Any Qt3ers still playing Crackdown?

[Papageno]

I just bought my first 360 and got Crackdown used. Got my free month of Live Gold and my tag is FreshQu33blets --I hope someone here at Qt3 is still up for playing it. Let me know your Gamertag so I can look out for it if I'm playing and you message me. Thanks.

[Lizard_King]

Done. LIZRDKNG. Always up for some Crackdown, although I've never tried the coop.

[Marcin]

Qorgyle. I'd be up for getting some co-op challenges done, and I still have 2 stars to raise up to 5. I'm kinda obsessed with skate right now though, so if I don't reply it means I'm THIS close to landing a tricky line :P

[Zuwadza]

I just picked this up a couple days ago actually. I'm still playing Episode 2 and Oblivion a lot now, and GHIII soon, but I'll be playing this occasionally.

[Ergo]

I still play from time to time.

<-----gamertag

[Talisker]

I just ordered a used copy, so I should be playing it in a few days; I'm adding the people in this thread to my friends list (look for friend req's from SheepSalad).

[BlueJackalope]

I never played Crackdown, probably in reaction to Repo's spastic over-reaction, but I'm in Stumptown and play all kinds of stuff. Always good to add someone in the same time zone.

Bluejackalope

[Crater]

It's been ages, but I've kept my copy around so that I can get the "beat all the bosses on the hardest difficulty" acheivement, which pretty much requires another player.

If anyone wants to give it a shot, look me up some time.

[Moore]

I'd play if it worked. Note if you play with someone with the expansion, you can use all the normally pay for goodies.

[Moggraider]

Crackdown is fun, though when I did play online it was kind of laggy. I hope they release a sequel with a better presentation and longer playtime eventually.

[Lizard_King]

An ending would have been nice.

[fuzzyslug]

I still play occasionally, mostly because I have yet to finish off the last area. Feel free to toss an invite my way.

[Aleck]

I'm up for a game pretty much any time you see me online.

[Islanti]

It's good stuff. I'd be up for some more games. I have a ton of achievements from the expansion to get.

[DustyTheHamster]

If you see me around always happy to help with co-op stuff.

[DoomMunky]

I'm up for this too, though I'll have to upgrade to Gold. I just borrowed my friend's 360, so I can finally play this sweetness! Nice! Look me up for some coop some time: I'm DoomMunky2000

[ElGuapo]

Me too, I'll play whenever. I love that game.

What do you mean, if it worked, Moore? We've played that together before.

ELGUAPODC

[James Gutierrez]

I'm in. Gamertag = Tristero

[Moore]

Me too, I'll play whenever. I love that game.

What do you mean, if it worked, Moore? We've played that together before.

ELGUAPODC


I'm waiting for another coffin Guap. The current threeshitty eats discs for breakfast.

[DoomMunky]

Yay. Had a great time playing with Dusty the Hamster last night, but I'd only just started the game (two of the lesser bosses down) and he's running around with the rocket launcher, which I haven't even seen. Cue him running at the bad guys, punching fools in the face, while I run along behind him, trying not to die and falling off lots of cliffs.

Good times, Dusty! I'm getting a headset tonight!

[Talisker]

If you're just getting started, yeah, people with a couple stars in each skill will run circles around you. Doesn't take too long to get your first couple stars in most skills though. Especially if you're a total orb whore like me.

[Lizard_King]

I've only beaten the main storyline once, and apart from a few meandering deviations to orb whore, I four starred everything except driving (I shake my fist at you, driving). If only throwing cars at people's faces counted as driving.

I never did any of the races apart from 1 or 2 foot races, and made no particular effort other than killing a lot of people for no reason. You should catch up in no time, especially with coop boss fighting.

[RickH]

I've only beaten the main storyline once, and apart from a few meandering deviations to orb whore, I four starred everything except driving (I shake my fist at you, driving).

Snag a bus and kill kill kill. Also, stunts deliver the mini-orbs, too.

[Lizard_King]

Oh, and I don't know if people have tried the expansion weapons yet. The invisibility could be useful, I'm just not that kind of player. The minigun could be useful, but I lack the patience. The instant gratification of my M249 knock off is still king for primary. Using that as a virtual sniper rifle while I hurtle over enemies is what I like.
The new grenade launcher is bizarre. I want to fall in love with its ammo count, but there was something groovy about the straightforward death lobbing and blast sizes of the older ones.

Anyone have tips with respect to getting more out of the new weapons? Did I miss one?

