Back in 2007 Crackdown was released. The had some big talk, but what got people talking was the fact that anyone who went out and bought the game would be given access to the Halo 3 mutiplayer beta. Either way buyers got an unexpected gem in the process. Now three years later We have a new Crackdown game, but is this one one beta code way from worth it?

The story for the game takes place ten years after the last game, and it seems that a lot has happened. Pacific City has been hit by quite literally a freak virus, and had caused many of the citizens to turn in zombies. If that wasn’t enough a new gang has sprung up from the ashes of the gangs from the first game. All this has taken a toll on the city, and it looks like a third world nation. However you are one of the latest batch of Agents cloned, and it’s your job (and up to three of your friends) to bring Pacific City back from ruins.

The game its self is exactly like the first one, but there are a few new touches. Like the first you do level up your strength, firearms, driving, explosives, and agility. However in this game it more focused on unlocking types of weapons and cars, and not going from relatively strong to super strong. Your abilities still grow, but not quite to the point that they did in the last Crackdown. This however is made up for giving you the whole armory without having to scavenge from bosses. While on the subject there are no bosses. In fact the single gang is not really even the main focus of the game. The real focus is on activating beacons, and going into the lairs of the zombies to take them out. There are also side missions as well which include hunting down the green and blue orbs, hunting down new special orbs that you now have to chase down (some on foot, and others in vehicles), races, collecting audio messages, taking out freak spawn points, and purging cell resistance from tactical areas. While this sounds like a lot it should be noted that the main game is so shallow that these elements will most of what you do in the game.

The game now offers online modes featuring both your standard deathmatch, and team deathmatch. The new element is a mode called “Rocket Tag.” In this mode one of the players is given a orb, and the longer they hold it the more points they earn. It is the remaining players’ duty to in turn blow this person to kingdom come, and as fast as possible. While playing online is somewhat fun it is far from the online experience that games like Call of Duty and even Red Dead Redemption offer. You may enjoy it at first, but you most likely will fall back to the single player mode for the up to four player co-op if you decide to play online.

Graphically the game looks a bit better than the first game. The cell shaded/comic look is cleaner looking than it was in the first game, but most might not fully notice. It should also be noted that the city is exactly the same city as the first one, and the only thing distinguishing it from the first game is the serious ware on it. The game runs smooth most the time, but it tends to slow down at night when fighting off the hundreds of zombies that are on the screen at once.

In the end the game comes off very shallow compared to other open world games such as GTA4, and even Red Dead Redemption. The online is weak, and the single player is short even by the first games short single player. In all honesty I was able to beat 60% of the game while having it for just over a day. I can just not recommend someone to pay full price for such a short game that has such low replay value. The game is however worth a rental since it is a good amount of fun, but it will most likely only give you a weekend’s worth of fun.

$15/$60

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