Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Crackdown Demo (360)

Much to my surprise, this demo is an absolute blast to play. Think Grand Theft Auto meets Mercenaries meets City of Heroes, and yes, that's as much fun as it sounds. Being able to jump twenty feet in the air and picking up cars never gets old, at least to me.

I've always thought Grand Theft Auto was too grindingly based in the real world. Sure, it's obviously a caricature, but it's a caricature of the real world--more importantly, the worst of the real world. So it's interesting and gritty and (frequently) kind of depressing.

Crackdown is a comic book world. The cel-shaded characters are a terrific idea, because it helps emphasize that we're not in the real world--but then, we don't want to be. Everything is over the top, and that's exactly as it should be.

So create a world that's as detailed (or more detailed) than a Grand Theft Auto game, make it a living comic book, and make your character a cybercop who has superhero abilities that will grow more powerful as you play. I'm in.

If the demo is truly representative of the full game, this should be a huge hit. Huge.

Site Meter