Crackdown (XBox 360)

I really missed the boat with this one. I remember everyone talking about how insanely fun it was, while I sat there without a 360 to play it on. And when I did finally get my 360, I didn't get this game for a long time.

Today I got around to playing it, but I didn't do it justice. I'm very tired today, and I actually dozed off right at the start of the game, before I'd even got into a car! Not a great start.

I hasten to add that I dozed off through lack of sleep, not boredom at the game's opening sequence. Once I finally managed to keep my eyes open enough to use the controller, I was off and running... literally.

After five minutes or so, I came to the conclusion that Crackdown is a great big giant lads' toybox. Yeah, it gives you mission objectives and challenges and races and stuff, none of that really matters. It's like the time you'd be in the back yard with a handful of plastic soldiers and a Tonka truch, and you'd just smash the truck into the little soldiers. That's basically what you do in this game. And it's fan-tastic.

I do like the main elements to the game. I like that you're "cybernetically enhanced", meaning that there's no pandering to realism. Gritty games are all very well, but they tend to lose their fun factor after a while. There's really not much chance of that happening with Crackdown.

I realise that this comment is a bit bereft of information... that's because I didn't play it long enough to even scratch the surface. There's loads to do in this game, and I'm going to spend a lot of time doing those things. For now, I need some sleep, but you can bet I'll be back at this one before long.