[RickH]

Anyone have tips with respect to getting more out of the new weapons? Did I miss one?

I think there's a reason they weren't in the original set. The chain gun in particular seems uselss with its start-up time. Not enough ammo or damage for the harpoon gun.

[Lizard_King]

Yeah. :( But at least I have someone even uglier than my previous favorite to be my avatar.

[DoomMunky]

You should catch up in no time, especially with coop boss fighting.

I was actually a little bummed to take out the mini-bosses, as it felt like I was running through the game! I've never played it before, and last night was my second time in, so I'm still learning how to play. Playing with a Qt3er felt like cheating for some reason. I think when I have a headset it'll be better, as we can coordinate, and setting the difficulty to the highest will help too.

And I'm the definition of Orb Whore. I am entirely happy running around rooftops so far, and watching my jumping get higher and higher makes me happier than is reasonable. My brother couldn't care less about this game, and I keep going 'watch, watch!' as I leap around and he rolls his eyes.

I just learned how to use the Limpet mines. Holy crap those are rad. I like to load up an object, toss it into the middle of a bunch of dudes and then detonate it. Nothing like watching the flaming bodies fly up and out, and getting strength points for the object impact.

[Lizard_King]

I was actually a little bummed to take out the mini-bosses, as it felt like I was running through the game! I've never played it before, and last night was my second time in, so I'm still learning how to play. Playing with a Qt3er felt like cheating for some reason. I think when I have a headset it'll be better, as we can coordinate, and setting the difficulty to the highest will help too.

Well, that depends. I had little trouble completing the main storyline on the normal difficulty, and I can see how that would feel cheesy. But my goal now is the next level up, where I suspect even coop might be a bit of a struggle at times, especially if both characters aren't generally maxed out.

I don't know about the highest difficulty setting, that might be a little much for me. The lack of a safe haven or retreat point 90% of the time can get really out of hand really fast.

The headset is pretty key, if only for mocking each other in accidental friendly fire incidents. I don't know how online could be done otherwise.

[Talisker]

The new grenade launcher is bizarre. I want to fall in love with its ammo count, but there was something groovy about the straightforward death lobbing and blast sizes of the older ones.
I love the lobber -- lock on your target, he ducks back behind a wall, and the shells come still swooping down on 'im.

[Lizard_King]

I love the lobber -- lock on your target, he ducks back behind a wall, and the shells come still swooping down on 'im.
I have about a 60/40 success rate with ducking, especially under roofs when shooting from above, that the massive explosions of the other launchers tend to avoid. Still, nothing that more trigger pulling can't fix, and that is what it all comes down to. I think I prefer launchers as an "I need to clear that area of 20 guys right now" option every now and then versus a souped up regular weapon like the feel of the lobber.

[Rock8man]

I don't know about the highest difficulty setting, that might be a little much for me. The lack of a safe haven or retreat point 90% of the time can get really out of hand really fast.

What you're saying is true. But I have to admit that I had a blast with the game on the hardest difficulty. Truthfully, I haven't tried the game on any of the lower difficulty levels yet. I've beaten the game on the hardest difficulty by myself, and once with my brother who lived across the country from me at the time.

When you're by yourself, the hardest difficulty can be a real pain sometimes, but its also strangely addictive. When some place is really well guarded, and you just can't get in and beat the boss, it sometimes becomes an interesting tactical game. Which buildings do you approach from? Which angles give you the biggest advantage? At what point do you actually go charging in and try to find the boss? Or should you hold back and keep killing them until you see a bigger opening?

Anyway, from what my brother has told me, it's an entirely different game on the lower difficulties, but since I haven't tried the lower difficulties yet, I can't say for sure whether its a better game or not. But I do recommend trying out the highest difficulty if you're going to play Co-op. Every boss battle is very do-able if there's two of you.

So why am I planning on trying the lower difficulties one of these days? Because try as I might, I've never been able to get certain achievements like Untouchable agent, where you have to kill 200 gang members without dying. I think everyone on my friends list who has played the game has that achievement except me. And I can only conclude that its because they've tried the lower difficulty levels. By the time I get close to 200 kills, things start getting really hectic, with lots of people trying to come after me, gangs and vehicles all swarming to kill me.

[DustyTheHamster]

I was actually a little bummed to take out the mini-bosses, as it felt like I was running through the game! I've never played it before, and last night was my second time in, so I'm still learning how to play. Playing with a Qt3er felt like cheating for some reason. I think when I have a headset it'll be better, as we can coordinate, and setting the difficulty to the highest will help too.

