• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Crackdown 3 - Review Thread

Xenon

Member
I don’t think reviews I read give the low scores due story specifically.

That is nothing that set a part the game in terms of gameplay, characters, design, animation, etc.

The game lacks identity and it is pretty uninspiring.

Huh... The game has always had a strong identity and it's own style of gameplay. This is the worst trol....

I just tried it on game pass. Deleted after 15 minutes, it's terrible. Ps. You want to play actually good game like this, play infamous.


Nevermind.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Is it an 8 or a 9 critically...? Not by the way that reviewers seem to be playing it, but I am having an 8 or 9’s worth of fun in it! People on both sides wanted to hear the reviews to push agendas and flame the wars...it’s too bad that an actual fun game is getting lost in the shuffle. If it didn’t have a stigma attached and was an ID@Xbox release, it would probably be grabbing 9’s.

MondoXbox - 70
Generacion Xbox - 70
Xbox Achievements - 70
TrueAchievements - 60
Windows Central - 60
Xbox Tavern - 40

These are from known Xbox sites and the reviews are consistent with the rest of the scores on Metacritic.

It's a review thread and people are going to give their opinion on the game. Fallout 76 Review Thread received similar responses, but Xbox fans on here think the world is against them in the gaming community. You don't need to play it for more than 3 hours to get a grasp of the game.


This is what I find absolutely ridiculous.

The Xbox fans on here can get hyped or excited to see gameplay footage of an upcoming title. They can say it looks great and that MS has a possible hit on their hands.


But for some odd reason, no one can say it looks bad without even playing it?
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
So I finally got around to spending some time with it. It's OK, definitely not an objectively bad game, it just really does feel dated as far as gameplay. It looks really nice and there is some fun to be had. I'd say it deserves around a 6.5 or 7. Actually a bit better than I thought it would be.
 
Last edited:

iconmaster

Banned
Easy Allies - 5.5



Crackdown 3 has had a bumpy ride full of delays and studio departures, and now after we've finished the final product, it's clear to us that something went wrong. While the bright lights of the techno-tinged New Providence might seem attractive from afar, this city is small, hollow, and bland. It's a shock to play a game in this condition that's been in development for so long, especially one created exclusively for Microsoft.
 

JLB

Banned
I have to say im having a good time with crackdown 3. Is not a world class, AAA for sure. Animations are clunky to the least. But yet it provides a good amount of short fun sessions.
 

JLB

Banned
This is suppose to be xbox's savior? The xbox's great comeback? As someone who's never owned an xbox but respected their attempt at a console with the 360 this is just sad.

I don't believe for a second that scalebound would not have turned out better than this.

Never was suppossed to be a savior or so. It was always expected to be a 6/7. As it finally tirned out to be.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I'm not. The graphics are laughable and MS should be ashmed of the effort. Do better.

Have higher standards.
Have you played it? Have you seen it with your own eyes, on your own TV?

"The graphics are laughable and MS should be ashmed of the effort"

DAMN YOU, MICROSOFT!! ARENT YOU ASHAMED! YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED!!!

s/Lmao
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
You played for 1.5 hours and its the same thing over and over? Pretty sure CD3 is longer than 1.5 hours, my dude. Lol. Not doubting you but....maybe you didnt give it long enough.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. I was just saying that in my 1.5 hours I took over several tram stations, destroyed vehicle parks, shut down a few mining and chemical stations, etc. They seem to have these lieutenants that have a "do this five times to get to him to expose himself" mechanic. It makes for some repetition especially since the various activities are sometimes similar.

Have you played it?
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I'm not sure what you are trying to say. I was just saying that in my 1.5 hours I took over several tram stations, destroyed vehicle parks, shut down a few mining and chemical stations, etc. They seem to have these lieutenants that have a "do this five times to get to him to expose himself" mechanic. It makes for some repetition especially since the various activities are sometimes similar.

Have you played it?
I am.
 
I went into this game expecting the worst based on the reviews I read. I put about 6 hours into the game so far and I have been enjoying the whole thing just like I did when the first game was released, I keep reading that it's a bad thing that it plays like an old game but I'm not understanding why that's a negative. So far I've seen no QTEs, the controls allow you to do what you want the second you want it, no lag to allow animations to play out (I can jump mid-step).

