Crackdown 3

Looking forward to having a go of this Friday as going to be on gamepass. Anyone else care?

I don't know much about it to be honest. It doesn't seem to have got much in the way of coverage (apart from the early reveal, and I assume all the cloud-based physics rendering has been quietly dropped since then) so my interest is based purely upon playing and loving the original game over a decade ago.

I'll keep an eye on reviews and consider getting the PC version if it looks like it's worth a shot.

I'm interested to see the reaction to this, but can't say I'm particularly excited about having a go myself. The first game was bottled lighting which the sequel totally failed to recapture.

I've got my fingers crossed this one manages to keep the chaotic spirit of the original without over-Ubisofting the map.

I assume all the cloud-based physics rendering has been quietly dropped since then

It's been shunted into a multiplayer-only arena mode, though I have a vague recollection that it was never intended to appear in the single-player campaign.

The sequel was a quick and dirty job though wasn't it, reusing the same map and generally just getting something out there to make a quick buck without really ever trying to be a proper follow-up? It's one of those cases where its simple existence has actually harmed the franchise. If this was Crackdown 2, the first we'd seen of the game since the excellent original, I think this would have a lot more hype behind it.

Open-world games have come a LONG way in the last ten years though so this will either be charmingly anachronistic or nothing like the original.

The sequel was a quick and dirty job though wasn't it, reusing the same map and generally just getting something out there to make a quick buck without really ever trying to be a proper follow-up?

Pretty much. Ruffian were given a year to push it out, though ended up taking 18 months or so; the map is broadly the same, though with reduced geometry to allow for the crowds of zombies and expanded underground areas.

I'd also say Crackdown 2 didn't just hurt the franchise, it was a real blow to Ruffian as a studio - they were formed to make a sequel to Crackdown, and the lacklustre thing they released was not a great start to their story and their (public) reputation never really recovered from it.

(They still do a bunch of work-for-hire stuff within Microsoft, as far as I know - optimising first-party titles close to release, adding multiplayer modes, that sort of stuff.)

this will either be charmingly anachronistic or nothing like the original

Ah, the Shenmue III dilemma.

Crackdown 2 had zombies..?

Yeah, the story was something about a bioweapon virus that had been released in the city; at night, hordes of zombies (I think the game just called them "freaks") would come out of the new-for-C2 underground caverns. The missions were all built around distributing a "cure", which I vaguely remember just being a not-so-subtle euphemism for "napalm".

Crackdown 2 had zombies..?

Everything had zombies in it in 2010.

Crackdown 2 had zombies..?

Everything had zombies in it in 2010.

It was the best bit in Heavy Rain.

Are you telling me he wasn't a zombie?

Reviews are out, sounds underwhelming. But Gamespot's criticism does hold a smidge of hope:

The problem is, what you do in that opening section is representative of the entire game; there's very little variety to speak of. Ostensibly, each of the different factions presents its own unique challenges and objectives for you to complete. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that what distinguishes them are only surface-level details. No matter the faction, you're always mindlessly shooting an endless wave of foes as you work your way toward objective markers.

That's all I remember doing in the original Crackdown, to be fair, and I enjoyed that.

RPS pulls no punches:

[Crackdown 3] feels like the Lidl’s own version [of Saints Row 4] that your aunt bought you, not realising it wasn’t the real thing.

I like Lidl though.

Also, John Walker's a miserable old man, which seems to factor into all his reviews. So, there's that too.

Keza's review on Kotaku includes phrases like "what's the point?" and "insubstantial", and goes on to describe how selecting the wrong option when joining a multiplayer session overwrote her entire single-player save. I think I'm out.

Worked on this for 18 months. Stuff happened.

Ignore the reviews. It's brilliant. It's Crackdown in 4K with a stable framerate.

Welp, I've had more fun in three hours of Crackdown 3 than I did during most games in 2018.

I'm not sure what people were expecting. Clearly not 'more Crackdown, but prettier' because that's exactly what we've got. It's like the second game never happened, and it's glorious.

If you liked the first game I'd thoroughly recommend you grab a game pass, at the very least, and give this a go.

I'm aware I'm basically flogging a dead horse at this point – this can be a final post before the thread is left to die peacefully.

I'm approaching the finale now, after 10-15 absolutely joyful hours. If this doesn't end up in my top 3 games of 2019, I can't wait to play whatever betters it. Looking back at 2018, it's easily the most fun I've had with a game in the last year.

(Okay I'm done now. /funeralmarch)

I'm actually looking forward to playing this. Only the fact that I haven't set my Xbox up is stopping me - once I activate my Game Pass, it's the first one I'll be digging into.

I am loving this, it is like the first. Slightly less open but I am enjoying the more funnelled approach of the design and really like the variety of ways they are repeating what is the same gameplay mechanics. The announcer is sneaky great and as a huge Brooklyn 99 fan I am loving getting to be Terry Crews.

The first time Terry yelled "Fuck you, gravity!" I laughed so hard I missed my jump.

