It's Crackdownload time

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 January, 2007

Real Time Worlds' demo now up.

As promised, Xbox Live Gold members can this morning say hello to a playable demo of Real Time Worlds' Crackdown.

At 1.24GB it'll certainly take a healthy bite out of your 360 hard disk, but then it does feature co-operative online play in addition to a single-player trial.

And of course it's free, although if you're only an Xbox Live Silver member then you're out of luck - you'll have to wait another week to get your A buttons on it.

The full version of Crackdown, exclusive to 360, is due out on 23rd February in Europe. And, as has been much publicised, certain copies will be able to act as keys to get you onto the Halo 3 multiplayer beta this coming spring.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (70) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #1 5 years ago

    get it now, it's brilliant!

  • S.J.Rogers #2 5 years ago

    I am stuck at work...

    Bugger...!!!!!

  • L42yB #3 5 years ago

    free crack? crack...? cracker..? wezza crack? gimme! but downloads only in june...

    /stumbles off

  • lennon #4 5 years ago

    Damn it I have an FA CUP replay to go to tonight!!! Grr.

    /wonders if misses would be able to figure out how to download it?

  • the_dudefather #5 5 years ago

    omg gta ripoff, i mean its all macho bullshit shooting and jumping with big cars and guns, where is the originality these days we need more games like okami and ico to make the world a better place not all this hyped up shooting crap, at least gta is tongue in cheek and was cool before it sold out to the man, this whole game is a mico$oft way of making money by selling a halo demo at the end of the day

    //turns off auto opinion EG comment submitter

    looking forward to playing this, looks really good

  • Vin #6 5 years ago

    Dudefather wins, close the thread.

  • Dizzy #7 5 years ago

    o O... but ... but.. I am playing Burning Crusade like mad ;)

  • sharpfish #8 5 years ago

    downloading now!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 12:04

  • asphaltcowboy #9 5 years ago

    Stuck at work! Then going to the gym, then going to see Rocky!
    Can't wait to play this! It looks so much more interesting that GTA!

    GAH!

  • Yossarian #10 5 years ago

    I'm at work :(

    but I saw 'coming soon' boxes in GAME with the Halo 3 beta sticker on them :D

  • BadBoyBonner #11 5 years ago

    Grr being upgraded to 8 meg line hope the line is currently going @high speed only live 400 meters from exchange! lol) but went down to 0.3meg last night (from 7.2meg!) while fluctuating! lol

    Anyone got this yet really been looking forward to it!
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 12:14

  • Carpathian #12 5 years ago

    I'm in the "stuck at work" clan too. Grrrr.

    That'll teach me to keep looking at this thread and compounding the frustration !

  • JoeyBean #13 5 years ago

    In Work too - Another 8 hours till I get to download this Bad Boy

  • AtomicBanana #14 5 years ago

    I'm in the 'lazy student bastard' clan myself. The game is pretty fun, nice solid engine and fun to make stuff explode :p Can't wait to put it through it's paces on co-op, still waiting for my mate to download it now.

  • lambtron #15 5 years ago

    "Can't wait to put it through it's paces on co-op."

    Yeah I've played and liked it. Think it will really shine in COOP.

  • S.J.Rogers #16 5 years ago

    Must give up work, win the lottery and then spend the rest of my life playing computer games and dating Lisa Snowdon.

  • lambtron #17 5 years ago

    Sounds like a plan SJ :D

  • BadBoyBonner #18 5 years ago

    36% complete - come on shitty pipe! lol

  • linksdad #19 5 years ago

    Anyone elses download speed from XBOX live turned to crap these last couple of months, takes a freakin age to download anything when it used to be pretty rapid?

  • Scurrminator #20 5 years ago

    been playing it at work for the last week (see the forum for thoughts) and it's really very good, a lot of fun in coop!

  • S.J.Rogers #21 5 years ago

    That due to the amount of people with 360's now...

    When i got one over a year ago there were so few people with one it ment that download speeds were RAPID..!

