Crackdown 3 was a disappointment, no arguments there, but anyone that says it is actually a bad game or one of the worst of 2019 is 100% full of crap. Them's fightin' words, I know, but everything around Crackdown 3 in 2019 was so freaking frustrating that I need to get it all out. Strap in, friends, because this is gonna be a doozy. Read more and watch gameplay right here.
There is a certain former games journalist turned professional YouTube hate gremlin that feeds off negativity who has made it his mission to convince people that Crackdown 3 is terrible and not worth your time and one of the worst games of recent memory. He's wrong. He's so jaded by games at this point, plus driven by some irrational hate for this game in particular, that he's lost all reason when it comes to Crackdown 3. Of course, negativity and cynicism pays the bills, so you can never tell if he's actually being honest about anything or just playing up his character for the sweet patreon money because you have to keep giving the drooling morons what they want so they keep donating.
Crackdown 3 is, in fact, not terrible. It isn't great. It isn't nearly as good as the first game. But it isn't terrible. It's totally worth playing. It is the #1 OK Game That People Pretend Is Bad of 2019.
All of the discussion around Crackdown 3 has been pretty much like that. It was the first new exclusive Xbox title in a while so people had crazy high expectations for it. It also followed on the footsteps of Sony's recent cinematic Sad Dad explosion and, for whatever reason, dumb shits on the Internet have decided that every game has to be a cinematic Sad Dad game in order to be considered "good". When Crackdown 3 was "just" a video game-y video game that just let people goof off and have fun, somehow that wasn't good enough anymore.
News Flash - Not everyone loves Sony's slow paced cinematic Sad Dad crap. In fact, some of us are freaking tired of "AAA" games in general these days. Crackdown 3 was criticized for "feeling like a game from 2007" and I can't for the life of me understand why that is a problem. What is wrong with games actually feeling like games and just getting out of the way and letting you have fun with them?
That's what Crackdown 3 does. It gives you a sandbox to play in with a bunch of fun toys and lets you do whatever you want. It feels great to control. The weapons are awesome. The mayhem you can cause is fantastic. It's just goofy ridiculous over the top fun. It isn't especially memorable, but in the moment it's a heck of a lot of fun and I'll take that over a "deep" hours long slog any day.
The weirdest thing about all of this is that Crackdown 3 is on freaking Xbox Game Pass. There is no reason for anyone not to give it a try. Why so many have tried so hard to keep people from trying it at all is just fracking nonsense.
