2old2play’s ‘Absolute Tara’ finds out what enhancements orb-hunters have to look forward to and how to win in Rocket Tag.
Crackdown 2, the highly anticipated sequel of 2007’s sleeper hit releases today. The original Crackdown was quickly coined the “Halo 3 Beta Delivery” yet gamers were pleasantly surprised by the gratification the game delivered on its own. The Crackdown playground is an open-world game that exaggerates every fun, impulsive feature from the sandbox genre and cuts everything else. I don’t expect to find an engaging story like Red Dead Redemption, but I do expect to have a blast creating pure mayhem and destruction with my friends.
[Tara] Prior to E3 2009, I remember looking for months for information on a Crackdown sequel to no avail. Was it the best-kept sequel secret ever, or did this project almost not happen?
[James] It’s fairly long and uninteresting business story but essentially can be summed up by saying that Microsoft wanted to see how well Crackdown did before committing to a sequel. It’s the same problem with any new franchise and I think it was a sensible decision considering that it was a bit of an outsider bet in the portfolio at that point in time. Ultimately Crackdown 2 became viable thanks to the original being a good “sleeper” hit and the fact it generated a hugely passionate fan base that saw sales steadily grow and make Crackdown 2 a possibility.
[Tara] Ha! Now I feel like a nerd since I’m interested in the uninteresting business back-story. Ruffian is a new shop with some familiar Crackdown team members. When you set out to build Crackdown 2, what were some of the game aspects you decided were key to maintain and first to throw out?
[James] We went through a very focused phase deciding which features were important to the Crackdown experience and which weren’t. We couldn’t pursue the development of every feature so we focused on the core Crackdown feel. We wanted to take that experience to more players, the inclusion and expansion of competitive multiplayer and 4 player co-op was vital to that. Going from 2 to 4 player co-op was one of our biggest challenges, it impacted absolutely everything about the game and how its main objectives worked. It also helped in many cases of what we think of as open-world game design, we’ve ended up with our ideal experience where 4 players can be doing anything they want, anywhere in the game world yet still be working towards progressing the games’ major plot. Most games solve this problem by confining the players to stay together and do the same thing and that was absolutely the worst thing for us to do – it’s just not Crackdown.
[Tara] Can you tell us about any cool features that didn’t make the cut?
[James] We’ve got Launchpads in the game that make the Agents leap through the air. It’s a route out of Freak Lairs when completed and they’re also immense fun in multiplayer as they transport you around the arenas rapidly. In the shipping game they’re just static objects that the player can interact with but they’re in fixed routes. They make a hilarious toy … if you can pick them up and place them anywhere you like. Having them as deployable equipment is something we couldn’t get into the shipping game but they’re something that will make a re-appearance. They’re fantastic for creating traps for other players or for just messing around with the game physics.
[Tara] ...And another feature that will flip stomachs a la falling of the agency tower. The original Crackdown had a handful of creative achievements that made for great cooperative experiments. What’s your process for thinking up things like “Body Juggler?” And how does Crackdown 2 deliver on interesting free roam exploits?
[James] This is really tricky as our philosophy is to play the game and let it lead us towards fun moments. It means they come in very late in development, so when we’ve got our toyset together all of us as the team come up with ideas for what works based on what we’ve got. It’s not a process of upfront design. We let the game speak and it generally leads us towards some great moments of gameplay to base our Achievement Creativity around. Even now, playing the game in its finished state, we keep hearing stories of amazing things that people are doing and we keep saying “That should have been an Achievement”. The game is a bit of a random fun generator in that respect.
[Tara] Tell us about the bad-ass arsenal we’ll use to cleanse Pacific City? I just barely got my hands on the UV Shotgun when my 30 minutes ran dry.
[James] The fully powered Agent is an arsenal in his own right. He’s a mobile weapon but earning the ability to use the Wingsuit is one of my favourite things. The Agency Chopper combined with the Wingsuit and Mag grenades are, I think, three of the most creatively outstanding additions to the game. For me they represent most of the unique elements of Crackdown with superhero abilities, verticality, co-op and toybox physics fun all mashed together in ways which feel limitless to the creative imagination of our players.
