Wiseguy
02-05-2007, 04:59 PM
WitchKing9, an Xbox MVP, recently got a chance to check out the full version of Crackdown at the Xbox campus in Seattle, here are his impressions and pics.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/witchking9
What a crazy trip to Redmond to see Crackdown. When I left from Long Beach to go there I had Tommy LaSorda on my plane. Since it was my first time flying in 7 years it made me feel a bit better we were going to make it.
Landing in Seattle about 2 pm on Thursday, I got off my plane, first vendor in the airport? Starbucks! It’s pretty cold up there. If you’re not from a cold weather climate hanging outside when it’s between 30 and 40 degrees 24 hours a day is pretty wrenching. I got made fun of for wearing a pair of gloves the girlfriend got me.
But anyway, on to the event. At about 8 am on Friday morning the shuttle showed up and took us to the Microsoft Millennium Campus. It was again, another cold as ice day up north in Redmond. We arrived in the lobby and were made to fill out guest forms and provide ID to get beyond the door into the office area.
Chris Paladino from the Xbox team came out to greet us in the lobby. Through the doors Chris escorted the 10 of us to a conference room where we were joined by Tony Hynes and John Porcaro. They started talking a little bit about the game. The conversation also shifted what more they could for the community, XNA and how it is going to integrate with Live, and the recent rumors of the second Xbox 360.
About 9:30 or so we were lead into another conference room with 10 Xbox 360s set up to LCD monitors. Craig Evans, who is the product manager of Crackdown stopped by to tell us a little bit about the game as well as answer our questions.
Craig started out by telling us that Crackdown is the #1 downloaded demo on the marketplace on day 1 and week 1 in Xbox Live history. Looks like a lot of you were interested in finding out whether or not this really was the Halo 3 beta game. He went over some features of the game like being able to seamlessly jump in and out co op games with your friends. He also told us the inspiration for the default character in the game was blade.
The game has zero load times throughout the world and 21 missions. Of the three gangs, Craig suggested you try going after Los Muertos first as the Volk and Shai-Gen Corporation are much more difficult areas. He said the game will take approximately 12 to 14 hours on default difficulty. But for a crazy time where it’s just wave after wave of bad guys to play it on psychotic where the game would last between 20 and 25 hours.
There will also be leader boards in the game. By placing your reticle on select billboards in the game and holding L it will display the leader boards for various tasks such as races etc. The game also does have a day/night cycle and depending on the time of day kingpins will change their location.
Of the orb types I saw a new type of orb for the first time which I hadn’t found in the brief time I played the demo. There are secret orbs scattered throughout the game which will increase every attribute and some are so hard to find you’ll have to simply listen for the sound to find them.
Going back to co op it’s pretty impressive that you can be across town in the same game talking without much hit in performance. The co op is also designed so if you and a friend are playing in a game you can’t steal each other’s orbs and if you have an orb your friend doesn’t it won’t show up on your screen so there’s no orb boosting between friends. One thing I did discover though in co op after the fact is that if your friend has a much bigger weapon than you they can drop it, you can pick up, take it back to the agency supply point and keep the way over your level weapon. Your friend will not lose the weapon either. So there is a bit of weapon boosting in the game.
Craig then answered a bunch of questions regarding the game. On the extra 100 achievement points not in the game we were told it would not be 16 player death match. Craig explained that getting 2 people in the world without lag and other hits to performance was pretty challenging and that getting 4 player co op or 16 player DM would be insanely difficult. I guess the remaining achievements are going to be stuff from downloadable missions. There is going to be going to be DLC, what it’s going to be was not really specified but it is going to be free and that’s something we can all be happy about.
You will be able to boost your stats beyond 4 stars to 4 stars and 99 points, after that your stat will become a dash and you will no longer be able to upgrade it. People also wondered if there will be playable underground areas in the city after seeing some of the videos online, and the answer is yes. There are some playable portions of the game that are underground.
Unfortunately, if you just want to *** around with a super character there are going to be no cheat codes or ways to quickly boost your level. You are going to have to earn your stats the old fashion way.
The big question then came up and I actually received and heard an answer that made sense and that I was comfortable with. Whose decisions was it to include the Halo 3 beta with your game and how’d you guys feel about that? Craig answered it wasn’t their decision obviously and it came from above them. However, they were excited when they found out. He continued that he knew the Halo 3 beta tag game was coming, but it really was the only game that could bundled with the Halo 3 beta due to the M rating of Halo 3. I guess you can’t bundle a shooting game with Viva Pinata. The answer he gave actually made sense to me as the first thing I thought when I heard that Crackdown was going to come with the beta was it was an obvious way to boost sales of an otherwise mediocre title, but that is now far from the truth as I’ll continue into the game and as many of you have already experienced in the demo.
We were then given a tour of the XOC by E where we for obvious reasons were not allowed to take pictures. But this is now a man writing who has literally stood inside the very heart of Xbox Live.
After a hearty dose of spicy chicken and rice Microsoft style we returned to the conference room where the 360s were set up to start what was supposed to be about a 4 hour play session of the game. Right when the machines were fired up the power died.
Around this time Larry Hyrb (Major Nelson) showed up. Major Nelson is just someone to have to meet in person. Larry is a great guy and super energetic. During the power outage they took us into another conference room and he showed us an anticipated sequel to a game I am not allowed to talk about. But I will post media and impressions of that game the first chance I get the all clear.
Once power was restored we actually got in to playing Crackdown for a few hours. Tina Wood stopped by from on10.net and spoke to a few of us myself included about our experiences there that day.
The game itself is a lot of fun and I think people are going to throw in Crackdown for a long time to come just to jump from roof top to roof top or throw a car 200 feet at innocent pedestrians to hear “What are you doing agent!?” from the agency voice. There are some features in the game that I am not allowed to disclose right now that you guys are going to be pleasantly surprised with in the game.
I really enjoyed the game but it is not without its problems. No cycling through targets is something that annoyed me since when you’re fighting a boss there are a ton of enemies on screen and sometimes it takes a bit too long to kill one, de lock, move the reticle, and re lock on again.
As many of you know Crackdown could really pass for a sandbox platformer. Numerous times I found myself going toward a mission, then on my way there seeing that agility orb string and plotting the jumps accordingly through the buildings. A half hour later I am still trying to reach that highest one. It’s a welcome optional distraction from the main missions in the story. The optional portion I am really thankful for as I used to take that for granted until I played Saints Row.
Fans of sandbox games are going to eat this game up. The original art style is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise we are going for the most realistic graphics at every turn time period, while not being too cartoonish. Some minor and mostly negligible gameplay flaws aside it’s a blast to play. With the right weapons you and a friend can even have a deathmatch in the middle of a crowded city jumping from roof top to roof top. It’s a game worth the price of admissions to be sure. The Halo 3 beta is a nice extra too especially if you didn’t get in some other means. Also to clarify, only the initial shipment (which is really a vague term) is going to have betas. But its initial in that for the foreseeable future if you get Crackdown you’ll get a beta invite, but if you go searching for one some time say in the Summer you can forget it.
Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/witchking9
Again thanks to Chris and Tony for an awesome time up there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/witchking9
What a crazy trip to Redmond to see Crackdown. When I left from Long Beach to go there I had Tommy LaSorda on my plane. Since it was my first time flying in 7 years it made me feel a bit better we were going to make it.
Landing in Seattle about 2 pm on Thursday, I got off my plane, first vendor in the airport? Starbucks! It’s pretty cold up there. If you’re not from a cold weather climate hanging outside when it’s between 30 and 40 degrees 24 hours a day is pretty wrenching. I got made fun of for wearing a pair of gloves the girlfriend got me.
But anyway, on to the event. At about 8 am on Friday morning the shuttle showed up and took us to the Microsoft Millennium Campus. It was again, another cold as ice day up north in Redmond. We arrived in the lobby and were made to fill out guest forms and provide ID to get beyond the door into the office area.
Chris Paladino from the Xbox team came out to greet us in the lobby. Through the doors Chris escorted the 10 of us to a conference room where we were joined by Tony Hynes and John Porcaro. They started talking a little bit about the game. The conversation also shifted what more they could for the community, XNA and how it is going to integrate with Live, and the recent rumors of the second Xbox 360.
About 9:30 or so we were lead into another conference room with 10 Xbox 360s set up to LCD monitors. Craig Evans, who is the product manager of Crackdown stopped by to tell us a little bit about the game as well as answer our questions.
Craig started out by telling us that Crackdown is the #1 downloaded demo on the marketplace on day 1 and week 1 in Xbox Live history. Looks like a lot of you were interested in finding out whether or not this really was the Halo 3 beta game. He went over some features of the game like being able to seamlessly jump in and out co op games with your friends. He also told us the inspiration for the default character in the game was blade.
The game has zero load times throughout the world and 21 missions. Of the three gangs, Craig suggested you try going after Los Muertos first as the Volk and Shai-Gen Corporation are much more difficult areas. He said the game will take approximately 12 to 14 hours on default difficulty. But for a crazy time where it’s just wave after wave of bad guys to play it on psychotic where the game would last between 20 and 25 hours.
There will also be leader boards in the game. By placing your reticle on select billboards in the game and holding L it will display the leader boards for various tasks such as races etc. The game also does have a day/night cycle and depending on the time of day kingpins will change their location.
Of the orb types I saw a new type of orb for the first time which I hadn’t found in the brief time I played the demo. There are secret orbs scattered throughout the game which will increase every attribute and some are so hard to find you’ll have to simply listen for the sound to find them.
Going back to co op it’s pretty impressive that you can be across town in the same game talking without much hit in performance. The co op is also designed so if you and a friend are playing in a game you can’t steal each other’s orbs and if you have an orb your friend doesn’t it won’t show up on your screen so there’s no orb boosting between friends. One thing I did discover though in co op after the fact is that if your friend has a much bigger weapon than you they can drop it, you can pick up, take it back to the agency supply point and keep the way over your level weapon. Your friend will not lose the weapon either. So there is a bit of weapon boosting in the game.
Craig then answered a bunch of questions regarding the game. On the extra 100 achievement points not in the game we were told it would not be 16 player death match. Craig explained that getting 2 people in the world without lag and other hits to performance was pretty challenging and that getting 4 player co op or 16 player DM would be insanely difficult. I guess the remaining achievements are going to be stuff from downloadable missions. There is going to be going to be DLC, what it’s going to be was not really specified but it is going to be free and that’s something we can all be happy about.
You will be able to boost your stats beyond 4 stars to 4 stars and 99 points, after that your stat will become a dash and you will no longer be able to upgrade it. People also wondered if there will be playable underground areas in the city after seeing some of the videos online, and the answer is yes. There are some playable portions of the game that are underground.
Unfortunately, if you just want to *** around with a super character there are going to be no cheat codes or ways to quickly boost your level. You are going to have to earn your stats the old fashion way.
The big question then came up and I actually received and heard an answer that made sense and that I was comfortable with. Whose decisions was it to include the Halo 3 beta with your game and how’d you guys feel about that? Craig answered it wasn’t their decision obviously and it came from above them. However, they were excited when they found out. He continued that he knew the Halo 3 beta tag game was coming, but it really was the only game that could bundled with the Halo 3 beta due to the M rating of Halo 3. I guess you can’t bundle a shooting game with Viva Pinata. The answer he gave actually made sense to me as the first thing I thought when I heard that Crackdown was going to come with the beta was it was an obvious way to boost sales of an otherwise mediocre title, but that is now far from the truth as I’ll continue into the game and as many of you have already experienced in the demo.
We were then given a tour of the XOC by E where we for obvious reasons were not allowed to take pictures. But this is now a man writing who has literally stood inside the very heart of Xbox Live.
After a hearty dose of spicy chicken and rice Microsoft style we returned to the conference room where the 360s were set up to start what was supposed to be about a 4 hour play session of the game. Right when the machines were fired up the power died.
Around this time Larry Hyrb (Major Nelson) showed up. Major Nelson is just someone to have to meet in person. Larry is a great guy and super energetic. During the power outage they took us into another conference room and he showed us an anticipated sequel to a game I am not allowed to talk about. But I will post media and impressions of that game the first chance I get the all clear.
Once power was restored we actually got in to playing Crackdown for a few hours. Tina Wood stopped by from on10.net and spoke to a few of us myself included about our experiences there that day.
The game itself is a lot of fun and I think people are going to throw in Crackdown for a long time to come just to jump from roof top to roof top or throw a car 200 feet at innocent pedestrians to hear “What are you doing agent!?” from the agency voice. There are some features in the game that I am not allowed to disclose right now that you guys are going to be pleasantly surprised with in the game.
I really enjoyed the game but it is not without its problems. No cycling through targets is something that annoyed me since when you’re fighting a boss there are a ton of enemies on screen and sometimes it takes a bit too long to kill one, de lock, move the reticle, and re lock on again.
As many of you know Crackdown could really pass for a sandbox platformer. Numerous times I found myself going toward a mission, then on my way there seeing that agility orb string and plotting the jumps accordingly through the buildings. A half hour later I am still trying to reach that highest one. It’s a welcome optional distraction from the main missions in the story. The optional portion I am really thankful for as I used to take that for granted until I played Saints Row.
Fans of sandbox games are going to eat this game up. The original art style is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise we are going for the most realistic graphics at every turn time period, while not being too cartoonish. Some minor and mostly negligible gameplay flaws aside it’s a blast to play. With the right weapons you and a friend can even have a deathmatch in the middle of a crowded city jumping from roof top to roof top. It’s a game worth the price of admissions to be sure. The Halo 3 beta is a nice extra too especially if you didn’t get in some other means. Also to clarify, only the initial shipment (which is really a vague term) is going to have betas. But its initial in that for the foreseeable future if you get Crackdown you’ll get a beta invite, but if you go searching for one some time say in the Summer you can forget it.
Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/witchking9
Again thanks to Chris and Tony for an awesome time up there!