Crackdown 2 Demo Impressions

Based on the demo alone Crackdown 2 feels a lot like the first iteration - that is, it feels right. It feels good to be cleaning up the streets of Pacific City once again but for some reason, mutants now come out at night. I imagine that the final game will lend us an answer to these mutants but damn if there aren't a lot of them.

The game is almost identical to the first game. The looks are mostly the same and the same thing can be said for the controls. I know that based on these two things alone, I am ready to jump back in.

My first three times through the demo I earned none of the achievements that the game had to offer and I also did not complete the last part of the mission on any of my playthroughs. I might knock the difficulty down to easy just to see what is after the end of the mission. Some of the achievements that they give you to work on seem impossible in the realm of the demo but I am certain that there are those out there who had no problem doing it.

It seems to be the the Cell are the new daytime baddies and the mutants whom only come out at night are better fought with better caliber weapons (or fists).

The bottom line is that if you liked Crackdown you'll love Crackdown 2.

E309: Joyride and Crackdown 2 announcement trailer thoughts

So all of my hopes and dreams of a first party baseball game from Microsoft were dashed yesterday when the Big Park Studios game that was announced was Joyride, a free to download and play avatar game. Woot! Le Sigh.

The game supports microtransactions in that you will be able to purchase new cars and new ways to customize your cars. The game looks like it will be fun for just a few seconds for me that is unless it is supported by Project Natal - because then it will be like Mario Kart Wii - but more on that later, I am getting ahead of myself.

Here is some exciting news about a game that was all but announced before the Microsoft press briefing: Crackdown 2! It is coming and it looks astoundingly awesome. I'll be playing the original again before this drops and maybe this time I can locate all 500 agility orbs.

The game, as suspected, is being developed by Ruffian Games, another developer other than Realtime Worlds. The reason I have no problem with this is because some of the devs from Ruffian previously worked for Realtime Worlds on the original Crackdown. Excited? You bet I am.

Further Indication of Crackdown 2 @ E309

On this past Sunday's Major Nelson showgram, as outro music and Name The Game music, Larry (Major Nelson) played Crackdown theme music. They might as well announce it right now. The proverbial cat is already almost out of the bag. I am sure he is quite thrilled with himself for the theme announcement and now this.

But seriously folks this is some good subtle marketing for us who follow this sort of thing.

Crackdown 2 Announcement @ E3 2009?

You would think that with all the speculating that I was doing yesterday, that I might have picked up on what I am about to say sooner.

Let me start off by saying that Crackdown, a first party game from Microsoft, was an awesome game. It really got me into playing sandbox games whereas previously, before the 360, I pretty much avoided them (Grand Theft Auto IV was the first GTA game that I played to completion). So now that I prefaced what I am about to say you can probably already deduce what all the speculation is going to be about.

I feel that at E3 Microsoft will announce Crackdown 2 and I can only hope that the original developer, Realtime Worlds, will be taking the reins. Before I talk about that I wanted to say why I think that this announcement is coming: Microsoft just released a Premium Xbox 360 Dashboard Theme for Crackdown. Now I know that is not a fool proof announcement but it could surely be an indication. Think about it, the game came out two full years ago but sure they could just be trying to eek out some money from consumers who dug Crackdown.

The theme could also be a promotion for All Points Bulletin which is Realtime Worlds next game and could also be the reason that, if it is announced, there would be a different developer attached to Crackdown 2. If you did not get that Realtime Worlds, the developer of Crackdown, is currently working on an MMO called All Points Bulletin so if Microsoft does announce Crackdown 2 at E3 it is likely that Realtime Worlds did not develop it.

Now all of this is speculation beyond speculation but it would be nice to see and moreover it would be nice to play another Crackdown game regardless of the developer (provided that they do not f' it up). How about you dear reader, what did you think of Crackdown and do you want a sequel?