I'll be honest here. For one reason or another throughout its development, I was never really all that enthused about Crackdown, the latest videogame brainchild from original Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones and his Scotland-based Realtime Worlds development studio. But upon playing and enjoying the demo that was released on the Live Marketplace shortly in advance of the official release, I suddenly became eagerly optimistic for the forthcoming official debut. Now that Crackdown has finally exploded onto the 360 in full, it appears that the optimism gained from the demo did nothing but get my hopes up for the finished product to let me down.

The main reason behind my overall subdued reception is due to Crackdown's complete lack of a plot or structure. You play as a genetically-enhanced super agent working for a crime fighting group called The Agency and are tasked with sweeping out three violent gangs that are spreading anarchy throughout Pacific City and hunting down the 21 gang kingpins leading this lawlessness. Cool premise, right? Well, unfortunately this plot never develops beyond the basic setup I just laid out and so it serves as nothing more than a thin excuse of a back story to get the game going. There is absolutely no story to follow whatsoever, unless you want to consider occasional Agency dossier updates a story, and because of that there is never a feeling that you are working towards any type of ultimate endgame.

Instead of providing a set play structure to follow, Crackdown thrusts you into a humongous playground of a virtual world to fight crime in with total freedom, never requiring you to work towards any goal if you don't want to. The 21 kingpins are essentially the game's only true missions, and in full freeform style they can be knocked off in any order you choose. However, it doesn't take more than a handful of hours to accomplish this objective and because the plot is so weak there isn't much of a conclusion to reward you for the invested time and effort anyway.

When not taking down gang leaders, the rest of the game becomes a combination of mindless run-and-gun shootery, epically scaled scavenger hunting and superhero jumping simulation. There are Agency supply points to recapture from gang control - which make getting around the city easier and allow you to stock up on ammo when you get low - various on-foot and vehicle-based races to complete, special hidden orbs scattered around the city to search for and some clever achievements to earn, and that's about it. These activities are fun enough at first, but the lack of variety causes the game to wear thin rapidly. This also hurts the much-ballyhooed co-op mode. Although it's great fun the first time you hop online with a friend and rampage around the city together, blowing the crap out of everything in sight, the realization quickly sets in that there isn't anything more to do in co-op than there is in the single player. In theory, Crackdown has unlimited replay value, but in reality there isn't much new to see after maybe an hour of play, if that.

Thankfully, the core third person gameplay is solidly constructed and easy to instantly pick up and play. Despite a lock-on targeting system that can get hairy at times and enemy AI that isn't exactly the smartest you'll ever see, blasting away at gangbanger baddies is entertaining in a shallow sort of way and a slick RPG progression system infuses a morsel of depth into the experience. Based on how you play (or by collecting orbs and/or completing the race missions), your super agent builds up his agility, driving, explosives, strength and firearms abilities, which then open up new ways to play. Improving agility, for example, grants you quicker running speeds and higher jumping capabilities, while building strength grants you heavier duty melee attacks and lifting power. Except for the enhanced jumping, though, the effects of improving these various skill attributes are difficult to discern. The RPG infusion is a neat idea, but like the rest of the game, its execution doesn't live up to expectations.

Beyond any of its flaws, Crackdown at least deserves a ton of credit for showcasing what is probably the best open-ended city environment in the sandbox game genre, easily trumping any of the GTA games and its many clones. That's high praise, but it's most definitely true. Realtime Worlds has done a splendid job of crafting Pacific City and the jumping mechanics alone, much like the sweet web-slinging mechanics from Spider-Man 2, is Crackdown's greatest strength and do make it worthy of some praise. Leaping from building top to building top across the entire cityscape is an eye-opening experience the first time you play and searching high and low for all of the hidden orbs becomes the main source of appeal (at least it did for me). Every building or location in sight can be ascended or reached one way or another and there certainly is plenty of satisfaction to be gained by finally conquering a tall skyscraper, which usually comes with a hidden orb as a reward (and maybe even an achievement or two).

Harnessing the power of the 360, Realtime Worlds have not only created the most immersive virtual city with Crackdown, but the most visually stunning as well. The draw distance is downright awe-inspiring, especially when viewed from high atop a tall building, while the typical slowdown and object pop-up technical bugs that tend to plague many open world games of this ilk are virtually nowhere to be seen. The scope of the city is made all the more astounding by the meticulous detail that has gone into bringing the environment and its inhabitants to life, as well as the gorgeous explosion effects that flourish as you terminate said lives. Using sort of a super-stylized manga-esque art direction, everything in the world of Crackdown is outlined in black, but unlike full-blown cel-shading, objects and characters have actual texture rather than the flat matte finish typically associated with this form of graphics rendering, which gives the game a distinctive 'virtual graphic novel' visual trait.

Unfortunately, the audio side of the production doesn't quite hold up alongside the unique art and graphics. Nothing in particular stands out as problematic, but at the same time nothing stands out as special either. Weapon and explosion sounds have a satisfactory punch at least, but after that the music is forgettable (and only plays in vehicles to begin with, which isn't often since on-foot travel is so much more fun), voice acting is limited since there isn't any development of characters or story to follow and the overall city ambiance really isn't that atmospheric.

Crackdown gives an absolutely exhilarating first impression, but in only an hour or two you'll have seen basically everything the game has to offer and from there on out the complete lack of structure and variety leaves the entire game feeling somewhat pointless. If you're simply in the mood for a quick fix of mindless violence then this game works marvellously in short bursts and you'll no doubt have a blast playing it, but if you're like me and desire some type of end goal to strive for in a game, or at least a little substance beyond unstructured running and gunning, Crackdown will feel more like a cool tech demo of what next-gen sandbox-style games have the potential to be rather than a completely finished product. The premise is sound and the blueprints for an amazing game are in place, now let's just hope Realtime Worlds comes back with a sequel to fill in its impressive virtual city with more stuff to do.

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).