Now Playing: Just Cause 2, Crackdown 2 Demo
I used to be adverse to really long games. I’d play at best maybe one RPG and one open world game a year. In the last year I’ve played through and loved Assassin’s Creed II, Red Faction Guerrilla, The Saboteur, Red Dead Redemption (and to a lesser extent, Borderlands) and am looking forward to Crackdown 2 more than any man not named Cameron. I was looking forward to Just Cause 2 based on the positive word-of-mouth and fun demo- despite me hating Just Cause 1 when I picked it up cheaply on Steam earlier this year). I waited to get it cheap and in the end got it on PC. It’s a great game in what seems to be my new favourite genre.
And I’m just not feeling it.
So your job is to destabilise the government of south Asian country Panau. Armed with your grappling hook and parachute, you can go almost anywhere, carry out missions for various factions and cause chaos (i.e. blowing shit up). So the shooting is a bit simplistic and the blowing shit up and using the grappling hook is fun. What’s not is constantly running out of ammo, being shunted back literally miles when you die far away from a checkpoint and the generally long travel times, possibly even more monotonous than those in RDR.
After finally adding a wired 360 controller to the mix (a Play and Charge kit doesn’t turn a 360 into a wired controller, merely a wireless controller powered by a wire), things improved. But not enough. It’s just not that compelling experience. And at the time of writing, I haven’t touched the Crackdown 2 demo. Speaking of which, let’s wrap this up so I can go and give that a try.
LATER THAT NIGHT….
So Crackdown 2. Hmmm So I love the gameplay. It’s seems so much more immediate (probably due to the fact the gameplay arena is so much smaller). Agility orbs are back and there’s Crackdown Dude’s voice. It’s like sipping on a comfy pair of slippers. The game doesn’t look that pretty though. It looks rather ugly in fact, but it runs smoothly and that’s more important when you’re pumping as many characters on screen at one time as they are doing here. It’s hard to know what exactly is going on with these infected guys so hopefully that will be made more clear in the full game. Not long to go now…
If you see this article twice, it may be due to some wordpress upgrade shenanigans. Or not.
June 24th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Ah, okay, I see what you’re saying about Just Cause 2. I do agree that it’s a bit silly that you respawn only at established strongholds if you die when not on a mission. Did Red Faction Guerrilla do that? I can’t remember. I also agree that ammunition can be sparse, but when I run low, I just grapple onto a rooftop and make a slingshot/parachute getaway. The shooting action is nowhere near as tight as, say, Uncharted or even Infamous, and I imagine that shooter fans would be annoyed with that. I was a little thrown by the fact there’s no snap-to-cover in the game, and that Rico can’t climb ledges without using the grappling hook.
The physics are still a hell of a lot of fun, though, and I love that the game doesn’t take itself seriously. My favorite activity is luring enemies to a busy road, hooking them to passing vehicles, and then watching them get dragged away. Hijacking helicopters is a blast as well. I I often jump out of them and send them hurtling into power plants or military bases to see how much property I can take out. It’s like a life-endangering game of bowling!
As with Red Faction, you’re never too far from something to destroy or collect. I find it incredibly addictive. I’m sorry it didn’t grab you like it has me. Maybe the next Red Faction will be better.
June 24th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I’m still playing it, I just have yet to wrap my head around how to wring the most fun out of it.
It also doesn’t help that it seems to crash my work PC (where I still spend the bulk of my time on PC games)
June 25th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Finally got around to ‘finishing’ Crackdown. Well, gotta say I saw the ending coming. V.O. could have done without the evil chuckle. I thought for sure there’d be a final battle in the headquarters though.
I’m on the fence as to whether or not I’ll pick up the full version before the price falls. The genre is fun but it’s not as polished a single-player experience as Bayonetta.
June 25th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
crap, I meant the “game is fun” not ‘genre is fun’.