Crackdown 3 (XO) – not Terry-ibly good

The Xbox One’s eternally delayed exclusive is finally ready for release but how has the high-tech multiplayer turned out?

Microsoft looking to buy more video game companies as Xbox fans hope for Sega

We can only imagine how many times this game must’ve come close to being cancelled. It was first announced way back in 2014 and has been subject to so many delays and staff changes that it’s a miracle it ever made it to release. But such a troubled development is rarely a good sign and we can only assume that Microsoft persevered because they were interested in getting the cloud-computing that drives the multiplayer working properly. What seems to have been less of a consideration is how the game itself turned out.



Crackdown 3 is a game of two halves, and we mean that quite literally. Not only have the story campaign and multiplayer been made by different developers but they’re even two separate apps, available from the dashboard. We’ll tackle each in turn, starting with the campaign by Sonic & All-Stars Racing developer Sumo Digital.

The campaign looks and works very similarly to the original Crackdown on Xbox 360, in that it’s an open world adventure where you control a superhero-esque lawman who can leap… if not tall than certainly medium-sized buildings in a single bound. Despite what you might imagine from the marketing Terry Crews is barely in the game if you don’t happen to pick his character at the start, with his alternatives being a bunch of largely mute colleagues with slightly different stats. Although not talking is definitely a positive in this game.


We only wish the two in-game announcers had been as quiet, but unfortunately, particularly in the opening hours, they just will not shut up. This is despite the game’s premise being almost instantly understandable to anyone who’s ever played an open world game before, particularly one using the Ubisoft formula. But then the game’s storytelling tone is odd throughout. The premise and dialogue is straight out of a bad kid’s cartoon, except when it’s suddenly not and you can sense the voiceover actors wincing in embarrassment as they’re forced to pepper the script with wholly inappropriate f-bombs.

The structure of the game is very straightforward: you’re trying to liberate a non-descript island city from the control of an evil corporation. As a result, rather than taking down individual criminal gangs, as in the original, you’re fighting different divisions of the company. Which in turn means that before you can fight the exec in charge you have to reduce their influence by taking out facilities around the map, from environmentally-unfriendly mining operations to corporate garages.

At least at first, this is all perfectly entertaining as the traversal is fun and the game has a wide range of unusual weapons. The lock-on is also very satisfying, although it’s perhaps a bit too helpful as it basically means you don’t have to aim. Instead, the main difficultly in the game is working out who’s shooting at you, as dealing with enemies once you’ve spotted them is usually trivially easy.



Crackdown was always unusual in that one of the main pleasures of the game is collecting orbs that increase your athletic ability. These are dotted around the island in all manner of difficult-to-reach places and they’re a constant, and welcome, distraction from the story missions. Collecting orbs levels up your ability stat, giving you access to extra moves, while other stats are levelled up simply by using them – so, for example, punch a lot of people and your strength will improve.

Crackdown 3 (XO) – the Wrecking Zone is not worth entering

The problem with all your abilities is that the game is never difficult enough that you ever really need them, except for a few specific instances. By the end of the game you can pick up and throw around tanks as if they were tissue boxes but you rarely need to, as your guns and fists are already powerful enough to deal with any threat. The other options are also undermined by some of the worst ragdoll effects we’ve seen in a long time, and this in a game that was supposed to be all about destruction and realistic physics.

But while the combat is overly easy the platforming is often anything but, although again not for any interesting reason. The ad hoc stuff when you’re chasing after agility orbs is great but there’s a number of missions with some peculiarly complex platforming where it’s not at all obvious what can be jumped on and what can’t. An unhelpful colour palette often makes things even worse, to the point where you’re left wondering whether you’ve got where you are via a glitch or through what you were actually supposed to be doing.


From a visual standpoint Crackdown 3 is simplistic and dull, with bland art design and such timid use of cel-shading you keep forgetting there’s any at all. It does move at a very fluid frame rate but especially given the repetitive and overfamiliar structure your interest starts to wander long before the end. Although, like today’s Far Cry: New Dawn, the game does have a two-player co-op mode that’s clearly meant to save the day. It’s fun but, as always, it’d be more fun in a better game.

If you’ve fond memories of the original (even fans don’t seem to have liked the first sequel) or just have a thing for open world games in general then Crackdown 3’s story campaign is a moderately entertaining diversion. Despite the mammoth development time it feels scrappy and slapped together, no doubt the victim of multiple direction changes over the years, and curiously low budget but apart from the voiceovers it’s largely inoffensive. The multiplayer though is… well, we almost don’t know where to start.

The multiplayer is called Wrecking Zone and doesn’t resemble the tech demo we were shown in 2015 in any shape or form. Back then the idea was that the multiplayer would use cloud-computing to simulate much more complex destruction physics than would be possible using a single console. Giant skyscrapers could be brought crashing to the ground, knocking into other buildings as they went, and it looked amazing – a real technological breakthrough. The final product is nothing like that.


We should point out that because of the servers only just being switched on we’ve only been able to experience a small amount of multiplayer, but what we’ve played so far is flat out embarrassing. Not only are the destruction effects in Wrecking Zone grossly simplified from back in 2015 but they make very little difference to the gameplay. If you’re unlucky you can get trapped in a bit of falling debris but the chances that your opponent actually intended that to happen are remote.

There are only two modes – minor variants of Kill Confirmed and Conquest – and battles take place in weird-looking arenas that appear to be floating in space. Even though they’re not, the maps look like they’ve been procedurally-generated, with random geometric shapes dotted around to no obvious pattern. There are lots of tower-like structures that look vaguely like skyscrapers but they’re just hollow columns and the whole thing is an ugly, confusing mess even before you start blowing things up.

It looks and feels like some test demo from halfway through development, which there’s a good chance it probably is. The frame rate is much lower than the campaign, the visuals are very glitchy, and rather than blowing up everything with rocket launchers we found the most effective tactic was just to run up to enemies and shoot them with a high-powered pistol.

Crackdown 3 should never have been released. The campaign is barely mediocre and the multiplayer is a travesty compared to what was initially promised. The underlining tech may well be viable in the future but it should’ve stayed in a test lab somewhere, until it worked properly and could be used in a game that takes full advantage of it. It is possible to eek out some fun in the campaign’s co-op but for what was supposed to be one of the Xbox One’s most important exclusives this is a crashing disappointment.

Crackdown 3 In Short: A tragic end to Crackdown 3’s long and painful journey, with an unremarkable campaign mode and a multiplayer that is a disaster in terms of tech and design. Pros: It is possible to have a lot of fun with the campaign, especially in co-op, and there’s a wide range of very entertaining weapons. Hunting for agility orbs is as fun as ever. Cons: The campaign is shallow and overfamiliar, with frustrating platforming and underdeveloped combat. The multiplayer is laughably bad, with horribly confusing graphics and banal play modes. Score: 4/10

Formats: Xbox One (reviewed) and PC

Price: £49.99

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Developer: Sumo Digital and Elbow Rocket

Release Date: 15th February 2019

Age Rating: 18

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter