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Crackdown 2 demo impressions

Ok GAF, I've just spent the last 3-4 hours playing the demo using the time glitch. You can continue to do the missions, although apparantly races end the time glitch. I did the first 2 freak layers. There's 9 in total, but you can only do the first 2 because of the barriers in the game. It's weird, because it seems as though the time limit and barriers are the only thing that stop you from having access to the full game. I believe they removed some of the weapons, and the helicopter, but there doesn't seem to be much else missing. You can pick up the audio logs and delve into the story, the narrator continues to describe all of the action. You can also do the missions that you get after you destroy a freak layer where you blast freaks coming out of the ground.

There doesn't seem to be a level 6 to any of the abilities though. I'm not sure if this is just in the demo, but you don't get any boost for level 6 at all. I'm pretty much level 6 for everything at the moment and I have over 150 agility orbs (effectively a third of the game world). I know how much it's going to piss me off though having to go back and pick them all up again in the full game :(

If anyone finds a way past the barriers, using some funky magnet trick or something like that, then I'm pretty sure we'll have access to the full game. I already have objective markers that are past the barriers on the map, so I'm sure that there are missions to do if you can get there. And it'd pretty clear that all the geometry is as well, which is weird because Crackdown 2 is then pretty much only 1gb in size...?!?

Possible spoilers and mission and general gameworld spoilers:
Unfortunately it appears that the only missions you do are in this format:

1. Secure the area with those pads and stand on those pads in order to send the beam of light into the air. Do this 3 times and the freak lair appears on the map.
2. Clear the freak layer and defend the lightmass bomb :/ until it detonates. Mancannon out of that bitch
3. Come back later when the yellow symbol appears on the map and stop the freaks from emerging from the ground.

There's also obvious the landing zones or areas controlled by the cell that you have to capture, i.e. the ones at the very beginning of the demo, but apart from that an street/rooftop races, orbs, and multiplayer, I don't think there's much else to the game.

It seems that apart from the freaks and The Cell, there isn't much else to the game. When it comes to other enemies/mission types, it's possible that these are revealed through audio logs, as apparantly there's a traitor in the agency (you find this out in the audio logs) that you need to find more info on. So maybe a showdown with him at some point and obviously there will be a showdown with the big boss of Cell who's a girl. This is just speculation though, and I really hope there is more mission variety, because it just seems to be rinse repeat from what I've done so far.
 

MacBosse

Member
Jexhius said:
The fist thing that sticks out is the appaling UI - far less clear and easy to work with then in Crackdown 1.

Screw having to get that close to agility orbs, very annoying.

Targeting still not fixed, two years later?

At least night is fun, but I would have expected more since it's been two years since Crackdown 1.

Your aiming sucks before you "level" it up.

It's been three years since the first game.
 

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
Sega1991 said:


I never, ever noticed a difference about the order you took out people and it certainly wasn't anywhere near the same as Mega Man. Ever enemy still got super kicked, and super jumped over and super ran over.
 

clav

Member
Aside from the bland shooting gameplay, I still really enjoy obtaining those green orbs. :D Love jumping to the top of buildings just to find them.

I thought the Zombie gameplay was OK although this game would probably definitely be infinitely more enjoyable with a friend or friends.

By yourself, it seems pretty dull.

Definitely a buy when bargain binned.
 
Kholdstare said:
Want infinite time?


1. Start the demo.
2. Choose your agent and his colour up until you press A to "deploy agent".
3. Disconnect from the internet. I personally pulled out the ethernet cable in the back.
4. Quickly press A after disconnecting from the internet. When trying to join the game is should pop up a menu saying that friends can't join because you're online or something.
5. Hit B to cancel.
6. Reconnect to the internet and start up another game.
7. Demo time remaining will be stuck at 30 minutes for as long as you don't start any races or things like that.


Co-op works too. :D

Alright, so I tried this and it didn't work.

When exactly to you disconnect? Do you wait for the game to actually start, or do you disconnect right after you press A to deploy your Agent?
 

JaxJag

Banned
TigerUppercut said:
I did and I agree with him. It's the exact same bland, boring game I played three years ago but now with the added bonus of it looking worse than the first game.
Did you play the same demo as I?