    Add eating alot of curry to my previous life plan.

  • Dizzy #22 5 years ago

    "Anyone elses download speed from XBOX live turned to crap these last couple of months, takes a freakin age to download anything when it used to be pretty rapid? "

    Live is using a system where content is cached on local servers as close to your ISP as possible, so speeds are usuallly good if you wait a few days when all the servers have received content. (download) Speeds are bad if content is not cached because the available bandwidth is limited, priority goes to bandwidth for gaming.

  • korruptor #23 5 years ago

    Thought that was chico time for a minute.

  • BadBoyBonner #24 5 years ago

    now upto 59% so not sure what speed thats wortking out at but seems reasonable download speed
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 13:04

  • BadBoyBonner #25 5 years ago

    Rough maths

    1240mb x 23% (diff between posts with relaitive times)/16mins = 17.825 Mb's a minute.

    or about 297kb's per second.

    Sounds OK to me.

  • Darren #26 5 years ago

    I got someone at home to start downloading the demo for me while I'm at work so hopefully by the time I get home, it'll be sat there on my Xbox 360's HDD waiting for me to play it! :)

  • captainrentboy #27 5 years ago

    Dammit all,I got rid of my hdtv just yesterday (I'm wanting a bigger one)but I've got to wait another 10 days for the new one to be delivered,my first impression of Crackdown has to be on a 20" 4:3 piece of poop running through composite :(
    (Not intended to be offensive to folk who play on a tv like that continuously by the way)
    Doe anyone know what's happening with the H3 beta keys?I asked in another thread but was bloody ignored.Will the boxes actually be marked on the outside,or is it a golden ticket type scenario?

  • BadBoyBonner #28 5 years ago

    Possibly one of the biggest selling points of the Xbox 360 game Crackdown is the fact that a lot of the the boxes of the action-driving hybrid game will include a prestigious Halo 3 Beta key. We already know that a selected amount of Crackdown copies will contain the beta keys set for the US, but according to GAME, the UK's largest video games retailer (unless they have made a mistake of course), every single copy of Crackdown they sell will include a Halo 3 Beta key. It is being sold as "Crackdown with Halo 3 Beta Access" on their website and the terms and conditions state "Requires Xbox Live Gold Subscription and Hard Drive. Beta comes on all Crackdown discs".

    http://xb ox360.qj.net/All-UK-Crackdown-c...

  • BadBoyBonner #29 5 years ago

    Buying a copy of Crackdown for the Xbox 360 (that's specially marked), can get you a Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta key. It's nice to see Microsoft using Halo's popularity to promote software developed by other companies (Real Time World in this case). For all of you who are looking forward to playing Crackdown, this is some incentive to pickup your copy as soon as the game releases in February 2007.

    http://ww w.tech2.com/india/news/xbox360-...

  • BadBoyBonner #30 5 years ago

    Perhaps EuroGamer could do a bit of journalism and find out?

  • BadBoyBonner #31 5 years ago

    Minimum Requirements Includes an invite to participate in the coveted Halo 3 multiplayer beta program when it becomes available. The Halo 3 multiplayer beta should begin in spring 2007. Hard drive and a valid Xbox Live Gold subscription required to participate in Halo 3 Beta test.

    from play.com

  • Carpathian #32 5 years ago

    "I got someone at home to start downloading the demo for me while I'm at work so hopefully by the time I get home, it'll be sat there on my Xbox 360's HDD waiting for me to play it! :)"

    That, Darren, is a very good example of either lateral thinking or impatience ;o)
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 13:44

  • BadBoyBonner #33 5 years ago

    grr downloads just finsihed an sat here eating a bacon buttie! lol decisions decisions!

  • thefishmonger #34 5 years ago

    do you still get 1 month of Gold membership free when signing up a new xbxo live account? If yes, then grab the demo that way!

