When the first Crackdown game appeared in 2007 – oh, it was a more innocent time! – the expectations were modest, and it turned into a sleeper hit.
Playing as a gradually super-powered police officer bringing down a series of crime syndicates was enormously satisfying, thanks to simple but fluid gameplay, a staggered upgrade curve and the sheer dizzying joy of leaping around rooftops of an open, varied city – complete with a brilliantly subversive ending.
In-game parking: not an issue.
The wheels started to come off with 2010’s critically-shrugged-at Crackdown 2, a game that took the simple pleasures of the first game and overcomplicated them, and now Crackdown 3 is making its troubled debut next February – not the month that AAA games are typically debuted – three years after the first release date announcement.
And the new trailer, with the game’s star Terry Crews, isn’t exactly confidence enhancing. And Terry Crews, let’s be clear, improves everything.
Did… did anyone script this, or did they just make the reasonable assumption that putting Terry Crews in front of a camera would be enough?
And sure, plenty of games have delays. Hell, Red Dead Redemption 2 was over a year late and seems to have been worth the wait.
Even so, three years is getting on a bit, and the fact it’s also going to be free for Gold Pass subscribers suggests that the developers are not entirely convinced people are going to pay for the thing.
The official gamplay trailer suggests that’s not a crazy idea either. I mean, it looks… fine?
And hey, maybe it’ll be awesome, with that deep-etched retro gaming look combined with next-gen gameplay.
Alternatively, since the original game is backwards compatible with Xbox One, you can just busy yourself with that instead. Who’s up for some laps of Pacific City?