by norm stovall norm@904skate.com
Words cannot describe the mirth I have experienced from playing Crackdown. To get an idea on what makes the game as great as it is, picture the sandbox-style world of grand theft auto. Throw in some action and fireworks that you may find in a game like Halo or Gears of War, (not too much!), add some kung-fu, and then top it all off with the super-human jumping abilities of Mario and Luigi, who happen to be fighting crime with a passion. That sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, it might sound that way, but it is completely awesome. In crackdown, the storylines are delivered via radio contact, and it is up to you which bad guys you kill and in what order. Heck, you don’t even have to kill bad guys if you don’t want to-you can simply run, shoot, drive, skip, hop, jump and climb your day away and not suffer any sort of consequence.
The theme of Crackdown is basically centered on your character as a part of a crime fighting organization in the future. Gaining abilities and leveling up by defeating enemies and collecting ‘Agility Orbs’, your character starts at tough-guy human level, and can advance to wield super-human abilities in strength and agility, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and throwing items such as cars and people into the distance. Completing missions and powering up your character is lots of fun, and never feels forced. Exploring the huge environments of the game’s city is also fun, and you can even invite a friend to join in with you over Xbox live if that is your thing. If you like action adventure games and own an Xbox 360, this game might just be that killer app you have been waiting for.
Ok, so we all know by now that my favorite genre of video games happens to be fighting games, so you can take all of my praise from this game with a grain of salt. You don’t have to believe me when I tell you that this is BY FAR the best thing that has happened to the PS3. Okay? Okay.
Virtua Fighter 5 has previously only been available in higher-end arcades in the states, but is widely popular in arcades all over Japan. Lucky for us, we can play it on our PS3 for only a fraction of the cost of an arcade machine! Ok, well maybe the machines aren’t that much more expensive than a PS3, but my point is, this game is great for numerous reasons.
Running at 60 frames per second, Virtua Fighter 5 is by far the best looking fighter available. With pages and pages of different moves for each character, you may also say that is the most complex fighting game on the market as well, and you would be partially correct. See, the joy of VF5 is that you have so many options to choose from in a fight, but rarely will you need to use every move in your repertoire. The moves themselves are rather simple, and the practice modes are great for getting yourself acquainted with how to play the game.
The gameplay of VF5 basically boils down to fast, quick movements, and to play it effectively, you will need to learn to react to your opponent rather than acting strictly offensively. There are three buttons you will make use of--punch, kick, and guard. This simple setup allows for even the most inexperienced players to jump in and enjoy. You are given the option to choose from all of the VF characters from previous editions, along with the two new characters, Eileen and El Blaze. Each of these characters has a unique fighting style, and none has a distinct advantage over another due to near perfect character balancing by the developers of the game.
Some people may complain of the lack of online play, but Virtua Fighter will probably never be an online fighter, and I actually prefer it that way, going by my previous experience with online fighters. Without getting too much into it, VF is really better off without it, so it was not included with this game.
If you like fighting games and are interested in getting the best, Virtua Fighter 5 is truly the best of the best. While not for everyone, this competition-based fighter will be a staple of the fighting game community for years to come. You can look for this title later in the year on the Xbox 360.
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