Not that it will mean anything if you've taken a hard "nope" on the game but this has been my experience so far if anyone is sitting on the fence over the game:

-Controls are really tight and fast, especially with a decent controller (with paddles) traversal is extremely fluid. If you focus on orb collecting early you can have a double jump and air dash in the first 15 minutes of play time. I'd say gameplay-wise I'm actually really happy with it. Vehicle controls are the same, with a sense or immediacy to them. They have a very similar feel to Ridge Racer with over the top drifting.
-Weapons are all pretty different and each one has a bit of a gimmick to it. There's the obvious "Shotgun kills shit up close" but one weapon shoots high then breaks up to bombard enemies, one bores into enemies before exploding in a toxic cloud, and one charges to have huge splash damage. They are set up a lot like Borderlands with standard, explosive, and elemental types.
-Visuals aren't anything to write home about but they aren't bad looking either much in the way Borderlands looks better than it actually looks. The outskirts of the city are shanty-town land and the houses are literally made of sheets of plywood and corrugated steel which is the early area of the game. The game certainly looks better than the compressed Youtube videos show and at points can actually look really nice. The entire city is visible from any high point and the city itself is a good size so there is a lot of exploring to do looking for the different orbs and agent corpses.
-I'm surprised to find myself enjoying the story mode, the cutscenes are done in a comic book style, they are short and don't draw out. Your comrades are there during gameplay discussing your next move and as you progress. You start gaining allies that show up to help you fight, the whole game actually reminds me a lot of Just Cause 3. You're destroying evil corporation's evil empire on an island in the middle of nowhere.
-PC version has been running flawlessly for me. 4K/60 at extreme settings the game is fluid and runs fast, the only major hiccups I've noticed is when I finish a mission and it loads up the short cutscene of the area you just completed. Gameplay itself has been rock solid for me. Again, the visuals are fairly simple, but it all works well.

Is it the best game I've ever played? Not even close, but it's been a lot of fun so far and I'm absolutely going to play the game to completion, hunt the orbs and kill all the baddies. If you have Gamepass it's worth playing, and if you don't I imagine it will be GwG before too long, but I do think it's worth playing. This isn't a bag of shit like Fallout 76 was, the game is a finished product and plays pretty well. It's absolutely better than 2 was.
 
Last edited:
Did they address the stuttering problem on PC that was shown in digitalfoundry's review? That's the only thing keeping me from getting the game pass and playing it. I really like the look of it (I'm a sucker for 80s/cyber/neon shit.)
 
Last edited:

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
Played a few hours, just jumping around collecting orbs. It looks and runs very well on PC. I really hate the lock-on though and wish I could disable it, doesn't seem to be a choice in the options menu. I don't think I'll play anymore until I can play it co-op and I won't play it co-op until they address the 30fps cap.
 

Ramzy

Member
Have you played it? Have you seen it with your own eyes, on your own TV?

"The graphics are laughable and MS should be ashmed of the effort"

DAMN YOU, MICROSOFT!! ARENT YOU ASHAMED! YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED!!!

s/Lmao

I have played it. I was playing it last night for about 4 hours to give it a good chance to hook me.

- animations are terrible
- graphics are awful
- gameplay is monotonous and feels like it’s stuck in the early 2000’s
- sound mix sucks (voices are extremely quiet during cutscenes)
- jackson’s voice is barely audible during gameplay because, again, sound mix was done by a high school student
- gameplay revolves around walking to an area and clearing it over and over and over
- cutscenes are low budget 2D animations reminiscent of new grounds animations from the early 2000’s
- dialogue got so boring and repetitive that I got really excited when I discovered you can skip them by pressing and holding X
- animations for propaganda towers are pathetic and repeat every 3 seconds or so, with no effort made to match what’s actually being said
- enemy AI is brain dead
- peds are brain dead
- city feels empty and devoid of movement and detail
- cars handle like ass
- all missions follow the same formula,

Overall game is just bad. Like, legit bad. I don’t understand how people are giving it a pass. I don’t get how someone can play CD3 and say “yeah this is definitely a AAA game that underwent years of development”.

It’s a shit, low quality game, and it boggles my mind that people can defend it.

I mean, I hate card games but I can completely understand the allure of a game like Hearthstone. But playing CD3 all I saw was a AAA first party game that played, felt, and looked like a budget title stuck in the early 2000’s.
 
Last edited:

BigLee74

Member
"Once you’ve played a couple of matches, you’ve seen it all. No matter which of the 21 agent skins you select, everyone’s movement and damage is effectively the same, and there’s no character progress of any kind, so that never changes. Every match plays the same every time, and Wrecking Zone’s combat just doesn’t have the depth or nuance to sustain itself for long without anything around it."