  • BadBoyBonner #35 5 years ago

    Is one of the symptoms of epilepsy an inhuman speed of reading text? If not the warnings a bit fast isn't it? lol

    Seem to be getting all Nintendo esque. Next it will be telling ya to play it jogging on the spot to get fitter! Which I always do anyway ;-)

  • thinktank #36 5 years ago

    trkdies 6to tyype jogginfhg

    /fails

  • lambtron #37 5 years ago

    I think you may have misunderstood...

    Re-read what he wrote.

  • BadBoyBonner #38 5 years ago

    WOW Awesome

    Everything I hoped it would be. Run an gun spot on. Can grab any ledge (though strangely not the bars from side of advertising hoardings?). Sounds like the voice over is done from the guy who did the Starship troopers film; at any moment I expected him to ask me if I would like to know more! lol

    Bridge the gap to GTA? I do not think I will ever be able to run around a virtual city again without massive leaps! lol

    Only tried single player, has a 30 minute limit once your level increases to a certain amount I think (seemed to on first play) which sounds like ages but was no where near long enough! lol would have gone out an bought it right now if I could!

  • absolutezero #39 5 years ago

    Just had a proper sit down play with the game, combat is a bit scrappy and I wish there was more melee animations apart from the kick.

    Other than that it was fantastic, I took out 2 generals before I ran out of time. Never touched the races yet, both kinds. Found a bunch of hidden markers.

  • in5ane #40 5 years ago

    Bah, another demo where I need to decide what stuff to delete to make enough room for download!

    I'm sure I speak for every human being alive that the 360 would benefit from a bigger HD. Hurry up MS!

  • Kiigan #41 5 years ago

    Co-op and lvl 4 agility = awesome.

  • BadBoyBonner #42 5 years ago

    Just maxed out the agility - great speed an height, loved it.

    in5ane - I was like that until Gears of War started fking up all the time - found out it was the hardrive - formatted it - as recommended at various places on the net. Cleared the problem right up - but lost all my saves!! Apart from gears of war strangely, seemed to save my stuff online i.e. chapters completed etc all other stuff disappeared. Not sure I can face going all the way through Fight Night again for the last 100 points! lol

  • Jabbaa #43 5 years ago

    This has really surprised me. Wasnt expecting a lot from it and the inclusion of the halo beta seemed like a desperate measure to shift copies of a piece of tat. However after playing this demo, its great! drive around gta style or, much more fun, power up agility and jump about rooftops like a spunkless-spidey. Had 3 goes through so far, got a mate downloading now to try out co-op. Almost hope MS dont keep pulling games like this out the bag or I am never going to clear my overdraft.

  • sharpfish #44 5 years ago

    It downloaded fairly decently for me (better than PES demo did when that was launched). Only given it a quick try, gfx are nice (kinda cell shaded-ish), love the funfair area (a soft spot), didn't have much time to delve into gameplay yet.

    I think the main character runs a bit funny and I kept trying to take cover (too much Gears Of War has made these things seem more irksome). Feels far better than Saints Row did on first impression.

    Must.. play.. more...

  • BadBoyBonner #45 5 years ago

    I did think EA had effectively prevented anyone else from using RenderWare for any future projects, was this agreed before their(criterion) acquisition or have EA changed their stance?
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 16:43

  • prettyboytim #46 5 years ago

    Has anyone got to the top of Agent Tower yet? So far I've got about half way up, but as I only get to play the 360 at work, I've not been able to spend an obsessive 3 hours on yet...

    The most fun is climbing buildings.

  • sanctusmortis #47 5 years ago

    Grr. And me with my 360 currently off the network as it's downstairs on the clearer TV... suppose that's the final incentive to swap the TVs over. Having read Scurrminator et al's demo thoughts over the last week, I NEED THIS DEMO.

  • lambtron #48 5 years ago

    Did anyone notice in the attract video there's a bit where a guy blows up a car with a rocket launcher and then the flaming body flies out and he shoots the flaming body with another rocket.

    Man that guy must have slept with his mum or something :D.

