Crackdown 3

Crackdown 3 has been an “upcoming” game for a long, long time now. Announced all the way back in 2014, the game was originally slated for a 2016 release. After multiple delays, though, it is almost here. Given its troubled development, there’s more than just a little skepticism surrounding Crackdown 3 in the build up to its launch, but there’s plenty of excitement as well, especially with the crowd that has been awaiting its release for years on end. As we get closer to the day of its release (finally), in this feature, we’ll be taking a look at fifteen vital pieces of information that we feel you should know about Crackdown 3. Without further ado, let’s begin.

THE SETUP

Crackdown 3’s story takes place ten years after the events after its predecessor, and places players in the middle of the city called New Provenance. Terra Nova, a global corporation up to no good with its fingers in several pies, serves as the primary antagonistic force, with the players, playing as Agents from The Agency, working to bring it down. Players will first have to take down three Captains of Terra Nova, each in charge of a specific branch of the company, before they can finally square off against its nefarious leader, Elizabeth Neemand.

TERRA NOVA

So what exactly are these three separate divisions of Terra Nova? They’re Security, Industry, and Logistics, and each of them has a Captain in charge. To get to these Captains, players will have to go through multiple lieutenants, and only after beating all three Captains will you be able to face off against the head of Terra Nova.

“GANGS BITE BACK”

The Gangs Bite Back system is something that, at least on paper, sounds very promising, because it looks to introduce an element of dynamism to the proceedings. How? As you fight against Terra Nova and its three divisions throughout New Provenance, if you deal enough damage to them, the captains and lieutenants of the gangs you’re fighting against will take notice. If that happens, they can strike back against you at any time, at any place, so theoretically, while you’re traversing the open world aimlessly, you can be attacked by special enemy types in special, unique encounters.

THE MAP

Like its predecessors, Crackdown 3 will be set in an open world environment, but New Provenance promises to be a much bigger and more expansive location than the maps of previous games have been. Supposedly, the map of Crackdown 3 is at least twice as big as that in Crackdown 2, but more importantly a huge focus is placed on verticality. One look at the city’s towering skyscrapers should be enough to tell you that much, though.

SEAMLESS OPEN WORLD

New Provenance will also offer the players complete freedom as far as exploration is concerned right from the beginning. From the get go, the entire map will be open to players, and you’ll be able to go and wreak havoc wherever you please.

DESTRUCTIBLE ENVIRONMENTS

Destructible environments are a core hook of Crackdown 3 (and also one of the reasons the game has been delayed multiple times, if reports are to be believed). Mostly, this will be limited to Wrecking Zone, the game’s multiplayer component (which we’ll get to in a bit), and though the single player campaign will allow for some degree of destruction in environments, it will be far more limited.

TERRY CREWS

Microsoft has banked on Terry Crews heavily for the marketing of Crackdown 3, so chances are, you already know about him being in the game. Out of the twenty or so playable Agents that will be available in the game, one of them will be Commander Jaxon, played by Terry Crews himself. So yes, you’ll be able to play as Terry Crews.

AGENTS

But what’s the point of having so many Agents? Well, as you may have guessed, they will differ from each other in various ways, each having unique attributes, strengths, and abilities (including Commander Jaxon as well, of course). Each Agent will also have core skills which will govern their abilities in certain areas, such as agility, driving, firearms, explosives, and the like.

“SKILLS FOR KILLS”

Core skills can, of course, be upgraded- how, you ask? Similar to previous Crackdown games, players will be awarded with orbs through the “Skills for Kills” mechanics. Essentially, killing enemies with different tools and in unique ways, or finding certain objects throughout the city, will award players with orbs, which can then be used to increase any of the core skills.

WEAPONS AND VEHICLES

Crackdown 3 will be leveraging its wacky sci-fi setting in several ways, which, of course, includes weapon and vehicle variety as well. From rocket launchers to to weird rubber duck grenades to being able to kick cars with sheer brute strength, you will have plenty of offensive options at your disposal. By way of vehicles, you will have transforming vehicles, tanks, mechs, and much more.

CO-OP

Crackdown 3 will, of course, have co-op options as well. Players will be able to play through the entire campaign co-operatively with one other player. Microsoft originally intended to have four player co-op in the game, but felt that the increased player count diluted the experience too much, and as such, decided to optimize the experience around a maximum of two players instead.

WRECKING ZONE

It’s not all about the campaign, though. Crackdown 3 will have a multiplayer mode called Wrecking Zone as well. What is Wrecking Zone? It is a competitive 5v5 deathmatch mode. Two teams will take each other on in a large environment, and here’s the best part- all of it will be completely and utterly destructible. Two teams of super-powered Agents fighting against each other while also blowing everything in their vicinity to smithereens? Sounds gleefully chaotic.

NO LOOT BOXES OR MICROTRANSACTIONS

The inclusion of and/or focus on any sort of a competitive online component in a game often goes hand in hand with microtransactions, but thankfully, that is not going to be the case in Crackdown 3. Microsoft have stated that they do not plan on including loot boxes or microtransactions of any kind in the game.

XBOX ONE X ENHANCED

Crackdown 3 was the game that the Xbox One X was going to launch with all the way back in November 2017. Obviously, due to a number of delays, that didn’t happen- but when the game finally does launch, it’s going to be Xbox One X enhanced. The game will run at 4K resolutions on the enhanced console, and will also support HDR.

GAME PASS

Microsoft has been pushing its subscription based Game Pass model a great deal over the last year or so, and to great effect. They’ve made a commitment to having all of their new and upcoming first party exclusives launch on the service day and date- the likes of Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Forza Horizon 4 all joined the ever-growing Game Pass catalogue on the day of their respective releases. Like all other upcoming Microsoft first party titles, that is going to be the case with Crackdown 3 as well.