I recommend you climb the Science Tower as soon as you're able (bring good guns). There's something at the top that you're going to want to play with.

Yeah that made me laugh hard too. Will have a look for the tower, I tried to go off the path and gut instantly wiped out by loads of super enemies.

This is quite fun. It reminds me of games like Singularity or the one where you threw a Krull at things in slo mo that we used to get all the time. The sort of games you'd find yourself playing because they demand less brain investment than the Witchers of the world.

Dark Sector? Been annoying me trying to think of that. Great game.

Doesn't Warframe tie into Dark Sector's lore?

I really enjoyed both of those games…

I'm hammering through this to try and finish as much of the campaign as I can before my two-week Gamepass trial expires – though I'm skipping all of the cutscenes and usually don't have the volume up loud enough to hear the environmental snippets – and I'm considering getting a month just to make sure I get as much or if it as I can without feeling pressured.

I've taken out four bosses, have hit level five on all my skills, and – with a four-storey vertical leap, rocket-powered triple-jump and two air dashes – frankly just skipping through the air between buildings on the hunt for orbs is joyous enough to fill an evening.

I'm not sure I'd feel happy about paying £50 for it, but it's a whole lot of fun for nothing.

Or pay a quid for a month of gamepass.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I don't think there's enough on the PC offering to make the subscription worthwhile (especially since I own Sea of Thieves already), though if I ever crack on an Xbone it'd be a tempting proposition.

Twelve hours into Crackdown 3 now. Two bosses left. Struggling to level up my driving; I'm crap at the races and haven't found a decent jump-farming spot like the first game's beach.

If you find a good spot to 'drive the spider above 500ft' or whatever the achievement is called, lemme know.

I'm considering just picking the damn thing up and carrying it up a building.

I hadn't considered that but it might actually work.

It might actually be tougher than that – you need to drive it above three thousand feet.

Ahem.

Haha aniki is so wise.

I remember carrying a Smart car up to the top of the tallest building in Crackdown 1 to get that same achievement. It didn't count though because I didn't drive it over the threshold.

One boss left. I think I've only got three or four days of the GamePass left, so it might be a bit of a rush to get it finished, and there's no chance of maxing out my skills at this rate.

One boss left. I think I've only got three or four days of the GamePass left, so it might be a bit of a rush to get it finished, and there's no chance of maxing out my skills at this rate.

Did you not see my PM?

My pass has lasped but when the Easter hols are here am getting it back and mainly to continue playing this.

Paid for a month of GamePass (thankfully got the £1 deal) because if I'd left it much longer I'd not have gone back to take out the final boss.

Despite being a shameless – and in many ways unambitious – retread of the first game, the fact that it's been so long since the last instalment, and how much of the modern open-world template it jettisons, leaves Crackdown 3 feeling surprisingly fresh.

I kept playing after the credits rolled just because I was "close" to maxing out some skills; I've just got agility to finish now, but I seem to have picked up all of the obvious orbs. So of course, that meant another three hours of hunting, with the occasional race diversion.

At some point, though, I'm going to have to look up the story, because I skipped every single cutscene.

late to the party I know, but I’ve been having fun playing this; it doesn’t quite compare to my memories of the first one, with it’s selection of weapons that felt different and useful (whereas this has a load that feel very similar and/or pointless) and a far better flow of spotting the next ones while hunting down agility orbs

mind you I’m probably wrong on that as the intervening 10 years or so have more than likely given it a fictional excellence that it couldn’t live up to today

anyhow I’m currently trying to up my skills to level 6 (I want explodey bullets and fists) before taking on the last target on the map, but it seems to be taking ages and as I’ve done all the side missions I may just go kill her and get it done

I can’t work out if this is utterly shit or completely brilliant.

Like the original, it's an almost-certainly-accidental knife-edge balancing act of both.

I'm starting to settle on "brilliantly shit". Which is absolutely a compliment.

I mean, every single aspect of this is terrible. The controls are bad. The graphics are bad. The sweary voiceover is excruciating. It can fuck right off with all the cut scenes. Poor Terry Crewes runs like he's shat himself.

But it's enormous fun. It completely nails the open world, you're constantly getting distracted by stuff and oooh, there's an orb over there and why are those people shooting at me and I can probably take that monorail station down and I should probably unlock some more supply points while I'm here and if I punch those guys I can probably level up a bit more and there's a car I haven't seen before and what does this weapon do and oooh, another orb. And why have I been playing this for two hours without even noticing?

It's the polar opposite of Spider-Man despite being at heart exactly the same sort of game, it's just icons on a map really but somehow I can't stop playing this.

I'm pretty sure I skipped every cutscene in the thing. I never played as Terry Crews (I did a lot of swapping out agents for the bonus 5 and 10% on various XPs).

I've said this already somewhere, but as soon as you're beefy enough, climb to the top of the Science Tower.

There's something worth it at the top.

I'm beefy enough already and I haven't even played it yet.