Yet another sequel that doesn’t quite succeed

Title: Crackdown 2
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M for Mature (18+)
Score: C

So far in 2010, I’ve played an awful lot of games with a “2” at the end of the title. Sequels have been coming out left and right as publishers try to cash in on popular franchises. The recently released Crackdown 2 is an excellent example. Just like many other recent sequels, it feels like that “2” should have been a “1.5.”

In the interest of full disclosure I’ll say that my experience with the first Crackdown was fairly short. But even with my limited exposure to the original, I can see that Crackdown 2 is really just the first game with a fresh coat of paint on it. There’s new stuff to see and a lot of little tweaks, but you’ll also find many of the same problems as before, too.

The premise is pretty simple, and it’s also where the immense similarities to the first Crackdown begin. Your character is basically a super cop who works for the Agency, an organization tasked with protecting what’s left of Pacific City. During the day you’ll cruise around the game’s open world looking for terrorists from an organization called Cell, while nighttime brings out hordes of mutated Freaks to present you with a slightly different challenge. The problem here is that neither faction is particularly interesting, making it difficult to feel immersed at all in your conflicts with them.

Repetitive mission types don’t help any, either. The city is littered with tasks for you to complete at your leisure, but the vast majority of these are painfully similar to each other. For example, your character is capable of capturing territory from Cell terrorists and claiming it for the Agency. Accomplishing this consists of holding your ground against waves of incoming enemies while a timer slowly ticks towards zero. Once you’ve done a handful of these, you pretty much know exactly what to expect every time. This completely saps out the excitement, leaving behind little more than tedious cleanup work.

When you’re not stuck on some boring mission, being an Agent is actually pretty cool. Skills like agility, firearms and driving slowly improve as you make use of them, unlocking bigger and better abilities and gear. You’re basically superhuman, and it’s often entertaining to relieve a little stress on whatever happens to be around. Throwing exploding barrels or even cars at people, beating up crowds of Freaks, or making your way through rush hour traffic with a rocket launcher is not only possible, but practically encouraged. The most fun I had with Crackdown 2 was during moments like these, goofing off between missions.

Other unlocks include more powerful firearms and explosive items like hand grenades. The thrill of getting your hands on bigger guns quickly drains away, though, once you realize how clunky the shooting is. Weapons don’t look or feel like they have much kick to them and the reactions that enemies have to being hit conveys the same impression.

The targeting system is a complete mess. Even when pointing directly at an enemy, the game would often lock onto a civilian or some other undesirable target behind the guy I really wanted to hit. It’s so bad that I quickly learned to use melee attacks whenever possible and to avoid using guns as much as I could.

Leveling your driving skill quickly unlocks armored cars, tanks and even helicopters later on. Like so many other parts of Crackdown 2, the controls are terrible here, too. Vehicles feel slow and cumbersome, and actually trying to drive them feels like some kind of DUI simulator. Even so, wreaking havoc with some of the more powerful vehicles can be fun for a while.

Exploration is the other activity you’ll be doing a lot of in Pacific City, but it has its ups and downs. Hundreds of glowing orbs are hidden all over the place, just waiting to be picked up. Collecting these gives small boosts to your skills, helping you to level them up faster. Some orbs actually run away when you get near, leading to some hilarious (and sometimes frustrating) chases across town. If only Pacific City had a bit brighter of a color palette, there might be something worth looking at while you’re out chasing orbs.

Taken as a whole, Crackdown 2 isn’t a bad game. Blending the good with the bad creates a mixture that is, at best, slightly above average. The times when you’re forced to deal with any of the numerous broken mechanics are when things go downhill fast. If you can suffer through the tough spots, then the good parts might just make this one worthwhile.