Crackdown - Hands On
In an attempt to overcome the first hurdle of being labelled as little more than a "GTA wannabe", Microsoft have teamed up with David Jones' Real Time Worlds to deliver Crackdown. Jones should need little introduction amongst GTA fans, there wouldn't be the likes of Vice City and San Andreas without the man who's widely considered as putting the original GTA on the gaming map.
Set in the dystopian Pacific City, Crackdown portrays a heavily satirical take on what life is like in the future. Drawing heavy inspiration from the likes of Paul Verhoeven's Robocop and Starship Troopers along with 2000AD' Judge Dredd, Crackdown finds the world teetering on the verge of anarchy, where law enforcement recruitment is at an all-time low and rival factions rule the streets. In an attempt to bring peace back to globe, all forms of policing have been unified to form The Agency; however, more desperate measures are called for if The Agency hopes to wrestle control back from the feuding factions. Enlisting the work of the disgraced scientist Doctor Baltazar Czernenko, The Agency is taking advantage of his discredited eugenics programme to advance the human race into new genetic dimensions. The result is Agents of Justice, superior to ordinary law enforcement agents in every way; their sole task, to eradicate crime and clean up the streets of Pacific City from the Los Meurtos, the Volk and the Shai-Gen Corporation. Working for a right-wing law enforcement agency where the end is always enough to justify the means, satire is applied thickly and effectively throughout the game and is hammered even further thanks to the hammy tones of the narrator who continuously keeps abreast of the player's action - one of the game's most immediately enjoyable aspects.