An extremely fun, addictive, and action-packed game. If a bit shallow, it's still a title every '360 owner should have.
For the most part, Crackdown behaves like most other free-form sandbox crime games...with one exception: lots of action. The Grand Theft Auto series is known for some great driving aspects mixed with some superficial shooting. Crackdown turns this on its head and emphasizes mainly on the explosions, shooting, and action and gives a fairly basic driving experience. It controls similiar to a 3rd-person action game, for which it gets kudos points for making the XB360 controller feel like an extension of your hand. The story mode (which is essentially the only mode in the game) can be played solo or cooperatively via Xbox Live. In it, you're a supercop clone designed for one purpose: to CRACKDOWN on crime. You're charged wtih the task of dismantling three crime gangs that plague the fictional Pacific City: Los Muertos (a Mexican street gang), The Volk (a Russian gang focused on recruiting European immigrants), and Shai Gen (a corrupt corporation that has complete control of one of the city's islands). You romp around this huge (and beautifully rendered) city blowing up cars, shooting criminals in the head, picking up trucks and hurling them at your foes, and jumping 30+ feet in the air. This is what makes Crackdown so innovative and addictive. You're not just a cop, realistically running around and taking out bad guys in warehouses and high-speed car chases. You're a genetically-altered superman with the ability to leap over buildings, pick up enormous loads throw them forty+ feet, and can snipe heads off while jumping through the air. With this, you can also level up such abilities, being able to collect experience from enemies killed in "strength" (the ability to pick up objects/kick/throw them), "agility" (the ability to run as fast as cars and jump 30 feet in the air), "marksman" (the ability to easily snipe enemies in the head and do more damage with firearms), "explosives" (the ability that increases the radius of your explosions and their damage), and "driving" (the skill that increases your adeptness at handling vehicles, and unlocks special upgrades for your 'Agency Vehicles'). All in all, this superhero feeling makes it just more fun than your average gang warfare game. As well as killing gang members, collecting the various and fun achievements, and doing the superficial street/rooftop races, there are 500 agility orbs and 300 hidden orbs for you to find. These are scattered throughout Pacific City: on tops of buildings, under buildings, on balconies, tucked into corners, etc. These orbs will keep you lusting for more long after you beat the relatively short campaign. That being said, the campaign IS short, but being able to turn crimes on afterwards, and with the plethora of orbs/achievements to collect, this is easily shrugged off.
Graphics:
The graphics in Crackdown are nothing fancy, but they ARE worth some definite merit. The draw-distance of the environment is absolutely huge, and the framerate can still hold up strong. There are some nice bump-mapped lighting effects and relatively high-models on cars/characters, and all of this makes for a rather artistic game, even though it's not up to the caliber of, say, Gears of War, or Half-Life 2 or the like. Sound:
The sound in Crackdown is "meh." There's no real music, except for the audi provided by the cars' radios. These songs consist of rap, metal, alternative, etc. None of them are really anything amazing, though a few (such as "Si Senor") can be very catchy. The voice-acting is extremely hammy, and sometimes you want kill your guide. Overall, the audio is nothing fantastic, but not absolutely horrible either.
Value:
Crackdown is a fantastic game, even with its minor flaws. It being part of a Halo 3 beta package makes that so much better, not only because you get the freaking Halo 3 beta, but because it's very refreshing discovering that the game is actually worth getting on its own. I honestly believe that this game is better than the GTA series in gameplay, even though it's seriously lacking in the story department, because huge-ass explosions, throwing cars, and jumping OVER buildings is just so much better than realistic gang combat.