Once you've read a couple of The Last Word's posts, you've heard it all. No matter which of the 21 paragraphs you read, they all sound the same, and there is no new or valid point expressed of any kind. Every post reads the same, and his discussions have the depth of a Forza 7 puddle.
 

LMJ

Member
Good gravy people, this thread has gotten pretty vicious on both sides.

Between all of the personal attacks, drive-by Fanboy posts, and reply fanboy posts it's honestly kind of embarrassing...aren't we all gamers?

If we can all just drop the tribalism then we can enjoy great games, and yes I do believe Crackdown 3 is a great game I'm having a blast playing it, and then later this month I'll likely play days gone on the PlayStation 4, and then gasp and shock Super Smash Bros ultimate on my switch with the new DLC.

The only ones who end up getting hurt with fanboyism are the Fanboys themselves, they miss out on fantastic games, amazing experiences, and honestly just good old fun.
 
Played a few hours, just jumping around collecting orbs. It looks and runs very well on PC. I really hate the lock-on though and wish I could disable it, doesn't seem to be a choice in the options menu. I don't think I'll play anymore until I can play it co-op and I won't play it co-op until they address the 30fps cap.

For the lock on I think you can toggle between toggle and hold, but you can't disable it completely.
 

Meowzers

Member
I'd say the people defending it wouldn't pay the full price and would only get it through Game Pass. Easier to say it's not too bad when it's practically free.

But spending near to £50 on it, I bet most those people wouldn't be so forgiving then.
 

Grinchy

Banned
Review scores aside, it's strange how few people are streaming/watching this game on Twitch. The day before the launch, at least one big streamer was playing it but since it officially came out, the game has had 500-800 total viewers. I've never really seen a new game release that people knew about with such low viewership on Twitch.
 

DanielsM

Banned
Review scores aside, it's strange how few people are streaming/watching this game on Twitch. The day before the launch, at least one big streamer was playing it but since it officially came out, the game has had 500-800 total viewers. I've never really seen a new game release that people knew about with such low viewership on Twitch.


Crack Down was a very strange series to bring back from the dead, even if they had actually made a good game, it never was a super popular thing. The first one was kind of an underground mini-hit, not a blockbuster. Phil has to integrate services within the games, his boss is the cloud services guy - Phil has a very tough job going forward. (this was always about cloud technology, and not about the game)
 
Last edited:
Once you've read a couple of The Last Word's posts, you've heard it all. No matter which of the 21 paragraphs you read, they all sound the same, and there is no new or valid point expressed of any kind. Every post reads the same, and his discussions have the depth of a Forza 7 puddle.
Most underrated post in this thread so far.
 

demigod

Member
Once you've read a couple of The Last Word's posts, you've heard it all. No matter which of the 21 paragraphs you read, they all sound the same, and there is no new or valid point expressed of any kind. Every post reads the same, and his discussions have the depth of a Forza 7 puddle.

How did you hear it all when that's from the article and not from TLW?
 

vanillaFace

Neo Member
Everything is more and more fun as you level and explore. Like, grab a ramp truck, set up a jump, order up the fast agency car, attach some limpets to it, jump it towards an enemy compound, eject like fucking Batman , land on top of the building and blow the car up. Ground pound down to knock enemies over. Pick up a car door to block bullets. Throw that door at the biggest guy. Shoot a few guys in the face with your shotgun by targeting their heads, clean up with your nade launcher. Snipe the guy arriving first from the bounty squad with your charge up sniper rifle...Then punch the last hurt outpost holder and watch him explode into a red mist because you took the time to level up your god damn strength...

this made me lol, a genuine lol of happiness as I thought about my particular playing style and read about yours. The encounters truly feel like a blank canvas, and I love it. I can't put this game down, its friggin great. It's a 9 for me, f em all.
 
I'm not. The graphics are laughable and MS should be ashmed of the effort. Do better.

Have higher standards.

People must be playing on the regular xbox on a TV out of the 80's because on the 1X on a 4k OLED with HDR, this game looks incredible, especially with the sheer action that goes on at once.

3Nun05p.jpg

CxIMpXO.jpg

XNGLv4d.jpg

nOicEJK.jpg

fJXpcCG.jpg

WRlSdoG.jpg
 

Aintitcool

Banned
This is why MS can't beat sony. They don't know how to produce good game development. 3 devs worked on this shit, and the whole cloud super physics azure server shit never worked they spent millions trying and failed.
 