First off get a mic! and yeah it was easy to tell you were an 'orb whore' when, after that one boss, I saw you start leaping off after the green bread crumb trail of agility orbs. Your agent was rather built up, for a second night of play I thought.

Rock8for the 200 kills on the hardest level, I'd suggest you find a quite place and let the hitsquad bar cool down before you trigger it. It's easier to pick off generic gang memebers on the street and in cars then the hit squads or boss guards.

[DoomMunky]

First off get a mic! and yeah it was easy to tell you were an 'orb whore' when, after that one boss, I saw you start leaping off after the green bread crumb trail of agility orbs. Your agent was rather built up, for a second night of play I thought.

I can't help it, man. The green orbs, they need me! I can hear them calling to me!

And now I'm mic'd, y'all, and ready for more destruction. I even played with a randomite online last night. I gotta say, after years of PC gaming and more than 250 hours in BF2, I'm amazed by the ease of use and the depth of options in XBL and the co-op offerings of this game. It makes it truly easy and fun to dive into a game with a stranger, with the only risk being the other person's personality.

Cool, cool stuff.

[Talisker]

I gotta say, after years of PC gaming and more than 250 hours in BF2, I'm amazed by the ease of use and the depth of options in XBL and the co-op offerings of this game.
I take it you haven't picked up Halo3 yet.

[Moore]

or gears!

[ElGuapo]

Or Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Mmmmm. I may have to go on a terrorist hunt later tonight.

[DoomMunky]

This is actually my first in-depth exposure to a 360. I'm borrowing a friend's for a while, mainly so I can play Crackdown. I've got Gears and Dead Rising, too (but I'm afraid of DR's save system).

Regardless, the ease of use of the online stuff is basically brilliant, especially after using years of cludgy PC systems, most of them game-specific. So if you see me playing Crackdown, know that I'm an orb-whoring co-op noob who's running around wide-eyed going, "You mean you're in my game too?? WOW!"

[Moore]

DR's save system is basically "go save in a bathroom" none are more than 5 minutes away, it's just that you only get ONE save, and you CAN actually take too long, to say, find some medicine for another survivor and end up messing up the story with their death (seriously, you can end up with NO more storyline missions) I liked that, myself. It doesnt give you a game over, you can survive and end the game still, rescue pepole etc... but you dont get to figure out the mystery behind the outbreak. Since the game is made to replay over and over with your levelled up character, it works nicely, you get more story the 'better' you do.

Nothing to be afraid of.

[Papageno]

BTW, a couple of questions about Live-- one Crackdown specific-- When I select "Invite a Friend" in one of Crackdown's menus (I suppose it's under Options), nothing seems to happen--it doesn't prompt me for picking someone in my friends list.

Also, is the only way to adjust the Personal Settings (where you pick your status like Away, Busy, Online, etc.) when you hit the guide button (the big green X) while in a game? It's not available from the dashboard, apparently, which makes no sense to me.

[Lizard_King]

BTW, a couple of questions about Live-- one Crackdown specific-- When I select "Invite a Friend" in one of Crackdown's menus (I suppose it's under Options), nothing seems to happen--it doesn't prompt me for picking someone in my friends list.
Perhaps it only picks out people with Crackdown inserted and active at the same time? Andrew and I had no problem connecting, but we both had the disc inserted at the time and ready to go. IIRC, he just joined my game without needing an invite or anything, the game just asked me yes or no.

DR's save system seems punishing at first, but only for your first playthrough, where you might be trying to accomplish the main storyline. It gets progressively easier to manage once you get the hang of basic movement through crowds and quick bathroom ID.

[JPR]

I'm finding Crackdown to be a lot of fun. I played it for the first time tonight and enjoyed myself quite a bit. I ended up doing the same thing that I usually do in Grand Theft Auto -- camping out on a highway and blowing up people's gas tanks until there is a pile of 50 cars in front of me.

[Talisker]

Argh, can't find my last two agility orbs -- I'm stuck at 498/500.

[Papageno]

Hey Andrew, good game last night. Sorry to hear you're still stuck at 498. I suppose there must be a list of all the locations somewhere that you could print out? Doesn't Gamefaqs have anything?

