It's hard to argue against the monumental impact that Grand Theft Auto III had on the video game market. With its wide-open world and do-anything gameplay it forever changed what people expect from games. If a game didn't allow you to steal any vehicle you desired, drive it recklessly through the crowds, and get out and fire a rocket launcher into a cluster of ethnic gang members, why, it just wasn't a game at all! And of course, like all good things, GTA III spawned scads of imitators, some good, some bad, and some deserving to be watermelons at a Gallagher show. Most focused, for better or for worse, on perfecting the player's ability to engage in various types of illicit activity. While this trend certainly attracted some negative press and a fair number of scathing critiques from people who had never touched a video game in their lives, in the long run it was probably smart business for the companies. Anyone who has been to an internet message board will quickly draw the conclusion that most gamers, when abruptly unfettered by society's restraints, will immediately indulge in the most degenerate forms of behavior imaginable.

   While perpetrating gruesome acts of violence against random passersby is all well and good, the draw Grand Theft Auto and its ilk has always had for me is the almost casual way it liberates the player from basic common sense. In real life I never even make a turn in my car without signaling with a directional, but in a sandbox-style game I'll frequently hurl my vehicle off of overpasses, leap out as it strikes the ground, and immediately begin blazing away at my foes with whatever heavy firearm I'm carrying. And to top it all off, I'm rewarded for that kind of behavior! The more a game can make me feel like I'm in a crazy action movie of my own design, the more interested I am. Well, Crackdown promised all this and more, so needless to say I had to have it.

Three brutal gangs. A city in chaos. Go get 'em, tiger.

   As I'm sure you've gathered already, Crackdown is a sandbox style game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto, only instead of spending your time dodging Johnny Law, you are decidedly aligned with the boys in blue. The story, what little there is, is as follows: Pacific City is completely overrun by the forces of three violent and expansive gangs. The Agency (essentially the police), left with no other means of combating the gangs, has green-lit a program to develop super soldiers called Agents. Not only do these warriors possess super speed, strength, and parking ticket writing abilities, but they are also capable of rapidly developing their skills even further. With that said, the player controlled Agent materializes in Agency headquarters and is sent out to face the gangs. If only real life were that simple.

   Of all the Grand Theft Auto clones I've played, Crackdown probably has the least amount of structure. The player gets a very brief introductory movie and is only allowed to roam the Los Muertos controlled section of the city at first, but other than that the player can do whatever he wants. There are no missions, and the only real goal, apart from developing the Agent's abilities, is to eliminate the leaders of the three gangs. Aside from that, you're pretty much free to romp and frolic about Pacific City to your heart's content. And, oh, what ways there are to frolic!

Thank you sir! May I have another?

What's that up in the sky? It's a bird! It's a pl-yeeeaaaaarrrggh!

   The coolest stat by far, though, is your agility. That's right, the stat no one who plays RPGs tends to give a rat's ass about is definitely worth investing into in Crackdown. The agent certainly moves at a steady clip at the beginning of the game, and he has a very impressive leap to boot, but by recovering agility orbs from their resting places on the tops of buildings he'll soon be capable of feats guaranteed to impress even the most jaded of action gamers. Remember that scene in the first Matrix movie, where Morpheus makes that massive leap from one skyscraper to another? A fully tricked-out agent is capable of that and more even before they are done with their morning cup of agro-coffee. Jumping from a massive monolith of a building, blasting a group of gang members with a heat-seeking rocket, then landing amidst their charred corpses to finish off the survivors with a few swift kicks is something that doesn't get old very fast.

   The only drawback to having Chinese-action-movie-like agility is that it makes cars pretty much useless for anything other than throwing at dudes. With the agent's ability to leap massive distances and the numerous teleport points scattered about the city, there isn't much need to drive. This really isn't a big deal, but it does seem odd for a clone of a game that was practically all about driving to offer no real incentives for gruffly dragging someone from their vehicle then speeding away in it. What a shame.

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum. Good thing I've got plenty of gum.

   I guess it shouldn't be too surprising how little carjacking factors into the game, since the agent is in fact an officer of the law. Yes, do take a moment to shudder at that thought. While the attire of most of the women in the game may lead you to think otherwise, there are also no prostitutes in Crackdown for you to spend money on and then brutally beat for a refund either. In fact, the game discourages you from harming civilians at all. Every hapless bum that you accidentally off over the course of the game subtracts a small amount of experience points from the same gauge you would be filling if you'd killed a gang member in a similar manner. Of course the amount is fairly miniscule, and you'll kill so many gang members over the course of the game that the occasional hapless-bystander-killing-spree won't really put much of a crimp in your style.

   Yes, the gangs should easily fill your killing quota in this game since you'll wind up mowing down ludicrous numbers of their members. Each gang is made up of seven individuals that are calling all the shots; six generals and one head honcho. The rest are just cannon fodder and their illegitimate children. To rid the city of a particular gang you have to kill all seven leaders and then mop up whatever other thugs are left on the streets. Of course, taking out the gang leaders is quite a task, as each leader has sequestered him or herself (yes, this game offers equal opportunity killing) in a heavily defended fortress that you'll need to blast your way into. The cool thing about all of this is that you're essentially capable of going about your government-sanctioned hit-mission any way you see fit. You can kill the gang leaders in any order, and each leader's base can usually be assaulted a variety of ways. If you're armed to the teeth you can just crash through the front door guns-a-blazin'. Sometimes you can jump in the water and swim around to the less protected side of the base, sneak in for the quick kill, then leave as stealthily as you entered. Or you could always just climb to the highest point nearby and do a crazy leap right into the thick of things. It's very satisfying to finally find an action game that actually rewards strategy and unconventional planning.

Somebody needs some meat on his bones.

   Unfortunately, it doesn't take particularly long to polish off all three gangs, and once you've done that, there really isn't much else going on in Pacific City. If you switch crime back on, then all the punks and gang bangers will once again take to the streets in massive numbers, and you can certainly have quite a bit of fun duking it out with them across the city. Or you could simply use your superpowers to crash around causing as much chaos as possible. That can be fun too. I should probably add at this point that the graphics, though certainly not pushing next-gen boundaries, are attractive and clean. The fact that everything runs smoothly despite the massive amounts of action taking place on the screen at one time certainly nets the game some points and gives mindless rampaging a little bit of staying power. Nevertheless, the fact that the main campaign is so short (it'll probably only take you seven or so hours to finish, and that's if you take your time and stop for donuts), and that there really isn't much of anything else to do afterwards is kind of a letdown. It's a fun ride while it lasts, though, and the fact that you can fight the gangs co-op over the internet gives it a bit of replay value, as the only thing more fun than throwing cars at people is doing it with a buddy.

   So if you've got a hankering for GTA-style mayhem pushed to the extreme, you'll probably appreciate this game. But if it's GTA's narrative flair and satirical eye that piques your interest, you may want to let this one slide. And then you can go read a book, you dork! I, on the other hand, am going to go grab one of those heat-seeking rocket launchers and see if I can launch a body into orbit. Yee-haw!

       ... Mike Zeller