Crackdown has gone through an odd life-cycle. It didn’t get much of a promotional push, and first impressions didn’t help it, either. On the surface, it appears to be a Grand Theft Auto clone with slightly better graphics (of which there are only 46,178 titles available). What’s more, Microsoft chose to bundle the Halo 3 beta key with it. That kind of move usually smells of desperation, and it’s usually reserved for titles that just can’t hack it on their own merits.
Despite all these things, it’s turned out to be one of the most enjoyable titles on the 360 at the moment, and it’s garnered itself a certain amount of worthy dark-horse status.