Crackdown 2 in no way looks worse than the original.
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
-Yeti said:
Alright, so I tried this and it didn't work.

When exactly to you disconnect? Do you wait for the game to actually start, or do you disconnect right after you press A to deploy your Agent?

no dont start the game
after u pick ur color disconnect then right after pres A as if u were starting the demo but instead a screen should pop up saying something about being online then follow the steps
 
It's more Crackdown in summary, and those that didn't get the original will not be won over with this.

What surprised me is how different the city feels, despite being the same. It feels darker, gritter and less garish. The addition of the freaks is great, it adds a much needed sense of urgency and claustrophobia (the original was quite sparse in certain areas, especially at night).

As many of you have pointed out the aiming is fundamentally broken, so hopefully the patch will resolve this.

The weapons are nice, the automatic shotgun (at higher levels) is brutal and the freak weapon is awesome, so much fun taking out a horde of them with one shot.

I like it, no other game since the original has gotten close to the regular 'oh shit!' moments. And considering the development time, I'm willing to ignore any technical complaints.
 

Kholdstare

Member
-Yeti said:
Alright, so I tried this and it didn't work.

When exactly to you disconnect? Do you wait for the game to actually start, or do you disconnect right after you press A to deploy your Agent?


You disconnect right before you press A to deploy your agent.



I just got through with a 4 hour session with a friend. We maxed out all of our characters and tried to get the hang of the flying suit. Ended up playing tag with the UV shotguns and launching each other into the air with the ramp truck glitch.


I'm kind of burnt out on the demo now. :lol
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Sega1991 said:
What, exactly, about my post, makes it seem like I am not serious? A major feature that made the original Crackdown stand out has seemingly been removed and the sequel is worse for it. I don't have to "reach" for anything.
The gangs in Crackdown 1 were tiered in terms of difficulty, which eliminated a lot of the strategy involved in choosing which order to take them down in. The biggest benefit of that system, IMO, is the fact that the bosses existed outside of the mission structure and their locations were not always known. It added some well needed randomness. It worked great for Mercs and it worked great for Crackdown as well.

So I wouldn't mind the mission changes if the game still has some randomness. Because if all the missions in the game are structured and hand fed to you they might as well have made a linear game.
 
I'm watching a stream of someone in an unlimited timer demo right now, and this is pure Crackdown when your agent levels up to 4+. It's SUCH a different experience when you have all the time you want, and can just jump around with a friend. I can't wait for this.
 
Hm a time glitch eh? will have to give it a shot.

Since the demo is only about 1gig big, how much of the island is actually there to play around in? I have not tried to run as far as possible yet.
 

Raide

Member
Thanks for the Unlimited Demo tips.

Just one back for those that are getting stuck. After you Disconnect/Pull out Ethernet, press B to go back. Don't forget to sign back into Xbox Live and then start a new game as normal. I did not sign back in and the game ended instantly, so don't forget to press the Xbox button and log back in before starting up the new game.
 

MMaRsu

Banned
Nelo Ice said:
no dont start the game
after u pick ur color disconnect then right after pres A as if u were starting the demo but instead a screen should pop up saying something about being online then follow the steps

I'm not getting this screen :\

Do I disconnect after it says "are you sure you want to use this agent" or before that screen? And when press A?
 

Khezu

Member
Just played it a for a few hours, at first I was kinda disappointed with it, mostly because its been so long since I played crackdown 1 and I wasn't used to how the game feels and plays. After it all came back though, game got a lot better. It's still one of the most fun sandbox games ever, and the orbs are as fun to collect as ever.

That said I do have some complaints, the neutered explosions being the biggest, CD1 had such wonderful explosions, feels so wrong. Character customization is crap, even worse then then first game, and the helmet is ugly. Also Feels like Ruffian played a lot of prototype and thought it was a good game, I disagree with there conclusion.

Then there is the price, unless there are big surprises in the full retail game, I don't think they added enough to warrant a 60$ price. Personally this doesn't bug me because I rent most of my games, but I think this will be a problem for others.

