PAX 2010 Crackdown 2 Impressions

One of the busiest booths at the show thus far, Crackdown 2 is impressing a lot of people, and with good reason.

I had the chance to sit down with James Cope of Ruffian Games, producer of Crackdown 2.  Though the demo I played was only a single multiplayer mode (Rockets only!), James was very confident that the other modes would impress gamers just as much. He couldn’t detail anything specific but even the simple pleasure of 8 agents jumping and running around shooting rockets up my arse was a great time. And this is with an admitted frame rate and network issue that James assured would be ironed out before launch.

During my playtime James mentioned that Ruffian is looking to make Crackdown 2 more accessible than the original. He understood some of the complaints the first game received, saying that a good amount of players didn’t truly get a grasp of playing and, unfortunately, only spent a few hours with the original. To help this they’ve improved the leveling system and tweaked it so that even those not in the hardcore group would be able to experience some of (but not all) the fun powers Crackdown 2 has to offer.

Also improved in CD2 is the addition of two more players in the co-op story mode. Cope was happy to have accomplished such a task and thinks that the additional two players will really add to the fun that was established in CD1. Even though there’s no specific hero/villain system, he did mention you could grief your friends while you played which garnered a little chuckle from myself. Finally, one of the last things mentioned was the ability to glide. Crackdown had some of the best free fall experiences back when it came out and now it looks like during these moments you’ll be able to spread your wings (mechanical) and glide across the city.

Simply put, Crackdown 2 is getting the BBD treatment (bigger, better deal). More co-op players, an established multiplayer presence, new abilities, enhanced accessibility, a glide system, and even some helicopter action seems to have CD2 headed in the right direction. The game is due out in May and James assured me a demo will be out before launch. Until then, the live footage we shot will have to do.

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