Crackdown 3’s mediocre, collectible-heavy campaign and poor multiplayer are rarely satisfying busywork.
Because Crackdown 3’s modes are so different (and we didn’t get access to multiplayer ahead of time), I reviewed each of them separately. You can find the individual reviews below for my in-depth thoughts on each piece.
This final, full Verdict and score at the bottom covers the entirety of Crackdown 3, but is not an average of the two. Though the Wrecking Zone multiplayer is bad, it’s such a tiny slice of the whole package that its presence doesn’t weigh Crackdown 3 down too much.
“On paper, Crackdown 3’s single-player campaign checks all the boxes that made the original an enjoyable game – but playing through it is about as exciting as running down a checklist and becomes downright repetitive after the first few hours. Its second-to-second combat is uninteresting outside of a couple of boss fights, and even though there’s a compulsive satisfaction to be had in crossing off its many itemized activities, it’s never any more than that.”
“While the environmental destruction of Crackdown 3: Wrecking Zone is impressive, it misses every opportunity to use it in interesting ways to enhance the otherwise barebones and uninteresting multiplayer combat, where aiming is all but completely automated. You can see everything Wrecking Zone has to offer in about 30 minutes, minus the time you’re going to spend matchmaking after every round. Unless a lot changes, Wrecking Zone just isn’t worth the time it takes.”
The Verdict
All these years later, Crackdown 3 delivers on what made the original an enjoyable game, but never much more. Though the compulsive hunt for collectibles can be satisfying for a time, its overall campaign doesn’t evolve beyond a mostly bland auto-lock shooting gallery. Its tacked-on Wrecking Zone multiplayer highlights some neat cloud-powered destruction that’s never used to great effect in this tiny and woefully barebones mode.
