CrackDown. Ms answer to GTA?

[Ugunnalose]

September 28, 2005 - The cat's at last been let out of the bag on Real Time Worlds' upcoming console plans. First mentioned late last night here at IGN, the mysterious new Xbox 360 title Crackdown is the second game announced by the startup developer, and it's being made for the Xbox 360 to be published by Microsoft some time next year. The Japanese name for the title is Riot Act.


First, some background in case you haven't been keeping up. Real Time Worlds is a Scottish development house formed by former Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings developers including David Jones, the founder of DMA Design. The company was formed back in 2003 but waited until this year to make its first major move, the announcement of All Points Bulletin for both the PC and Xbox 360.
Based on what we've heard so far, Crackdown seems like a futuristic, next-generation, online Grand Theft Auto. You play as a super-human agent assigned to take out the filth that has starting filling up all corners of your city. The city's thousands of gangsters have grouped together into three criminal organizations: Cai-Shen Corp, an Asian gang that uses hitmen to extract revenge, The Volk, a Russian gang that specializes in guns, and La Muerta, a Spanish group that loves cars. Your overall goal as an agent is to defeat the bosses of these organizations, bringing peace to the city.

Real Time Worlds is fitting Crackdown with a realistic game world that offers plenty of freedom to the player. The game's massive city features full day-night cycles and can be explored freely, all the way up to the upper floors of the tall buildings. The city is filled with thousands of characters besides yourself, some good and some bad. You'll also find vehicles, from giant tractors to standard automobiles, all of which can be driven. As an agent, you also have your very own car from the start.

We don't know too much about the gameplay in Crackdown yet, but Real Time Worlds seems to be concentrating on reality in this area as well. Your character, who can be customized in sex and form, grows based on your actions, with statistics tracked for such areas as strength movement, running, gun handling and driving technique. Hit an enemy, for instance, and your character's strength rises. You can even get strong enough to pick up and toss cars (remember, you're not an ordinary human being).

Your interaction with enemies also has some depth to it. Instead of simply taking out your enemies directly, you can weaken them by gutting off their supply of guns and vehicles. Doing so will reduce the enemy's gun and vehicular strength and increase yours in return.

Online play is also being worked into Crackdown. Currently, we know of two Online modes: cooperative play and multi play. In cooperative mode, you and a single friend work together via Xbox Live. Multi-play mode is being kept under wraps for now, so we can only imagine what it will turn out to be.

Surprisingly, this update comes our way not from a European source, nor an American one. Japan's weekly Famitsu got the scoop on Crackdown, including an interview with Jones, who's serving as the game's producer. With a Japanese publication getting a first look at a game that's obviously being made for Western audiences, we suspect that screenshots and details should come our way as well, shortly. Stay tuned to IGN for more in the near future!

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