I find the game to be awesome, but most certainly not for everyone and I can see it getting poor scores. If that 8 month dev cycle is true, I hope MS gives them a bigger budget and time for CD3, It is an awesome franchise and lets face it, MS isn't exactly oozing quality first party games ATM.
 

Feindflug

Member
I don't get all this hate - wtf is wrong with some people in here? I played the demo yesterday and I loved it, my only complaints were the inferior explosions and the auto-aim which gets a patch day one...everything else looks and plays the same or better - the colors are vibrant, it runs great and the improved lighting and water look really nice, it almost has a more cartoony look to it, the city feels different but at the same time it's nice to be at a familiar environment..also there's a lot of zombies on the streets at night - it almost felt like Dead Rising in some areas that were filled with the infected.

The orb collecting and platforming still feels the same which is great, can't wait to play the game at co-op with the infinite time glitch....day one purchase for sure.

Also I hope that the reviewers won't screw up like LP2 and actually play the damn game in co-op..though I suspect a similar situation is the most possible thing to happen. :(
 

derFeef

Member
Feindflug said:
I don't get all this hate - wtf is wrong with some people in here? I played the demo yesterday and I loved it, my only complaints were the inferior explosions and the auto-aim which gets a patch day one...everything else looks and plays the same or better - the colors are vibrant, it runs great and the improved lighting and water look really nice, it almost has a more cartoony look to it, the city feels different but at the same time it's nice to be at a familiar environment..also there's a lot of zombies on the streets at night - it almost felt like Dead Rising in some areas that were filled with the infected.

The orb collecting and platforming still feels the same which is great, can't wait to play the game at co-op with the infinite time glitch....day one purchase for sure.

Also I hope that the reviewers won't screw up like LP2 and actually play the damn game in co-op..though I suspect a similar situation is the most possible thing to happen. :(
Fully agree, some people are weird ;)
About that coop stuff. I played CD1 on my own and it was the best sandbox experience I ever had. I suspect that happens with CD2 as well, but maybe GAF helps me out with coop this time.
 

Feindflug

Member
derFeef said:
Fully agree, some people are weird ;)
About that coop stuff. I played CD1 on my own and it was the best sandbox experience I ever had. I suspect that happens with CD2 as well, but maybe GAF helps me out with coop this time.

Co-op in the first game was amazing - it was so much fun and I'm sure with 3 more players in CD2 will be even better.

About the reviews I already see the complaints about being too similar to the first game, repetitive e.t.c. - keep in mind that the first game also didn't get the scores that deserved...personally I don't give a fuck about the reviews/scores but it seems that a lot of people check metacritic before buying a game and that's why I don't want this game to get ripped to pieces by the reviewers especially now that it doesn't have anything to help it sales-wise like the first game with the Halo 3 beta...it will be sad to see such a fun game to bomb.
 
Notes:

After picking your agent's colour press A once to bring up the confirm screen, then disconnect via unplug and press A directly after before the 360 realises you are offline, press B once it says you cant play with friends online and reconnect without quitting the demo, that freezes the timer.

Only the host needs to do this glitch, anyone joining you will have 30:00 too without having to do anything.
 
-Yeti said:
Alright, so I tried this and it didn't work.

When exactly to you disconnect? Do you wait for the game to actually start, or do you disconnect right after you press A to deploy your Agent?
you disconnect after you press A to select a color, but before you press A again to 'confirm' the agent selection etc. then you press A.

the little [setting up game] box comes up, and then you get the error message where you can press B to go back to the main menu.
 

derFeef

Member
Feindflug said:
Co-op in the first game was amazing - it was so much fun and I'm sure with 3 more players in CD2 will be even better.

About the reviews I already see the complaints about being too similar to the first game, repetitive e.t.c. - keep in mind that the first game also didn't get the scores that deserved...personally I don't give a fuck about the reviews/scores but it seems that a lot of people check metacritic before buying a game and that's why I don't want this game to get ripped to pieces by the reviewers especially now that it doesn't have anything to help it sales-wise like the first game with the Halo 3 beta...it will be sad to see such a fun game to bomb.
There are already complaints about graphics and similarities in the previews. Sadly the reviewers will not get the "aiming fix" and I can already hear the complaints about that too. I am having a bad feeling about this. For me, it does not matter, already pre-ordered. It would be sad for Ruffian though if CD2 does not sell well.
 
