It may look like just another GTA clone... but you just wish it was.
A skeleton of a game, Crackdown barely has any semblance of plot or context. The game is littered with bugs and poor design choices and plagued by sloppy camera controls... they couldn't even finish the achievement list, as this one shipped with only 900 points.
The premise of the game is that you are a genetically-enhanced officer of the law, tasked with eliminating the city of three gangs. You will be exploring the city using your ability to run quickly and jump extremely high... an ability than can be enchanced by engaging in checkpoint races or the mindless collection of 500 orbs that are dispersed throughout the map. You also have superhuman strength which, after you use it enough, allows you to lift very heavy objects like cars or concrete pipes. Other abilities include your proficiency with firearms, explosives and driving.
The actual mechanics of these superhuman abilities are of varying quality... it is definitely satisfying to jump to very high ledges and rooftops, but this satisfaction is completely eliminated by sloppy camera controls that make it extraordinarily difficult to gauge a jump. The camera often zooms and causes your character to disappear, rendering your exploration entirely luck-based. The firearms operate as they do in any sub-par shooter, though Crackdown features a very nice aiming mechanic that allows you to choose between hitting your foe in one of their arms or legs, in their torso or in their head. Choosing where to aim changes the level of damage that your foes take, can disarm them or knock them down. Depending on which area you target, it will take longer to get a good bead on your prey. Even better, this function is applied to cars as well, making it near-effortless to shoot out a car's tires, put a bullet in the gas tank or just fire at the driver. The driving aspect of Crackdown doesn't fare so well... the cars handle excessively clumsily at early levels, and still to only a slightly lesser degree when your driving level is maxed. At this point, your three agency vehicles get special abilities... one gets mounted guns, another gains the ability to jump and the last gains a boost ability that allows it to plow through whatever may get in your way. Apart from the fact that only completists and masochists will seek to test their psychological endurance to get to a 4-star driving rating, your agency vehicles only spawn in one area... so if you end up boosting or jumping your way into a river, you will be going through an ordeal to get a replacement.
The three gangs you must eliminate are confined to three respective islands and consist of boss, a handful of sub-bosses and countless respawning underlings. The bosses and sub-bosses are only indistinguishable from the underlings insofar as there is an avatar featuring their face next to the health bar that appears when targeted. This saps any sense of drama that may come from boss battles... a lack of cut-scenes and barebones voice acting that involves characters repeatedly saying the same two phrases are just nails in the proverbial coffin. Once you dispatch of the bosses and sub-bosses, that's it. There's no more crime on the island, which leaves you free to complete the mindless collection of orbs, finishing races and jumping through stunt markers. None of this, however, is any fun. Crackdown's pathetic stab at replay value was to include the option to toggle the appearance of gangs in the city and to include a co-op mode to complete the story so that you don't have to suffer alone.
Crackdown's graphics are its strongest suit, with a unique style that's evocative of a graphic novel, which is definitely in keeping with the subject matter. Of particular note are the game's explosions, which are some of the best yet and make a 4-star explosives rating a painless achievement to snag. The game has numerous graphical glitches, including one very strange one where cars disappear and the seated drivers float down the street. The aforementioned sloppy camera angle also rears its ugly head rather often while climbing... and considering that climbing is a core game mechanic, this is not good. Less of a glitch and more of a poor design choice, a large dialog box comes up every minute or so while driving to tell you which track is playing on the radio... regardless of whether or not you have the music turned all the way down.
Crackdown's sound is less noteworthy... though the sound effects are done well enough, the voice acting in the game is distractingly awful. The game features an announcer which will chime in every few minutes with a short list of tips and observations that are generated completely at random. While swimming, it would not be unusual to hear him express that you've made an "impressive ascent" or that he can see his house from inside an oil rig. Enemies and pedestrians have an even shorter array of expressions, with your enemies often saying little other than "die" or "prepare to die". The game's soundtrack features a puzzling collection of techno tracks and latin hip-hop that is probably what is playing on car stereos in Hell. Luckily, the game's driving mechanics are so poorly done, you'll never be inclined to hear it anyhow... but they put a volume slider in the options menu just in case.
Crackdown is a chore to play... what isn't broken and frustrating is mediocre and repetitive. If you're not interested in the Halo 3 beta, you'd be better off just giving $60 to charity so that some good may come of this turkey of a release.