[Tara] I can’t wait to fly around in the wingsuit! I have a love/hate relationship with sequels. They’re proven fun yet they don’t quite enchant like new IP. What’s the secret sauce to balance feeling like a dot upgrade versus alienating the fan base with too much change?
[James] There’s no secret, it’s impossible to please everyone with a sequel. Some people want exactly the same experience from a sequel, others want something completely different. It can be frustrating. All we aim to do is our best to take as much feedback as possible from the previous game, line it up with our own feelings and then make what we feel gives best bang for buck. We consider the value to players a lot in our process, we are gamers ourselves, and we always try to take an angle of thinking if our decisions are something we’d respect from the players perspective too. We’ve done pretty well with Crackdown 2 with that approach, yes we are bound to frustrate some people, but we wholly believe we’ve moved the franchise forward and made it better for the majority of fans old and new.
[Tara] What type of DLC can we look forward to for Crackdown 2?
[James] Not quite ready to speak about DLC but you can expect to see new toys, vehicles, weapons, gadgets, new gamemodes, new arenas and Keys to the City to suggest a non-exhaustive list.Exactly what they are will become clearer after launch.
[Tara] I hope we don’t have to wait too long for DLC! I have 1 agility orb left in the original game that I spent no fewer than 4 hours inching around Pacific City trying to find. I can’t bring myself to part with the game after three years and it just sits on my shelf mocking me. Tell us about the enhanced orb tracking in Crackdown 2 that will help me avoid this distress.
[James] I feel the pain, you’re not alone. Few things we’ve done to ease that frustration is to add an Orb Ping to the minimap, you can ping the radar for a brief moment and it’ll show nearby Orbs. You can’t perma-ping though as it’s time limited so it doesn’t break the experience. We’ve also improved the in-game UI and breakdown so that you know how many you’ve collected per district and we’ve even been kind enough to show the ones you have collected on a map. All only IF you want to use it because whilst we wanted to remove the frustration of the collection we didn’t want to remove the challenge. It’ll still be a hard thing to do and still deserve the same level of completionist kudos.
[Tara] I’m sure the “orb buzz” will ring in my ears for weeks. One of my pet peeves are games that abruptly end right when you’ve maxed out your character – at the peak of fun! Will players be able to pace leveling with side missions or free roam so we can maximize the missions in epic agent condition?
[James] We don’t limit what you want to do in the game, it’s all down to how you want to play. If you want to do that, you can. Something people loved doing with Crackdown was rinsing the game with maxed-out Agents. Again, we support that so you can keep wrapping the game and mopping up all the content with high power Agents. You don’t have to, but it’s a great arcade-like action experience for those that want it.
[Tara] Multiplayer is all new for Crackdown 2. What can you tell us about game modes, leveling, or tips to ensure sweet victory?
[James] Rocket Tag is my favourite and the best tip I can give there is to hang back from the Orb. You need to be patient and chose your moment to nip-in to the chaos and steal the Orb. It’s a hugely focused and strategic game hidden beneath great simplicity. Get the Orb and score points, everyone has rocket launchers – they’re the only rules. So the Orb is where everyone is looking and the real skill is being able to hang back from the compulsion to rush in and grab the Orb. It’s a great test of willpower.
[Tara] What are you most excited for Crackdown fans and new Crackdown players to discover?
[James] By far the greatest thing is the co-op game. We’ve got a completely seamless join system, if you want to you can jump into someone else’s game without interrupting them in any way. It’s an amazingly fun experience and each time we play co-op something new or different happens. Seeing new players appear daily at the moment and watching how the react to co-op is immensely joyous. It’s a whole different way to play the game and fantastically fun and funny.
[Tara] How is the Ruffian team going to celebrate the launch day?
[James] In the UK we’re launching on a Friday (9th July) so we’re going to be in a pub nearby called Duke’s Corner. We’ll be drinking. Lots.
[Tara] Congratulations and Cheers!