Those screens make the game look uglier than it actually is lol. It's not pretty in motion either, but in stills it just looks atrocious.
 
Last edited:

Ramzy

Member
People must be playing on the regular xbox on a TV out of the 80's because on the 1X on a 4k OLED with HDR, this game looks incredible, especially with the sheer action that goes on at once.

3Nun05p.jpg

CxIMpXO.jpg

XNGLv4d.jpg

nOicEJK.jpg

fJXpcCG.jpg

WRlSdoG.jpg

65" 4k HDR TV with an Xbox One X.

Game looks bad. Sorry to tell you mate. I'm glad you like it, but even compared to GTAV from 2013 it looks bad.

Textures are bad, city scapes are dull and devoid of detail, there's very little in the way of debris or random objects cluttering the environment. Peds have awful walking animations. There's basically zero cars in the distance when you look over the city.

Look at your screenshots ffs, there is literally 8 cars in the entire city. It just feels dead and empty.

Perhaps that's what they were aiming for. Maybe they wanted the city to look like no-texture lego bricks at a distance, maybe it's an artistic choice, idk, but whatever it is, it looks bad to me.

GTAV FROM NEARLY SEVEN YEARS AGO:
v3ylMLu.jpg
 
Last edited:

Ramzy

Member
Edit: I just want to make it very clear that I don't even own a Playstation. I don't see any value in the $600~ PS4 pro barely pushing 1400p in AAA games and I bought the One X specifically for 4K native Red Dead 2. I don't have an anti-xbox agenda here. I'm just pointing out the facts that CD3 is technically and visually below average.

VisualFidelity VisualFidelity

GJ6UHFz.jpg
 
Last edited:
65" 4k HDR TV with an Xbox One X.

Game looks bad. Sorry to tell you mate. I'm glad you like it, but even compared to GTAV from 2013 it looks bad.

Textures are bad, city scapes are dull and devoid of detail, there's very little in the way of debris or random objects cluttering the environment. Peds have awful walking animations. There's basically zero cars in the distance when you look over the city.

Look at your screenshots ffs, there is literally 8 cars in the entire city. It just feels dead and empty.

Perhaps that's what they were aiming for. Maybe they wanted the city to look like no-texture lego bricks at a distance, maybe it's an artistic choice, idk, but whatever it is, it looks bad to me.

GTAV FROM NEARLY SEVEN YEARS AGO:
v3ylMLu.jpg

They are going for 2 different looks. way different art styles dude. There are tons of cars in the distance, but only only during day time where there is supposed to be traffic. Not at 2am lol. Look at your GTA shot, where is all the detail (cars, pedestrains, building textures) you speak of? The fact that you say no cars in the distance leads me to believe u havent even played it.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
People must be playing on the regular xbox on a TV out of the 80's because on the 1X on a 4k OLED with HDR, this game looks incredible, especially with the sheer action that goes on at once.

When people say it looks like a 360 game, they're saying the graphics have not evolved much since that era. It's not suppose to be taken literally, but it does feel like the game is stuck in the past when it comes to graphics.

Gravity Rush was inspired by Crackdown and that game too uses a similar cartoon art style. We can see how the graphics evolved from 2012 to 2017 (or the remaster version on the PS4).

Gravity Rush
gravity-rush-remastered-screen-01-ps4-eu-26oct15-1152x648.jpg


Gravity-Rush-Remastered-Local-PS4-2.png


Gravity Rush 2
GRAVITY%20RUSH%202_10.jpg



The environment looks like a generational leap. And the animation? It looks great.

uiiirsyjquytmvco6qvr.gif
Gravity-Rush-2-Tips-Rocket-Jump.gif


Personally, it's hard to be really impressed when I see games like this while Crackdown 3 stays behind in many areas graphically. People are entitled to their own opinion, but this is just mine.
 

demigod

Member
Edit: I just want to make it very clear that I don't even own a Playstation. I don't see any value in the $600~ PS4 pro barely pushing 1400p in AAA games and I bought the One X specifically for 4K native Red Dead 2. I don't have an anti-xbox agenda here. I'm just pointing out the facts that CD3 is technically and visually below average.

VisualFidelity VisualFidelity

GJ6UHFz.jpg

I have never seen so many copy and paste buildings in a game, can you please circle them :) .
 

Ramzy

Member
When people say it looks like a 360 game, they're saying the graphics have not evolved much since that era. It's not suppose to be taken literally, but it does feel like the game is stuck in the past when it comes to graphics.