[Rock8man]

The main problem with being stuck at 498 is that any guide or map can't really help you. You don't know where you've been, or where you haven't checked yet. At least, not most of the time. It could be that you look at a map (http://www.achieve360points.com/txt/c/Crackdown_Agility_Orbs.jpg) and instantly recognize an area where you thought there would be no orbs, but that's pretty unlikely.

I was stuck at 495 for the longest time. And then I finally found an area of buildings that I'd never scaled for some reason. I found them while being methodical about what areas I'd searched, and searching all the buildings again.

The beauty of the Agility Orbs is that they're all out in the open. There are no hidden agility orbs that I can remember. Every single one is out for everyone to see, very obvious if you're looking for one. So to find it you just have to go to the right area, and it'll be super obvious once you finally get there.

The other part that rocks about Agility orbs is that I always had fun looking for them. I was never frustrated with my search. Jumping around from building to building is Crackdown's bread and butter. They got it so right. And that's why the search for Agility orbs never got old for me. When I finally found them all, I was a tad bit disappointed actually, since the search was over.

[DoomMunky]

I wish you could reset Agility orbs too, and find them all over again, and get 8 stars in Agility. Jesus.

[Talisker]

Yeah, I've looked at one of the orb maps and tried double-checking stuff, but I still haven't found 'em. Not too worried about it though, as it's still fun to go leaping around the city. That, and I talked a couple friends into picking up used copies of the game, so there's a good chance I'll find 'em while playing through stuff co-op :)

[RickH]

The main problem with being stuck at 498 is that any guide or map can't really help you. You don't know where you've been, or where you haven't checked yet. At least, not most of the time. It could be that you look at a map (http://www.achieve360points.com/txt/c/Crackdown_Agility_Orbs.jpg) and instantly recognize an area where you thought there would be no orbs, but that's pretty unlikely.

I was stuck at 495 for the longest time. And then I finally found an area of buildings that I'd never scaled for some reason.

I was in the excat same boat. I thought I'd been everywhere, but when one of my kids reset the crime bosses and I was re-killing them, I found a couple of blocks in the Shai-gen territory I'd somehow never explored. There they were, right out in the open.

But no guide could have ever told me where my last 6 orbs were.

[Papageno]

Well, the best type of guide in cases like that is one that not only shows you the spot on a 2D map, but also a screenshot. I know that's how I found all the tags in GTA San Andreas. Of course, there were only one hundred tags, not five hundred.

[Marcin]

I wish you could reset Agility orbs too, and find them all over again, and get 8 stars in Agility. Jesus.

Try the Keys To The City mode from the Downloadable. It has a SuperStrength and SuperAgility boost that would clock in at around 8 stars (or maybe more) if that was obtainable through regular means.

Note that 8-star agility makes you run so fricking fast that the screen FOV changes to wide angle which may induce nausea :D

[Lizard_King]

Well, the best type of guide in cases like that is one that not only shows you the spot on a 2D map, but also a screenshot. I know that's how I found all the tags in GTA San Andreas. Of course, there were only one hundred tags, not five hundred.
I have that guide. But my memory + pages of tiny screenshots does not really pan out that well. Plus I just realized how much better driving gets at 3 stars, and it takes all of my efforts to focus on getting that to 4. Jumping SUVs and machine gun equipped sportscars sound like ten kinds of awesome for the races.

[jerri blank]

I thought reviving this thread would be better than starting a new one so that I can ask this really stupid, nerdy, dorky, stupid question. I know how dorky it is, but if I can't ask it in front of a bunch of game designers/programmers/writers/fellow enthusiasts, I might as well not bother. So here goes.

The NPC AI in Crackdown isn't great, but it's very interesting. Are the vehicles also programmed with AI, or are the NPCs actually "driving" them? I've wondered this because fearful NPCs (i.e. the ones whose car trunks I'm riding on) appear to be very bad drivers, and I didn't know whether to attribute this to the NPCs or the cars themselves.

Sorry for the stupid, nerdy, dorky, stupid question.

[ProStyle]

I'll be adding some of you in this thread, this game is some of the most fun I've had on XBL. My only complaints would be that they should have included an automatic option to turn your game status from "open party" to "private" after you deny an invitation. Sometimes you get rejected a dozen times before getting matched up, which would be solved by people simply changing the status of their game to closed.

I played through it on normal mode and it was incredibly easy, so I'd love to take on some bosses coop on psychotic difficulty. I 4 starred in everything except driving and had to respawn the gangs to get there, I couldn't level up worth a damn by utilizing road races and jumps. My only viable option was to get the SUV and run over 300 gang members consecutively, going from 1 star to 4 relatively quickly.

