quick if hit further.
The map revolves around Pacific City which is essentially 3 major island controlled by 3 factions and their respective kingpins - essentially the bosses. These kingpins in turn, have their generals who needs to be taken down before the kingpins themselves can be approached. All the generals and kingpins have a nasty support gang - they can get pretty annoying at times. The generals can be reached from one of the many ways - upfront facing all the foes or silently standing on top of rock from a vantage point so he could be sniped. Once the kingpin is taken down, the last mission that spawns is the 'Final Crime' wherein the remaining gang members of the faction will assemble at a particular location for a final showdown.
Graphics is pretty good for a game released back in 2007. The cell-shading technique is adopted in the game
a la Borderlands and Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions. RenderWare from Criterion Games (Burnout devs) is the primary graphics engine for the game. Foliage, rocks, buildings, freeways, bridges, power-plants, oceans - they have all been designed pretty neatly. I'd say the in-game level design as a whole is pretty neat.
Soundtracks - pretty good. Largely trance and the likes.
Defeated the first kingpin and saved one of the islands. 2 more remain. As a whole, I loved it.
(slang in Tamil "how, cant bear with you")