Gravity Rush was inspired by Crackdown and that game too uses a similar cartoon art style. We can see how the graphics evolved from 2012 to 2017 (or the remaster version on the PS4).

Gravity Rush
gravity-rush-remastered-screen-01-ps4-eu-26oct15-1152x648.jpg


Gravity-Rush-Remastered-Local-PS4-2.png


Gravity Rush 2
GRAVITY%20RUSH%202_10.jpg



The environment looks like a generational leap. And the animation? It looks great.

uiiirsyjquytmvco6qvr.gif
Gravity-Rush-2-Tips-Rocket-Jump.gif


Personally, it's hard to be really impressed when I see games like this while Crackdown 3 stays behind in many areas graphically. People are entitled to their own opinion, but this is just mine.

GR2 has never been on my radar but those animations are a visual orgasm.
 
Last edited:
People must be playing on the regular xbox on a TV out of the 80's because on the 1X on a 4k OLED with HDR, this game looks incredible, especially with the sheer action that goes on at once.

3Nun05p.jpg

CxIMpXO.jpg

XNGLv4d.jpg

nOicEJK.jpg

fJXpcCG.jpg

WRlSdoG.jpg

Honestly, this Looks terrible. Like a worse version of Infamous: Second Son, and that came out in 2013.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Once you've read a couple of The Last Word's posts, you've heard it all. No matter which of the 21 paragraphs you read, they all sound the same, and there is no new or valid point expressed of any kind. Every post reads the same, and his discussions have the depth of a Forza 7 puddle.
So TLW is like a cubemap and not a Screen Space Reflection. Noted, not aiming for accuracy it seems :p

VisualFidelity VisualFidelity is that single player or multiplayer?

Personally i think Crackdown's style is more stylized than aiming for realism or visual effects overload and said overload should not be the basis from which we should judge games imo.

In that sense, Crackdown's visual make up holds up. Its not aiming to have reflections everywhere or shadows all around. Pedantically we should say its a better looking Saints Row 3 which had a similar make up (But its artstyle was slightly more leaning to realism).

I am not seeing the problem here. Artstyle in this game dicates final look much more than technical showcase.
 

EBE

Member
The game looks okay. Spartan and blocky, sure, but colorful and readable at a glance. I think the lighting and materials work out rather well.

I do wish there were some weather systems in place-rain of course but maybe also some rolling fog? Maybe it could be that noxious green stuff that's being mined everywhere.

It's decidedly 'last gen' in appearance (I'd argue something like Sleeping Dogs pulls off the neon soaked city Skyline better than this does) but let's not act like the game is unpleasant to look at. This ain't APB.
 

LostDonkey

Member
So TLW is like a cubemap and not a Screen Space Reflection. Noted, not aiming for accuracy it seems :p

VisualFidelity VisualFidelity is that single player or multiplayer?

Personally i think Crackdown's style is more stylized than aiming for realism or visual effects overload and said overload should not be the basis from which we should judge games imo.

In that sense, Crackdown's visual make up holds up. Its not aiming to have reflections everywhere or shadows all around. Pedantically we should say its a better looking Saints Row 3 which had a similar make up (But its artstyle was slightly more leaning to realism).

I am not seeing the problem here. Artstyle in this game dicates final look much more than technical showcase.

Cross posting from the OT.




This game has some insane reflection mapping and texture work going on I didn't even notice at first.

The game makes use of a lot of screen space reflections in puddles and in the rain, but it also uses fallback techniques on almost every shiny object in the game. The barrel I'm holding up in this image is reflecting the reflection of the advertisement. The barrel reflects everything around it from NPCs, to you, to weapon fire.
dUaCauZ.jpg


tpQRHb8.jpg


Hard to catch in images, but the building windows in the game use a similar technique to the one Forza Horizon 4 uses on it's building windows called parallax texture mapping. It's a texture that changes the portrayed geometry based on the player's point of view. it gives the illusion of modeled interiors but is simply one of several layers of textures used to make the windows.

The detail in the game is outstanding, including reflections, lighting, particle effects, scale etc.

People just see the art style and try to play it down as a 360 game which is seriously not the case. Some of the underlying tech behind the initial style is very impressive.

Also the poster comparing the leap from the 360 to this with A Vita game and its PS4 developed sequel is very disingenuous. Theres bound to be a much more noticeable difference between a Vita game and a PS4.
 
Top Bottom