I found I couldn't even get near half the stunt circles with just the ramp + SUV, I had to get 4 star with the jumping ability to nail most of them. Still hunting for my last 5 agility orbs as well...

[McBain]

I will never find my last agility orb. And you know what? I don't care. I've got the harpoon gun, baby.

GET OVER HERE

[Marcin]

I still have 20 points left to max out shooting, which makes sense since I find it the least entertaining and effective thing to do ... and one day, one day I will find the remaining orbs. It's the game I can't sell because even though I've played it through 3 times already, I still have those damnable orbs :D

Wouldn't mind hooking up with someone to get the stunt circles done, since the only way through is to be thrown ...

The NPC AI in Crackdown isn't great, but it's very interesting. Are the vehicles also programmed with AI, or are the NPCs actually "driving" them? I've wondered this because fearful NPCs (i.e. the ones whose car trunks I'm riding on) appear to be very bad drivers, and I didn't know whether to attribute this to the NPCs or the cars themselves.

Umm, what difference does it make? Ped has AI, ped gets in car, car entity becomes AI-enabled, right? If ped is panicked, car AI = panic state. Same difference, no?

[jerri blank]

Umm, what difference does it make? Ped has AI, ped gets in car, car entity becomes AI-enabled, right? If ped is panicked, car AI = panic state. Same difference, no?

It doesn't make a difference gameplay-wise. As someone who has no clue how games are programmed, I was just curious. Sheesh. If you don't have an answer, feel free not to waste your time.

[jerri blank]

I will never find my last agility orb. And you know what? I don't care. I've got the harpoon gun, baby.

GET OVER HERE

I'm down to the last 6 hiddens, I think.

[Rock8man]

I'm down to the last 6 hiddens, I think.

Wow, impressive. I found all the agility orbs, but I didn't get close to that many hidden orbs.

As for the AI question, it basically comes down to writing AI for the car behavior for panic mode and non-panic mode, or whatever they chose to call it internally. Whether or not someone is in a panic is just a simple state. So they just check that state when deciding car behavior, most likely. Someone just got into a car, what car behavior should be used, normal, or panic? Just check the person's state when they got into the car. If it was panic, then the appropriate driving behavior can be used.

[jerri blank]

Thank you, Rock8man.

I was playing last night and always get a chuckle at the way the driver, if you've hitched a ride on his roof, drives all hunkered down with his head below dashboard level. It's a nice little detail. They do okay on the freeway in that state, but once they're in town, they start running into stuff for no good reason.

I've found that hitching on a car is a good way to find hidden orbs since the last DLC turned up the volume on them.

[Rock8man]

A friend of mine finally got a 360, so I insisted he get Crackdown. I started playing Crackdown again with a new agent, playing Co-op with my friend occasionally. I have to say: Damn this game is such a blast. And it is freaking hard. Just trying to walk down the street at the beginning of the game is super-hard. Once you start killing bosses though, the game gets a lot more manageable.

Being a new agent and searching for Agility orbs is just pure bliss. In Co-op, we keep getting split up when we see Agility orbs that pull us in different directions like bread crumb trails that go all over the place. We always re-unite when one of us finds a Hidden orb though. Because those are hard to find.

I'd also forgotten about how varied the environments are in the game. I remembered the office buildings and apartment buildings, but I'd forgotten about the valleys and tunnels and beaches and funland amusement park and rocky little islands and windmill farms and the awesome Lighthouse. We took the Lighthouse together. It took a long time of working together, trying to use a combination of sniping and grenades. So awesome.

I know one of the instincts fostered by 360 Achievements is the sense that you should finish a game and move on, but I'd encourage people to transfer their old characters to a memory card like I did, and start over with a new agent in Crackdown some time. It's totally worth it.

[Staff Sergeant]

Really? I'm back into this game too since a friend just started playing it and wanted me to play with him, but my old maxed out character is on my old gamertag, so I had to start over. I really wish I could just import him in and skip all the level-up grinding that has to be done before you truly feel powerful.

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm with Rock8man on this one, the leveling up process for your character in Crackdown never felt like a grind to me. I speak as someone who has almost no patience with rpgs for this very reason, I can't stand starting puny and beating up rats until I can raise levels to become even moderately powered.

