Those looking to travel into Pacific City can do so via Boston this weekend, as Crackdown 2 will greet PAX East attendees with a pair of playable multiplayer modes. "Team Deathmatch" will encourage four-on-four devastation in a playground littered with weapons, vehicles and, eventually, horribly disfigured egos. The full game will support up to 16 combatants, along with "Rocket Tag," the second mode being shown off at PAX. It's like tag, but with ... arugula?
If you're keen on herban combat, be sure to swing by PAX East from March 26 to March 28! If you can't make it, just avoid reading about all the cool stuff that's happening there, okay? You'll feel better.
#releasedate
Ruffian Games and Microsoft do what they can to take care of the traditional summer gaming drought with Crackdown 2, heading to the Xbox 360 the first week of July. More »
Microsoft has announced the date for your return trip to Pacific City ... when you'll tear it to shreds in the name of justice! Crackdown 2 will launch in North America on July 6, with Asia, Australia and New Zealand releases following on July 8, and Europe's on July 9 -- narrowly missing the "first half of 2010" release estimate.
Producer James Cope previously said that a demo will be forthcoming before the release of the game, so we'll be playing some small portion of Crackdown 2 sooner than July 6. We're going to start playing even sooner than that, actually -- our dreams are littered with orbs.
Crackdown 2 producer James Cope doesn't want you to have any doubt in your mind that a demo is headed to Xbox Live before the game's release, telling IGN UK in an interview, "You can definitely expect a demo to hit Live before the game is out." While we know the game's set to release in the "first half of 2010," Cope wouldn't get any more specific about the release date.
Cope, however, did explain the revamped orb collection system (which adds "new types of Orbs for Agility and Driving skills") and admitted that "the Agency has finally discovered the power of flight." More specifically, he's referring to helicopters, the armored vehicles that will aid you in your destruction clean-up campaign across Pacific City -- and something criminally absent from the first Crackdown. For a handful of more granular details about the upcoming city-jumping sim sequel, peep the rest of the source interview.
[Via Xbox360Achievements.org]
As you might have already guessed, last night's Spike Video Game Awards show's "World Premiere" trailers have landed on the web via GameTrailers.com. First up for us this morning: Crackdown 2 (which we've dropped just after the break). Featuring the first campaign footage from the game that we've seen, it looks as though we'll be cooperatively taking down enemies with other agents when the game launches. Moreover, the entire trailer glories in the mass destruction introduced to us in the first Crackdown, backed up by a "Would you like to blow &%^$ up with me?" soundtrack. Color us excited.
Doling out only a handful of fresh screens for Crackdown 2 with a smattering of in-game renders, Ruffian Games has done little to supply us with more information on its upcoming game in today's media release. Everything from various character designs to about two dozen weapon types can be found in the gallery below, showcasing the visually gussied-up artwork from the sequel to 2007's surprise hit. It appears as though the few screenshots included are of areas we've seen in the past, though (as you can see in the image above) we're now treated to many more explosions. Now if only we could get some sort of a release date, we could start getting properly excited for Crackdown 2. The thrill just ain't there without an end in sight, ya know?
Why waste your graffiti on something as temporary as the rear wall of the nearby Rio Grande or Ronald's Cheese Corner when you could have it enshrined forever, digitally? That's the opportunity being offered by Ruffian Games, which is looking for graffiti submissions from fans who'll have a chance to get their art in the game and their name in the credits, if their work is among the best, that is.
If you're having trouble deciding what exactly, the theme - the jumping off point, if you will - of your e-vandalism should be, may we suggest ... Mighty Horse?
In 2010, the agents are returning to action, this time with a new team at the helm. Joystiq had a chance to sit down with Ruffian Games' lead designer, Steve Iannetta, to discuss everything from new concepts and features in Crackdown 2, the media's reaction to the RealTime Worlds "controversy" and evolving the co-operative world of Pacific City.
A hands-on preview of Crackdown 2 at TGS last week came with a catch: deathmatch only. No matter how much potential for greatness a game might possess, it's hard to gauge it's true character when limited to a boring multiplayer mode. That's not to say that my time with Crackdown 2 was entirely boring -- it wasn't -- but simply playing the most generic mode of all didn't raise my enthusiasm beyond a mild passing interest.While I wasn't able to play the game's single-player campaign, I was shown a rough portion of it in action. Ruffian lead designer Steve Iannetta and producer James Cope showcased the game's new weapons and enemies (the mutated citizens of Pacific City that were simply referred to as "The Freaks"). Unlike the deathmatch portion of the preview session, this part was interesting.
One of the biggest surprises to come out of TGS 2009 is the presence of Crackdown 2 -- and it's playable! While the Ruffian Games developed sequel was only just announced at E3, Microsoft decided to let press in Tokyo step into an early build of the new Pacific City. Some textures were missing, and a few glitches popped up, but it was to be expected in what we were told was a game "roughly at 60 percent" complete. Stay tuned, we'll post our impressions soon, along with an interview with Ruffian lead designer Steve Iannetta. (Oh, and just in case you were wondering: we mopped the floor with the competition.)
During a behind-closed-doors presentation of Crackdown 2, Ruffian Games lead designer Steve Iannetta broke it down like this: "The orbs are the 'crack,' in Crackdown."It's true, and Iannetta says that orb fiends will not be disappointed when they go hunting for the returning collectible in Crackdown 2. Stay tuned for gameplay footage and our hands-on impressions of the upcoming sandbox title.
