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Crackdown 3 Demo Reveals an Entirely Destructible City Via the Cloud

By on August 12, 2015

Gamescom 2015 came and went with a lot of ups for Microsoft and its encumbured Xbox One. I raved over the potential for backwards compatibility, which will bring Xbox 360 games to the Xbox One starting in the fall. Of the Xbox One games, though, there was just one demo that stood out as something doing a little bit different, a little bit more than anything else. And no, I’m not talking about dragon buddies, as cool as that is. I’m talking about the Crackdown 3 demo, in which a developer proved the looming possibility of an entirely destructible city. Watch this, courtesy of IGN:

The key, as explained, is Microsoft’s cloud-computing hardwired into the Xbox One’s infrastructure. Offline, the city likely won’t be nearly as destructible, but if you tune into Microsoft’s massive amount of computing resources over the internet in the multiplayer mode, it all comes down.

Previous to this, Respawn Entertainment’s Titalfall was the highest profile game to take advantage of the cloud, way back in 2014. In that game, cloud usage amounted to less lag and more AI characters running around a live multiplayer match. It’s the kind of thing that’s only cool for the people making the game. The Crackdown 3 demo, on the other hand, is immediately satisfying to watch and wonder about.

Not only is Crackdown 3 constantly relying on servers across the web to break down in granular fashion the skyscrapers in its world, it’s accessing and recreating these buildings from multiple cloud-servers at the same time. Not only does that sound cool and make for a great sentence, it isn’t nearly as confusing on first telling as it could be.

The trick for developer Reagent, of course, is turning the whole thing into a playable experience. While the original Crackdown shined for its addictive climbing and collection, and pseudo-cel-shaded stylings, the second game essentially crumbled under a complete lack of ambition. As cool as taking down a skyscraper can be, putting a game around that requires a more controlled experienced. Namely, players likely wont be equipped with mega rocket launchers and assault rifles from the get go, only earning the right to destroy absolutely everything after some sort of progression. What that progression is, exactly, is up to the smarter people.

Crackdown 3 is due out sometime in Summer 2016 exclusively to the Xbox One.

About Trevor Ruben

Though I contribute to many online publications on a regular basis, including The Checkout, the crux of my writing lies in video games. When not writing, I'm often streaming a variety of games on Twitch.

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