Early Last year when I first heard about Crackdown, my initial thought was, “Here we go again, another Grand Theft Auto Clone is on the way.” The fact that the creative mind behind the first two GTA games (David Jones) was leading the charge, only served to re-enforce my initial assumption. Fast forward now to my trip to E3 2006 this past May, and I could point to that event as the date I started to realize Crackdown was something much more than what it would initially have appeared to be. Dare I say, It was the first time I thought to myself that this could be something special. Sitting there is a posh poolside hotel Suite watching David Jones and one of the developers demo the game for journalists, I noticed that both of them had huge grins on their faces as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop unleashing absolute mayhem onto the criminals and citizens of the fictional Pacific City. It was absolutely impressive and left me wanting more.

Last month, Jade and the Xbox team graciously invited me and some other lucky fools to the CN tower in downtown Toronto, for an early look at the final game, and also gave me a chance to sit down and chat with Crackdown Lead Designer Billy Thomson.

The setting for the event was perfect. What better way to show off a game that relies as much on verticality as it does on exploration, than to host it on top of one of the worlds tallest freestanding structures. The game stations were set up around the edges of the windows, so as you were playing you could glance out and see the sprawling city lights below. Having played the demo every night for a week straight before this event, I caught myself staring out into the cityscape thinking to myself that if I just had enough agility I could leap from the top of this tower over to that building, catch a ledge on the way down, and springboard myself across to a bank building across the way. And therein lives the real “magic” of Crackdown. The link between this emergent gameplay of “do anything at anytime to anyone and get rewarded for doing it” has started to take over my real world thinking. Just the other day I caught myself scanning rooftops for agility orbs, and checking under subway cards for hidden ones. Sitting down to talk to Thomson was great. Discussing the game and its roots over a pint with the lead designer, I was able to gather what a labour of love Crackdown really was. The game itself has taken over 4 years to bring to market. From concept back in 2002 to now, it took about 6 to 9 months to get Microsoft Game Studios on board and get the green light. The 360 was targeted as the platform, since the game was way too ambitious to have ever brought out on the original Xbox. Thomson also talked about the great support they got from the Microsoft team throughout development, even going so far as to say that legendary game guru Ken Lobb (goldeneye / Killer instinct fame) had told them that Crackdown was one of the best games he’s ever played. No pressure there, but it’s a nice compliment coming from an industry veteran who has seen and been involved in his fair share of quality games.

Another thing that makes Crackdown unique is its intuitive targeting system. Up until now, shooting in 3rd person games has always been a pain. Crackdowns system allows you to “lock on” target with the left trigger, and then individually target specific areas with the right stick. You are able to pull of headshots, disarms, leg takedowns with relative ease. Thomson revealed that the targeting system has been in the works for over two years, and went through much iteration to get to where to it is today. The system applies to targeting vehicles as well, including honing in on gas caps, and creating moving fireballs out of cars, trucks and busses. A tip Thomson gave is that you can lock onto a speeding vehicle BEFORE leaping out of it. Why would you want to do this you ask? Well, strap some Limpet charges (effectively mines you can detonate on command) to a vehicle, hop in, and drive it towards a group of enemy gang members. Find a jump so you can assault them from above. As your car careens towards its target hold down the left trigger, then press Y to vacate the flying time bomb, then at the same time flick right on your right stick, effectively targeting your gas cap. Just before contact is made, unload a clip from your gun and watch the fiery fun unfold.

Attention to detail was important to the development team from day one. It essentially becomes a game of if you can think of something, the game world they designed will probably allow you to do it. This type of focus from the start is what has allowed such diverse and emergent gameplay to be what Crackdown is really about. Yes, there is a story running in the background, and yes there are side missions such as races and beating up on your friends via co-op, but at the heart of things it’s a game about solving problems any way you see fit. They really wanted to create a playground and let you tackle missions how you see fit, rather than tying you into a linear story. Thomson talked about how the game, from a technological point of view, is pushing the 360 more than one would think. The unique and gorgeous art style art allows you to really interact with objects in the world in ways you’ve never seen before. Everything can be shot, picked up, thrown, and destroyed. Examples are things like tires from exploded cars, bricks, bags of cement, car doors, lamp posts, cement mixers, poles, people, and of course EXPLODING barrels.

Speaking of exploding barrels (a video game staple as you know), one of my favorite things about Crackdown has to be the insane explosions you can create. I have never had so much fun blowing things up as I have playing this game. The system is entirely by design as well. Thomson explained a bit how the explosions work in the game and why people have been able to create such crazy and sub nuclear reactions. Explosive objects have a radius of effect, as well as power rating. Once you start getting multiple objects in a small space, these explosions start to daisy chain into each other, and their radiuses start to intersect. So one small grenade can set off a blast so big you may not even be expecting it and end up getting yourself killed in the process. I asked how many cars he thought I would be able to get into a pile before the game would start deleting them. His answer was well over 40! Add to that some explosive barrels, some mines, and the results are devastating. Explosions in crackdown are the gift that keeps on giving, and a good way to take out large groups of enemies is an added bonus. The amount of fire and debris that reins down from one of these multi-car pile ups is truly next-gen, and something I can’t see ever getting sick of.

Other things I learned from talking to Thomson included :

• They at one point had developed a female Agent Skin, as well as the corresponding animations. At the end of the day, they just didn’t have the memory space to include it. Look for this as a possible Download though.
• Speaking about Downloads, they have plans to support this game well into the future. Thomson hinted at agent skins, a possible new island, new game bosses, and new vehicles. While none of that is confirmed, he did confirm to be on the look out for some fancy new agency gadgets that they may not have been able to include in the game, but are perfect candidates for the marketplace.
• There are only 900 achievement points out of the box in Crackdown, and they plan to watch how the community is playing the game to decide on how they want to allocate the last 100 points.
• The demo was designed to give players a taste of what to expect from the full game but not give away too much. The advanced skill progression in the demo is an example of how they solved this problem and was internally debated over for many months. A demo though was important to the team though, because playing is believing. The buzz the demo has generated is proof of that.
• If all goes well, they would love to see “Crackdown 2” in store shelves in a few years. The foundation for a great franchise has been built, and there are many things they would have loved to include but just didn’t have the time to for this release.
• Initially the team was apprehensive about having their game tied into the Halo 3 beta, but at the end of the day they realized it could help get the game into the hands of people who otherwise may not have tried the game out to begin with. Thomson’s prediction was that a lot of these people would really enjoy the game, so it’s a win-win situation in the end.

Overall, the event was a great experience and it was nice to have a chance to chat with one of the creative minds behind what I predict will be one of the best selling titles of the year. Do yourself a favour, and don’t miss out on this game. Give it a few hours of your time, and I predict you’ll be hooked.

- Jaken Bear