Seems about as boring as the first. Some design improvements, but not much different. After the intial fun of the freedom of the original, the game got tired, it was exact same thing over and over again.
 

pahamrick

Member
Can't get the infinite time glitch to work, argh!

Follow the steps, and as soon as I start up another game I hear the whole "Welcome to Hope's Spring, Agent!" and then it automatically goes to the screen for uploading the achievement data, like the timer already expired.
 

TheKurgan

Member
I wasn't that impressed with the demo. Controls seem a bit clunky and the section of the city they put you into for the demo was kind of boring. Overall it doesn't seem to have the same charm as the original.

That being said I played the demo 5 times and for some reason feel compelled to play it more. Collecting orbs and levelling up my agent is like gaming crack to me. I will be buying this game day one.
 

Salz01

Member
This game would be better, if they took out all the enemies, and gun play and just left the agility orbs for you to collect. Both play sessions I found myself trying to collect more agility orbs and just running away from the combat because it was so horrible. The lock on, (if you can even call it that) is not really good. When I threw grenades, couldnt really tell how far I was throwing because I was too busy trying to dodge bullets. And then running out of ammo trying to find more just stunk. Leveling up your strength to hold the turrets was kind of cool, but that wont entertain me for too long.

And the graphics..... not so good.

As I said, if they made this a pure puzzle game where you ran around collecting orbs to increase your jumping height to get more orbs it would be a better game.
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
Played the shit out of it with the Time bug. Like, all night with a friend. Maxed out everything (only allows for level 5) and did all sorts of shit. I didn't figure out the glide 'till we were about to pass out, sadly. It works pretty damn well once you learn it, though. Gotta get yourself some mad speed (glide color turns red) and pull up and you'll be able to pretty much fly anywhere.

It's Crackdown with new shit. Love it.




Salz01 said:
This game would be better, if they took out all the enemies, and gun play and just left the agility orbs for you to collect. Both play sessions I found myself trying to collect more agility orbs and just running away from the combat because it was so horrible. The lock on, (if you can even call it that) is not really good. When I threw grenades, couldnt really tell how far I was throwing because I was too busy trying to dodge bullets. And then running out of ammo trying to find more just stunk. Leveling up your strength to hold the turrets was kind of cool, but that wont entertain me for too long.

And the graphics..... not so good.

As I said, if they made this a pure puzzle game where you ran around collecting orbs to increase your jumping height to get more orbs it would be a better game.


I disagree. Everything gets better over time in this game. Play it with the time bug, max shit out, have fun. And don't play alone.
 
I don't know if its just the area, but I didn't like the area where I was in comparison to some of the areas in Crackdown 1. I realize its the same city...but it felt inferior.

Other than that I definitely want to finish it in coop...I'm just wondering if it should be day 1.
 

pahamrick

Member
MMaRsu said:
Nah dont think so. Couldn't grab it from peacekeepers either :(.

Yeah. =/ I was able to kill the peace keeper piloting it, but it won't let you climb in it.

I've all but given up trying to get the time glitch to work. Doesn't like me at all.
 
pahamrick said:
Yeah. =/ I was able to kill the peace keeper piloting it, but it won't let you climb in it.

I've all but given up trying to get the time glitch to work. Doesn't like me at all.
Select agent colour, press A once so a box appears asking if all is ok, on this part pull out your internet cord/wireless and press A instantly once it's unplugged, another box will appear with something about not being able to play on live, press B here to go back to the menu and then feel free to reconnect to live and play like normal.

Just told my cousin to do it over xbl and he managed it first time on his wireless setup. The game should not be loading until you actually want to play.
 
