Xbox One Review – ‘Crackdown 3’

It’s destruction, but it’s not really that impressive. Instead of looking and feeling like a physics-driven engine, it plays out like a series of scripted sequences. There’s no emergent gameplay here. Crackdown 3’s multiplayer is nothing more than two basic modes (deathmatch and a king-of-the-hill variant) on a limited set of environments. You can’t even party up with a group of friends for matchmaking. Instead, it’s just random matchmaking for everyone.

The actual combat in multiplayer leaves something to be desired, as multiplayer has the same lock-on aiming style as the campaign. While this does make it easier for new players to get kills, it also means there is no point in trying to duke it out with someone. In most multiplayer deathmatch games, you can trade shots, and the better player comes out on top. Here, whoever gets the lock-on first is going to win a face-to-face showdown.

The minimal destruction in multiplayer is doubly disappointing given Microsoft’s previous focus on “the power of the cloud” for Crackdown 3. It’s difficult to see how that is implemented here, or if it is, what benefit it brings. At the very least, I would have assumed that relying on Azure to host the servers would have meant a rock-solid connection. Alas, I didn’t even get that. I tested Crackdown 3 on a gigabit Google Fiber connection. This same connection regularly gets me 200+ Mbps downloads from Xbox Live and reports a 3-4 millisecond ping time to Xbox Live, depending on time of day. However, in my first set of matches, I was getting a “poor connection” indicator, which is something I’d expect from a P2P connection, not one to a data center sitting on an Internet backbone.

When it comes right down to it, everything in Crackdown 3 is by-the-numbers game design, and the end result is not more than the sum of its parts. There are hints of good ideas in Crackdown 3, but the end product isn’t worth the $60 purchase. Unless you’re getting it free with your Game Pass subscription, you’re better off downloading the original game (currently free for all) and playing that instead.