Pros & Cons
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- Fun third-person shooting action.
- Cool cel-shaded aesthetic.
- Lots of weapons.
- Rewarding leveling system.
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- Still no official sign of the much-hyped cloud computing tech.
- Bad guy AI isn't particularly smart.
Crackdown 3, a much-hyped game revealed at Microsoft's 2014 E3 showcase, is finally just months away from making its retail debut. Like other games in the series, Crackdown tasks you with controlling a highly destructive Agent of Justice with upgradable armor and abilities that help you wreck baddies in an urban environment. The 10-minute PC demo I played showcased many of the title's new features, while an on-site Sumo Digital developer gave me insight into what's to come.
Although Microsoft's E3 presence is mainly to push the company's upcoming Xbox One X ($377.00 at Amazon) console, my Crackdown 3 demo took place on a gaming desktop. Such a happening may have proved disappointing in years past, but Crackdown 3 is part of Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative, so if you buy the game on a console, you'll also get a free version for your Windows 10-powered PC.
Gameplay and Customization
From the brief hands-on time I had with the PC game, Crackdown looks to be a worthy purchase. My demo saw me guiding an Agent of Justice through a cel-shaded city overrun by villainy. At first, Crackdown 3 resembled a Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row game due to its open-world environment and the many vehicles available to commandeer. But your character's power armor, and the upgrade system, convinced me it's more than a mere clone.
This is best demonstrated in the Skills for Kills feature, a gameplay mechanic that rewards you for wanton destruction. Over-the-top, creative, and accurate kills give you additional weapons (I toted a heat-seeking missile and a shotgun, among other projectile weaponry) and points that fill your various abilities. For example, if your Agility reaches level 5, you can perform Hulk-like super-jumps from rooftop to rooftop. I really enjoyed leaping from a roof, dashing through the air, and popping mooks from above with my pistols.
That said, the enemies didn't seem particularly smart; I had no problem mowing them down like sitting ducks once I became acclimated to the control scheme. Besides third-person shooting, Crackdown 3 includes melee combat, but it didn't feel quite as satisfying as shooting a gun.
If you view Crackdown 3's official E3 trailer (above), you know that Terry Crews—yes, notable PC gamer, artist, and actor Terry Crews—stars in the game as Commander Jaxon. Crackdown has 10 playable male characters and, for the first time, 10 playable female characters. A Sumo Digital developer stated that more characters would be released after the game launches.
Specs and Tech
Crackdown 3 will run at 4K resolution and feature 30 frames-per-second gameplay out of the box on PC and Xbox One X. If you plan to pick up Crackdown 3 for the Xbox One S , expect the game to output to 1080p resolution and 30 frames-per-second action. The game will feature a single-player campaign and a four-player cooperative mode.
If you've followed Crackdown 3's development, you'll remember how Microsoft planned to use the power of the cloud to produce destructible environments. That tech wasn't on display in the build I played, but I was told that more information about that is coming down the line. I suspect it'll make an appearance in the upcoming competitive multiplayer mode, based on very vague responses I received from a Sump Digital developer.
Coming Soon
Crackdown 3 is a Xbox One X launch game, so you can pick it up on Nov. 7 on that system, as well as on PC or Xbox One S. It's available for pre-order right now, but as we've said many time in the past, be wary of pre-ordering video games.
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