Crackdown 3 was announced in 2014 and its finally out for Xbox One and Windows 10. It takes place in an open world, in a city named New Providence, where you are required to destroy facilities and eliminate enemy leaders in order to regain control.
The shooting is designed around an auto-lock on system, but that on its own isn’t the big problem. As soon as you start playing, you will realise that everything about Crackdown 3 feels dated. From the combat mechanics, movement, animations, graphics, mission design and structure; it feels like a game from the beginning-middle of last generation. This isn’t to say that Crackdown 3 isn’t responsive, it just feels like a free-to-play game instead of a first party title. The game gives you a few fun weapons to use, but the design of the combat is so barebones it rarely feels engaging.
Your shields recharge every time you kill enemy, so almost all encounters boil down using lock on, shooting the enemy until it dies and move on to the next one. There is no need to move out of the way of fire since you’ll regain your shields when the enemy dies anyway. There are orbs hidden all over the world that allow you to unlock more abilities which offer a welcome break from the boring shooting sequences.
Moving around the world is indeed fun, as you can utilise multiple jumps and dashes to reach the top of the gigantic buildings present in the open world. Similar to Saints Row 4, there is no reason to drive the vehicles due to the movement options.
Wrecking Zone is the multiplayer component where you compete with other players in an arena with full destructibility. The destruction present in Wrecking Zone is impressive and the extra manoeuvrability makes the action fast and frantic. Crackdown 3’s design, battle system, combat and graphics are all dated. Even back in 2014, the end result would not have been acceptable for a first party game. There is fun to be had, but only consider playing Crackdown 3 if you are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass service.
OVERALL: 5.5
