Edge Review: Crackdown 2

Edge reviews Crackdown 2, but questions whether Ruffian Games' debut offers too much freedom.

[lelo2play]

This is simply a fun game to play. Reviewers that give 3's or 4's to this game are a joke. They reviewed the game without playing it, or don't know what fun is.

[klado]

But not cus it is fun to play and is on a system of your preference deserve great score...

Lair was fun to play, heavenly sword was damn fun to play, Forklore was fun to play, but reviewer destroyed these games, why?

It is not only the fun you may have with it that has to be taken in account at the time of a review...graphic, history, lasting appeal, gameplay, etc...if the gameplay is fun give it a good score, and clearly enough the gameplay is good, but ALL the other characteristic are lackluster, graphics, and history and lasting appeal, do you think it deserve a freaking 8? cus of it gameplay only?, oh come on, then heavy rain should have gotten a 10 all over, but it didn't, only fanboy say yes it is a great game to this failure of a sequel, where the same bashed god of war 3 being more of the same... it is not a sequel but an expansion.

[CrippleH]

Hahaha Edge as expected.

[Acquiesc3]

That's exactly what I was about to say. lol

[koehler83]

I played the demo for all of 5 minutes before decided it's trash.

[J-Smith]

that means its a 6/10 then

[Lombax]

http://edgevsmeta.blogspot....

[Silly gameAr]

ahhh! Posted the same link lol.

[Kingdom Come]

So, wait, does that mean MGS4 was a 6/10?
Does that mean FFXIII was a 3/10?

[Biggest]

You're doing it backwards. It's -2 for Xbox exclusives and +2 for PS3 exclusives. That blog they're posting explains it.

[klado]

Wow, not to sound like a fanboy, but nor prototype or this game deserve to be scored over infamous, ok these sandbox could be branded all the same, and fun too but it seem they are like this guy from IGN, which dished infamous cus he doesn't care about a good story in sandbox game, this game doesn't hold a single candle in the story aparment even less in the lasting appeal and their still score it over infamous, nor even in graphics...F.ck edge.

[BeaArthur]

Seems to be an average/solid game. I wasn't planning on picking it up at launch and now I'm definitely not. I will pick it up down the road when it's $30 or less. Demo was pretty entertaining.

[BYE]

Wait...isn't Edge supposed to be harsh?

Ah I see, it's a 360 exclusive.

[bjornbear]

not.

[TheBreezyBB]

True that

So Yakuza 3 is 6/10 and Crackdown is an 8/10 Just like MGS4 weird!!

i really thought they were harsh on games but, it's not the case!!

[table]

I keep trying to tell myself that there is no bias, they have no reason for a bias against the playstation3, but their reviews just don't make any sense and just don't add up. A supposedly harsh website giving a game that has scored consistantly around 7/10 an 8/10. Endless instances of this if you look up their reviews for 360 v ps3 games. They did give lbp a 10/10, but perhaps that was yet another bias, a british dev bias. Ridiculous to think that they actually consider Crackdown 2 equal to MGS4. Just plain ridiculous and pathetic. And to put into perspective, only 1 score lower than Uncharted2. Are these games really that close? I think not and the entire industry thinks not.

[bjornbear]

i expected more actually.

[Corrwin]

A bit mediocre by Edge's own 7-10 review scale on 360 games.
They should adopt the 1-7 review scale they use for PS3 games.

[Count]

It's not like they gave Uncharted 2 a 9 or anything.

[ChronoJoe]

Have you played Uncharted 2? a 9 is between an 8.5 and a 9.4... a 9, is a poor score for Uncharted.

[Corrwin]

They gave a 9/10 for a game everybody else was giving 10/10 and calling Game of the Year.

A 7/10 might have seemed a bit too obvious. But if you're still not convinced, go ahead and read the study posted by a few folks in the comments, how Edge tend to differ from their contemporaries.

[TheBlackSmoke]

Uncharted 2 basically had to go above and beyond the bar in every category of games design in order to achieve its high scores. Crackdown 2 is a piss poor and lazy attempt of a sequel to a mediocre game and yet none of this is accounted for because "teh gameplayz".

[Why o why]

http://edgevsmeta.blogspot....

[BYE]

Excellent analysis. Edge totally got destroyed.

[sanshatak]

8 from edge is a realy good score,and i agre with it,this is a very good game fun to play,and it has smt special,at first it seemed to me a trash,but when i played it i really loved it,i think its one of the MOST OPEN WORLD games.

[krisprolls]

Edge as a reviewer is indeed absolutely meaningless :

http://edgevsmeta.blogspot....

Here is the conclusion to those calculations (which are statistical facts and as such can't be denied) :

"EDGE is biased to give 360 exclusives higher scores and PS3 exclusives lower scores. Their scores should not be taken at face value, as the platform unfortunately influences a game's score on EDGE. EDGE magazine has well written reviews, but their journalistic integrity is questionable."

As an advertising website for MS and the 360, Edge does its job though.

I hope for them MS paycheck is good, they have to lie so much for that money.