Dark FaZe said:
Do we have any idea about game length. Obviously replayability is what it is, but are we looking at an 8 hour campaign?
Crackdown isn't exactly a campaign, just run around an open city doing what ever you want to do first, in crackdown 1 at least depending on the order you do things will make life easier/harder for you by the end. The game is designed to be 100% open world without any cut scenes.
 

derFeef

Member
Dark FaZe said:
Do we have any idea about game length. Obviously replayability is what it is, but are we looking at an 8 hour campaign?
Uh wut. It´s Crackdown, not Prototype :lol Seriously though, CD is as free as you want it to be. Do whatever you want in which order you want. And if you do not want to do anything, just have fun.
 

pahamrick

Member
Diablohead said:
Select agent colour, press A once so a box appears asking if all is ok, on this part pull out your internet cord/wireless and press A instantly once it's unplugged, another box will appear with something about not being able to play on live, press B here to go back to the menu and then feel free to reconnect to live and play like normal.

Just told my cousin to do it over xbl and he managed it first time on his wireless setup. The game should not be loading until you actually want to play.

Yeah, I've been doing that.

Get to the part where it asks if I want to deploy the agent, Press A just as I unplug my cord and get the screen about not being able to play on live. I press B, reconnect to live, and go to start my next game and it immediately goes straight to the Uploading Achievements screen. Every time.

I've tried different combination of timing, using turning off my modem instead of unplugging the xbox, ect. It always goes straight to uploading achievements soon as I go to start up the game the second time.
 

stuminus3

Member
At first I was "meh" (demo seems to start you off in a somewhat awkward situation for some reason), then after 5 minutes I was in love again. Fuck yeah, more Crackdown. But shinier! Then 5 minutes later I was apparently playing Carmageddon, speeding down the highway plowing through hundreds of exploding zombies, Dead Rising-stylee. Awesome.

I'm still not too sure what to make of it being the same city again, it doesn't feel like how big a jump Saints Row 1 Stillwater was to Saints Row 2, but it is pretty cool seeing everything wrecked.

No way this is going to do Crackdown 1 numbers, but I'll be getting it for sure. <3 Crackdown.
 

Raxus

Member
Net_Wrecker said:
I'm watching a stream of someone in an unlimited timer demo right now, and this is pure Crackdown when your agent levels up to 4+. It's SUCH a different experience when you have all the time you want, and can just jump around with a friend. I can't wait for this.
They really should have given people (nearly) maxed out characters at the start of the demo. Most of these complaints would be null and void. Once I hit level 4 agility I felt like I was jumping in C1 all over again and there is still levels 5 and 6 of agility.
 

BeeDog

Member
How the hell do people find these time glitches so damn fast? :lol What prompts a gamer to try and unplug his cord at that exact moment etc.
 

pahamrick

Member
So, to anyone who got this working -- Did you have an Xbox Silver membership? My account lapsed to silver about a month ago and I haven't bothered reupping yet. Spent a good twenty minutes trying to get the timer glitch to work on my gamertag.

Out of curiosity, I tried a friend's account who is gold and I got it to work first try no problem.
 
BeeDog said:
How the hell do people find these time glitches so damn fast? :lol What prompts a gamer to try and unplug his cord at that exact moment etc.
Probably a QA :lol Surprised this wasn't picked up during in-house QA and Cert - I don't test video games here (instead exciting Casino projects :( ), but we pull network cables out all the time here to see what happens.
 

NaviLink

Member
Diablohead said:
Notes:

After picking your agent's colour press A once to bring up the confirm screen, then disconnect via unplug and press A directly after before the 360 realises you are offline, press B once it says you cant play with friends online and reconnect without quitting the demo, that freezes the timer.

Only the host needs to do this glitch, anyone joining you will have 30:00 too without having to do anything.

Just did this and it works wonders. Thanks for the tip, I'm gonna play the crap out of the demo.
 

Drakken

Member
Raxus said:
They really should have given people (nearly) maxed out characters at the start of the demo. Most of these complaints would be null and void. Once I hit level 4 agility I felt like I was jumping in C1 all over again and there is still levels 5 and 6 of agility.

Yeah, they should have done this. I played through the demo once and only started collecting the agility orbs near the end, so my agent didn't improve that much. Even with just that small increase in agility, I can tell that being able to jump higher and farther will make the game way more fun. Without that I may have written the game off, as the combat and driving around didn't seem very interesting. I'm sure people who played the original Crackdown will know to go for the agility orbs sooner, but those like me who didn't play the original might not be aware of this.
 
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