As the teaser trailer suggested, The city that you first cleared of organized gangs has succumbed to a nasty viral outbreak, causing ordinary citizens to turn bloodthirsty. Not even the shadowy Agency could control it, and so sections of the idealistic metropolis have been abandoned to riots and revolt. For the sequel, you'll return to Pacific City, but it won't be the same place you got to know during the first go around. Familiar sites will be present, but many will be in disarray and shambles, while new buildings have sprung up amidst the chaos.

Crackdown 2 once more follows the central goal of cleansing the city, but the repetition is said to be less prevalent. Ruffian told GameInformer, "Your influence in the world has effects across the rest of the city." And your influence will be made apparent through a more varied set of missions. You'll even head underground to tackle the infected as they hide from the light. And once night hits, you can expect the entire city to be a nightmare.

The same five skills that could be leveled up in Crackdown make a return, though each offers new abilities this time. The agility skill is said to offer a dash move, while driving can unlock a special helicopter. Depending upon who you're fighting, you might wish you had specific talents. GameInformer reports that the Cell will come at you like your typical gang from Mad Max: rough around the edges and loaded with weapons. The zombie-esque freaks, meanwhile, will naturally use their numbers to the best of their ability. Thomson is quoted as saying that, "The top level freaks are almost on par with the player-controlled agent."

To deal with these new challenges, new weapons will naturally make an appearance. GameInformer describes a few of these, such as a UV Shotgun that blasts the infected with light, a better sniper rifle, and the "mag" grenade that will stick whatever it hits to another "mag." These magnetic weapons also are said to work on cars, enabling players to do wacky things with them.

We were lucky enough to visit Ruffian in Dundee last month. The two builds we saw showed enough to confirm that Pacific City’s undergone some huge changes. While the sequel’s set on the same map, we’re now in a post-apocalyptic setting. The Agency gained control at the end of the original, then quickly lost it. A civilian splinter group called the Cell, effectively a terrorist organisation, is calling the shots. The Agency is playing a weak third in the power stakes to the Cell and the Freaks, the mutants that appear near the end of Crackdown.

We’ll wrap up all the detail in a feature tomorrow. In short, it feels like Mad Max on brick-dust smack; it’s got four-way co-op for the entire campaign; nine huge, completely new, underground areas with an “underworld population”; co-op vehicles; new types of orbs; a new hand-to-hand fighting system; fully-featured multiplayer, including modes like Rocket Tag; it’ll be locked at 30fps; Skills are now limited to five levels; and nope, there’s no release date.

Check back in the morning for the preview and play impressions. For now, though, hit the link for our massive interview with Ruffian’s creative director, Billy Thomson, and the game’s producer, James Cope. We’ve put this up in two parts: get the second bit here. There are new screens here.

Interview by Patrick Garratt.


VG247: The obvious one, as far as I’m concerned: there was no real reason in the in the first game to beef up your car powers, and loads of people finished without ever attending to them. What are you doing in the second game to make sure they work properly?

Billy Thomson: To make sure people actually use cars?

lol, the graphics are almost the same exact thing as I feared. I don't know how that is anywhere near excusable, it's pathetic really. It would be like releasing Halo Reach with H3's graphics, lol.

the textures actually look worse in the new one. lower res and blurry. i can't believe the geometry is exactly the same tho, that's just rediculous. at least put SOME effort into it.

i'm interested to see how well it does tho. i actually bought crackdown FOR crackdown back when it came out, but i know a LOT of people bought it for the halo 3 beta. i'd be interested to see how it does without such an addition.