  • BadBoyBonner #49 5 years ago

    Ya can get a sort of mortar canon from killing the agent on the beach, an that seems to set (bad) people on fire plenty!

    Not found rocket launcher yet. Did the first race (do a u turn right out of the tunnel) didn't result in much happening.

    Will have another "crack" at it!

  • Eighthours #50 5 years ago

    This is set to prove the power of Marketplace. Watch those pre-orders go through the roof.

    A title that would have sold bugger-all in November is now going to fly off the shelves, thanks to this demo and the Halo 3 beta. Microsoft have done very well in raising people's awareness of this potentially killer title.

  • OhWiseOne #51 5 years ago

    Big surprise to me. Looks good.

  • DrunKao #52 5 years ago

    It's fantastic! Better than GTA and Saint's Row.

  • J_C_X #53 5 years ago

    Pretty awesome I have to say the 360 seems to be tearing me away more from my PS3/Wii.
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/07 @ 19:47

  • Razorus #54 5 years ago

    OH GOD, WHY IS THIS TAKING SO LONG TO DOWNLOAD!

  • Dizzy #55 5 years ago

    Pretty good stuff... did some co-op and was great fun. Almost a guaranteed million seller IMHO.

  • effinwooly #56 5 years ago

    great game lads !! very surprised tbh

  • Nostromo13 #57 5 years ago

    this game is surprisngly good, can't wait for the full version.

  • davisorle #58 5 years ago

    Is it really any good? To be honest I was not impressed at all from the vids and stuff I've watched for the game... I started downloading it early today but since I would start work at 12 midnight I fell asleep and didn't get the chance to check it out before work either :p. It's bearly 3am and I'm freakin tired.. :( I haven't got a dayoff for the last month and a half!!! 7 days a week! Holly crap! No mercy.... :(

  • Gl3n #59 5 years ago

    Awesome game :)

    Not sure if it's worth full price though.

  • darkphoenix #60 5 years ago

    I was unimpressed by the videos, but the demo is great!

    Tried it tonight and it is pretty enjoyable, ages beyond the bloody awful Saints Row.

    Jumping and climbing buildings is the best, along with great graphics, nice physics and a decent frame rate.
    The combat is a little too simple for my taste.

    Shame about a bit of tearing here and there.

  • db3 #61 5 years ago

    First impressions are that it could be fun, although not at all the next gen GTA experience I was expecting.

    Graphics are nasty if you're now used to the visuals of Lost Planet and Gears.
    Characters and objects have a cell shaded look with a horrible outline (like Red Steel) but the environment looks more normal.

    Annoyed by MS tactics of including the Halo3 beta when released - that should be just available on live to all Gold members. Makes you wonder, what's wrong with the game!

  • captainrentboy #62 5 years ago

    I doubt there's too much wrong with the game,but it's quite an easy to way to guarantee a few thosand more copies being sold so of course they're going to do it like this.
    I mean we had our chances to get the beta for free in the numerous competitions running on the net.
    Annnyway I was one of the fools who was going to reluctantly buy Crackdown just for the beta,but I actually thoroughly enjoyed the demo(it's all about maxing out the agility and strength baby)and will quite happily be buying it next month.

  • sharpfish #63 5 years ago

    I may buy it when it's reduced, it had a nice abstract/stylistic feel to it. While It still isn't a "next gen GTA beater" (rockstar can only do that realistically) in my book, it has it's merits.

    The graphics range from late 90's blocks of grey, low poly stuff to quite stunning looking views of the city; THe lighting helping create a semi-realistic feel when looking down busy streets. It seems full of life.

    The running still annoys me as it seems the animation speed is too fast for the distance travelled, i've become spoiled by Gears of war's meatier/realistic feel on the characters so it's more noticeable.

    I didn't get blown away by the demo as I did with Dead Rising (Which I went on to buy, and it's one of my favourite X360 games) and the gfx are not quite as good (plus there's plenty of tearing when things get busy in Crackdown).

    Based on the demo: 7/10 - if bought at budget/reduced price 8/10.

