E3 2006: Crackdown Fact Sheet @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on May 12, 2006

News: GTA with car throwing, oh yeah!

Crackdown has been called Grand Theft Auto on steroids, and with good reason. The lead designer is David Jones, the man responsible for the original Grand Theft Auto.

It features a similar open world, but with genetically modified men hurling cars and leaping buildings.

Here's more from Microsoft:

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Real Time Worlds
Format: DVD for the Xbox 360 video game system
ESRB Rating: Pending
Availability: TBD

Product Overview: УCrackdownФ pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Gamers will enforce justice by any means necessary in Pacific City, a crime-ridden urban center built to encourage the exploration of the full width, depth and height of the city. Coupled with highly innovative co-op gameplay Ч a genre first Ч and an interactive world where nearly anything can be used as a weapon, gamers will be able to create a volatile cocktail of judicial oppression as they clean up the streets.

УCrackdownФ is developed by Scotland's Real Time Worlds exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and the Xbox 360 platform. Real Time Worlds is led by Dave Jones, the creative mastermind behind some of the most innovative and best-selling video games, including the global blockbuster УGrand Theft AutoФ and the legendary hit УLemmings.Ф

Features:

Brilliant experience from a legendary game designer. From Dave Jones, the creative mastermind behind УGrand Theft AutoФ and УLemmings,Ф comes УCrackdown,Ф an explosive masterpiece set to define open-world, free-form next-generation gaming.

True next-generation visuals. Harnessing the power of Xbox 360, УCrackdownФ players enforce justice against the backdrop of a crime-ridden metropolis that is massive in scale, monstrous in scope and meticulous in detail. The unique presentation style employs a highly stylized rendering technique that turns the game into a living graphical novel.

Cooperative gameplay for double the mayhem. From the game's initial concept to final design, Real Time Worlds focused on delivering dynamic, engaging cooperative gameplay for double the carnage, action and intensity.

3-D free-form gameplay. For the first time ever, an urban playground has been created to encourage players to explore and exploit the full width, depth and height of a city. Players wage war on the crime syndicates by taking part in high-octane chases on foot and on wheels while using any appropriate route along, around, across, over, under or through the environment. Freedom abounds because it is up to the player to determine how best to complete the nonlinear objectives in a myriad of wild and creative ways.

Over-the-top action. All strategies and tactics are acceptable, provided players reclaim the streets by unleashing the awesome abilities inside each agent. As players develop and hone their gameplay skills, their agent's genetic tendencies will increase, allowing players to realize their agent's full potential. Players will be able to run at dazzling speeds, take death-defying leaps, handle the most incredible weapons, perform impossible vehicular maneuvers, move massive objects and deliver bone-crushing blows.

Music as environment. More than 100 licensed tracks, spanning a wide range of styles and genres, give audio identities to characters and locations in УCrackdown.Ф The music coupled with a next-generation use of 5.1 surround sound will let gamers know just from the music and sound effects they hear which crime syndicate is headed their way.

The environment as a weapon. Is a character low on ammo? No problem. Thanks to an amazing amount of props and a deep physics system, players can use whatever they can get their hands on as weapons Ч trash cans, vehicles, even people Ч to clean the streets of crime. In УCrackdown,Ф the effects of the players' actions stay in place much longer than in other open-environment titles, giving gamers a far greater range of options when setting the scene for mass destruction. If players gather vehicles to create a barricade, they will be there when the they return with more. Gamers can create an arrangement of explosives and come back later to set the explosion. УCrackdownФ remembers, and reacts, to the players' actions within the game world.

Developer Information: Real Time Worlds' key staff has a tremendous history of creating some of the world's most innovative and best-selling video games, including the global hit franchises УLemmingsФ and УGrand Theft Auto.Ф The development team was hand-picked by David Jones, founder of DMA Design Inc. and the designer and creator of more than15 hit titles including УLemmingsФ and УGrand Theft Auto.Ф