I actually appreciate that while your beginning guy can't jump several city blocks in one leap or pick up tractor trailers and hurl them at his enemies, he is still pretty strong and just requires a little more cleverness to get to some locations. And blowing the hell out of/running down enemy gangs never felt grindy to me, just big fun. I really liked Crackdown's method of leveling up.

In the spirit of the original post, I noticed recently that I never got any co-op achievements or the insane run either. If anyone else has any interest in going through the time trials on insane co-op, I'm your huckleberry. Unfortunately I am going to be out of town from this Saturday to the next so it wouldn't be immediately probably, but I'm open after that!

[Staff Sergeant]

I've already maxed Agility and Strength, they didn't feel like a grind at all. But as for Driving, Shooting, and Explosives, I really have to force myself to use them by telling myself that they will be useful once they are maxed. and yeah I know if I don't like to do the actions then I shouldn't bother maxing them but it's just a thing I have in games where if some stat can be maxed I want to max it.

[rowe33]

I haven't maxed Shooting or Driving yet due to my unfortunate tendency to target civilians (and lose little bits of progress)...I can't help it - they just get in the way...

[Jon_Danger]

Explosives was easy... and fun! Fully upgraded, it is so awesome.

[Balasarius]

New 360 Crackdown Theme available!

http://kotaku.com/5255206/xbox-360-gets-crackdown-theme

Looks nice, love me some CRACKDOWN, might grab it.

[Rock8man]

New 360 Crackdown Theme available!

http://kotaku.com/5255206/xbox-360-gets-crackdown-theme

Looks nice, love me some CRACKDOWN, might grab it.

$3?!? Damn it, I might actually get it. Except I've still not found any themes I like better than just putting pictures of scenery in the background.

This picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dutchmandre/3063221183/sizes/l/) for example, is just so fucking perfect, I use it as my NXE background 90% of the time.

Back on topic: I'm almost done with the Volk island while playing with my friend who just got the game recently. Still having a blast. I can't wait to jump into the third island again finally. I think some of the best boss encounters and building scaling takes place on the third island.

[ProStyle]

Yeah not too shabby looking, but the timing is so bizarre. I was late on the Crackdown boat and the 2nd time I played through it coop with a buddy was around 6 months ago. I really hope this is an indication that RTW is going to have some juice for us on APB at E3, one way or another.

Does anyone here have the achievements maxed out on this? I was on a quest to do that on my second coop run, but I stalled on the "win every race with every car" which is just brutal. I only have 1 out of the 14 Races to get the Road Warrior achievement, but it is that fucking city circuit on the Volk island where you have to drift perfectly in some goddamn Honda hatchback while careening through alleyways full of 90 degree corners and pedestrians. I always miss the lap by like a few tenths of a second, ugh. I tried to do the Stunt Rings in coop so we could throw each other through them but they were glitching out depending on which one of us was in the car or on foot... really weird.

I think some of the best boss encounters and building scaling takes place on the third island.
Yes, especially when you are a 5 Star Driver and you hop the front stairs and pump the jump button in the SUV to climb up Wang's tower while your buddy hangs in the passenger seat. It took me a long time to figure out how to pull it off but it's sooo satisfying, particularly if you are trying to clear that area for the nth time.

[Rock8man]

Crackdown postmortem (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4126/postmortem_realtime_worlds_.php) is up on Gamasutra. It's a fascinating read.

Here's a sample:

The Microsoft marketing team was initially quite nervous about the visual direction. It wasn't "safe" and was sure to consume valuable PR cycles explaining the game's style rather than substance.

Microsoft at least wanted a catchy handle to hang it all on, but we didn't take them seriously enough, belligerently referring to the concepts as having a graphic novel style. We eventually paid the price when even the specialist press heathenishly branded our lovingly crafted form as cel shaded!

----(snip)----

By the time we reached the production phase, our vision was still a fragmented series of tech prototypes. The actual game, as the then-Microsoft art lead delicately put it, "still looked like ass." Everyone, not just the publisher, became worried that we wouldn't hit that all-important visual bar.

Then came the X05 event in Amsterdam. Microsoft wanted to tease second-wave titles at its pre-launch event. We weren't ready, and everyone knew it. The run up to the show was highly charged at all levels and ultimately, despite producing a relatively solid and promising demo, the wrong decision was made in taking the game to the event.

Not surprisingly, Crackdown was announced to lukewarm reception; but then it was on the media's radar, and from that point onward, we were subject to repeated requests for screenshots that served only to hang around on the net like a bad smell.