    Obv the full game is going to be a lot better with more content and once you get enough ability upgrades you would really get the most fun from it.

    A borderline purchase (possibly why the Halo 3 thing is included, which I'm not interested in as I want to see the final game when it's released "fresh" not scraps of multiplayer here and there spoiling the build up).

    Edited by 1 at 24/01/07 @ 08:55

  • asphaltcowboy #64 5 years ago

    Had a very quick go on it this morning and seemed like a lot of fun, and it looks great! Will wait til I've had a longer go before I can really comment on it... now all I have to do is get this damn "job" lark out of the way!

  • penhalion #65 5 years ago

    My 360 just left for repair! Damned cheap solder!

    I hope they start using bloody sockets for the chips on the 360 as I'm struggling to understand why they soldered them directly to the board. The solder (being lead free) simply isn't up to the heat the chips generate and either melts or cracks as a result.

    A simple bloody socket would have removed this problem and a propper heat sink on the chips would have eliminated all but actual manufature problems like loose components.

    ....Gonna miss the crackdown demo for sure now!
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/07 @ 10:30

  • S.J.Rogers #66 5 years ago

    @ penhalion

    The lead free solder is awful.

    The ROSH and WEEE compliance’s have made life for all electronic manufactures hard.

    I myself own a PCB manufacturing plant and the change to lead free has been a struggle.

    You also seem to know a lot about the component and soldering aspects of electronic manufacture.

    Any reason for this..?

  • SomaticSense #67 5 years ago

    Brilliant, brilliant fun. One of the most fun games I've played for ages.

    Full of flaws though like the ice-like car handling, controls (why map the track selection to the shoudler pads when the d-pad is a more suitable place and perfectly free?), and terrible camera when driving, which I felt I was having to wrestle with way to often to get it to look where I wanted it to look when reversing (it switches back and forth way too quickly. It should change to the reverse view when I want it to. The shoulder buttons would've been perfect for camera control........). I would also much prefer the 'reload' button to be on the opposite shoulder button as well, but only because I've been playing Gears and Just Cause and has started to be instinctive to press that to reload, but that's just me.
    But it is just a demo though, and one for a game that isn't to be released for another month so these issues could easily have been sorted by then. But then even if they're not, I'm still getting it as the fun levels far outweigh any of these issues.

    But the game is massive fun though. A perfect addition to the GTA-style sandbox genre which was getting a little stagnant and short of ideas.

    I've had to delete the demo to force me to wait for the game, as I knew I'd be playing it every day spoiling the full release!!!!

  • soong #68 5 years ago

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=wKidbdC-E8E
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=wKidbdC-E8E
    [/link]

    Boom :)

  • sharpfish #69 5 years ago

    After playing the demo quite a few times It's not quite doing it for me now. I've done the leaping from roof to roof, and all that but it doesn't quite gel together as a completely solid/polished title. Mainly I feel from the controls (The camera snaps back too quickly after looking around, the lock on is flawed, charater doesn't feel nice to control due to sudden jerky take off when running).

    Yes you can work around all of that (and the mild tearing) but even underneath it there's not really a lot of game esp if you have an aversion to the typical hispanic/gangs/villains/drugs plot being rehashed yet again.

    I can see it's good points but it's nowhere near the standard of Dead Rising, Gears Of War, Viva P which are all top games. So... 6/10 now, a title that get's tiring quickly once you've tried out it's "cool" or "gimmicky" features. As I said before, i'm sure the full game is vastly superior but it's not a buy for me (probably not even on budget i'm afraid)

    Now I suppose I'll get flamed for having an opinion that goes against the crowd ;P
    Edited by 2 at 25/01/07 @ 09:14

  • SomaticSense #70 5 years ago

    You've only played the demo and you are rating the game already based on that???? What a pessimistic fucker you are.

    Don't expect to get flamed because you're opinion differs. Expect to get flamed because you are offering your final opinion on a fucking game demo, which for all you know could only contain a fraction of the games content.