[krisprolls]

Remember Edge wrote :

"If Infamous 2 can hold a candle to Crackdown 2, we will eat our hats"

Now that Crackdown is 70 on meta, do you want more salt with your hat, Edge ?

Take it a like a man now. I want a video on youtube.

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

Simply because they at least are trying with a story...Crackdown is and was is search and destroy and collect orbs....

[edhe]

Which is why it's even more annoying to see people lambast it for a lack of narrative or a storyline - it's not meant to have one, it's an openworld sandbox toybox game.

It's like complaining about lack of multiplayer in games like bioshock or mass effect..

[Biggest]

That isn't a very good comparison. Why not compare it to Toy Story 3? It has a full blown toybox mode called "Toy Box". But it also has a full story mode as well. Nevermind. Crackdown 2, according to you, is just half a game. It deserves even lower scores then.

[Dazel]

How can I be stupid for liking/not liking a particular game. What's stupid is fanboys bashing a game for a console they don't own.

[SephireX]

This score is interesting. If you think of all the 7s this game has received and then think about how Edge normally score games below the average, there is certainly a suggestion that Edge favours the 360. This is no great surprise, seeing that statistics of past game reviews point towards this conclusion as well. Thus, there appears to be little reason to pay attention to Edge's review scores on exclusive games for either 360 or PS3. BTW, inFamous shits all over the original Crackdown and vomits all over this one. Imagine what infamous 2 will do!

[ChronoJoe]

Not that this score is that hard to believe mind you.

But giving the game a poor score like Destructoid would quite possibly mean that they wouldn't get any exclusive views into any other future titles, from the publisher (Microsoft). So it's in every journalists incentive to up the score a little. (Not that that's right, but it happens in the industry)

I mean, you could do these studies (like EdgeVs360Meta) on many reviewers, particularly those like Planet XBOX, and they will all come up higher than meta. Just the way stuff works.

So are there really any trustworthy reviewers anymore?

[edhe]

Not if you're a fanboi, no.

[HoofHearted]

Edge has always said they reward innovation and evolution in games yet they give Crackdown 1.5 a VERY high score for basically doing nothing different?

Good job Edge. At least you're consistent in your inconsistency.

[edhe]

Why does a game need to do things different to get a good review?

If it's a fun game it's a fun game, and will score higher than a nonfun game.

[HoofHearted]

...but when a website SPECIFICALLY SAYS they reward games with higher scores when they innovate and don't just copy formats, it DOES matter. Edge and Gametrailers constantly say this and constantly go back on what they just said.

[josh14399]

edge are odd reviewers they are overly harsh on reviews and then randomly they will give a game 10 or a 9 even though if the game isn't much better than games they gave a 7 to

[edhe]

For my last bubble - Edge look past the usual tripe and look for gameplay value within a game. So a game which is higher in fun, despite being less polished, will get a better score. see singularity - it's well regarded because it has fun gameplay mechanics and a good enough reason to pull you through the game.

Crackdown is, and always will be, a fun game. If the fanbois are too busy thinking that it's not been iterated enough, or the graphics aren't shiny enough - then leave them to their folly, one day they'll grow up.

[gypsygib]

Edge shouldn't even be included in metacritic scores any more, their reviews are often so off the mark it makes them a joke. I know reviews are largely an opinion, but as a professional reviewer ones scores shouldn't deviate from the industries opinion as often as Edge's does - there is a standard created by the aggregate in which accuracy can be measured and Edge is a massive deviation from the norm. The game has poor gun play, story, and graphics and uses the same city from the first game! It's a game primarily Built around item collection - they do that better than most but whether it be feathers, shards, etc., to make a game in which the best gameplay mechanic is item collection is very lame. Charging full price for this game is a crime, it's not worth more than 20 bucks as it's clear no resources were put into it - creative or financial. This would have been and 8/10 if it was cheap DLC as a full game and compared to other titles in the genre it's very bad.

[Funky Town_TX]

an opinion. My experiences changes with games from time to time. One day I may enjoy game x more than game y and the next day it could be different. I'm no reviewer but my opinion tends to change about said game. The problem with this is that there is a demo. If there was no demo then people may be on the fence about a purchase.

[Funky Town_TX]

If you played the demo and you liked it get the game. If you played the demo and did not like it then don't buy it. If you don't have a 360, and don't plan on getting one, then why does the review matter to you? I have purchased 10/10 games that I hated, and I have purchased 6/10 games that I have liked.

[Funky Town_TX]

Edge should just give all PS3 exclusives a 12/10 and give them all GOTY. I bet everyone will be happy then.

[biggame901]

Just like others who have posted it before, EDGE's review are lacking in credibility. It's been proven and shown that EDGE is biased towards the 360, which in my mind, makes all of their reviews questionable.

Regarding the game, the general consensus is that it appears average, and a step back from the original.

[stuntman_mike]

for me EDGE just are too much up their own backsides, I stopped buying them awhile back.

I also think they have made a rod for their backs by comparing it to infamous 2 which looks like its doing a lot of new things compared to crackdown 2 (really enjoyed crackdown 1).

[N4PS3Fanboys]

The same score as God of War III. Nice! Definitely picking this one up!