Crackalackin

You know, I finish building a Biggerboat and think I can spend some time on my blog for a while, but then a game like Crackdown gets my dollars and that idea goes straight out the window. I swear, I can’t really multi-task at home anymore, work has sucked all that out of me.

At most, I get to do two things when I get home during the week: eat (always) and watch TV or play Xbox 360. Weekends are a little different, but again, I have a hard time doing more than a couple things on a given weekend day lately. I don’t really know why other than think it has something to do with addiction. I feel like I get on little stretches of being addicted to a certain activity and that causes me to neglect all kinds of other things. This is no way for an adult to live… I think.

I suppose that’s a larger subject than what this post is all about, and it is all about Crackdown.

I have had the game for a little under a week and I am totally addicted. I’m shocked at how addictive it is and I know I am going to be sad when it is all done (seems to have little replayability once you are maxed out and completed the story and Achievements). In fact, I hate that I am paying attention to my blog right now instead of playing the game. Do you think “crack” is in the title for any particular reason?

I saved reading Jason’s post until I experienced the game for myself, so that I could form my own opinion of the game. Although, by virtue of Jason digging it, I did go get it because I am also no fan of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) games, but unlike Jason, I don’t care if I’m a criminal or not. In fact, I’ve killed so many civilians in the game so far, I’m not so sure I’m not a criminal, or at the very least, an authorized vigilante of some sort.

I too picked it up with the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta in mind, but that too has been out almost a week and I have yet to boot that up (I did download it). Based on the fact that Halo 3 is possibly going to be the greatest game ever when it drops on 9.25.2007, this is very high praise for Crackdown, don’t you think? Of course, I’m not a fan of multiplayer frag-fests and the like anymore, so that might have something to do with too. I really just wanted to check it out. There aren’t any Achievements to be had, so in my now Achievement conditioned head — think Pavlovian dog — I don’t want to play it because there’s no reward. That’s probably another post altogether, but my comments are there and I’ll probably expound more on that here in the future.

In fact, I have a list of ten posts that will appear here in the future. I write that as if getting it out there will force me to do it, but it shouldn’t be forced, should it… well, I’ll write them if I really want to, and as of right now, I want to. It so happens that this post is on that list, so I’m a tenth of the way there, right?

This is getting tangential, so back on Crackdown.

As I said, I don’t dig on the GTA series or its clones. I think the interest there can be sustained for all of about four hours for me. The missions get in the way of what you really want to do, which is mess shit up, right? Well, that’s the not quite what happens here. I think the missions in Crackdown give you a sense of direction, but as Jason noted, they don’t define the experience. The Achievements would seem to define the experience you’ll have here, and for the most part, powering up to a level where they are attainable, or just figuring them out is where the fun is to be had. Ed and I have closed out the first city in our co-op game — I have done the same in a single player game that I bust out when Ed goes to bed since we keep different hours — and it was pretty easy to do. It netted us a couple easy Achievements for the story/mission stuff, but where we have probably found the most fun is trying to gather the Agility and Bonus/Secret orbs.

Orbs power up your abilities for agility (how fast you run and how high you can jump), marksmanship (although it is easier to cap those fool-ass gangbangers), explosiveship-ness-ish (blowing shit up more spectacularly???), strength (powerlifting cars, trucks, dumpsters, etc. and tossing them) and driving, which I have to admit, I hate, but I’m getting over it. I hate driving in games unless it, well… actually, I hate driving games, and this really isn’t one per se… I guess. Well, as long it serves a purpose other than driving. In this case, it is like Halo in that it gets me from point A to point B and I can run over people — why is it always so satisfying to run over people or creatures? To watch them squish or scream? Yes! — and stuff. No weapons on the cars yet, but I guess I’ll get there. I guess it is the stupid racing Achievements I won’t enjoy, but I guess that is balanced by the one for killing 500 enemy with vehicles!

I guess the driving has also accounted for one of my finest, or funniest, moments in the game so far. I somehow managed to ground stomp my crashed Jeep — okay it really looks more like one of those old Suzuki Sidekicks, but whatever — onto its tail end so that it was standing straight up in the air with no support; headlights shining into the night sky. I was so proud of my accidental achievement that I called Ed (over the headset) to come and see what I had done.

So, we are a third of the way thru the regular game, but then some fun Achievements await. I’ll probably follow this up after I finish the game. I’m sure you can’t wait, but right now, I have to go do that eating thing and then hunker down for the two hour Lost finale.