When Crackdown came out a good three years ago, it offered Xbox 360 owners one of the finest sandbox games on the platform, and easily the most entertaining one. The long awaited sequel is here, and while it doesn’t add much new to the series, it sticks to the concept that made the original fun: lots of fast paced, explosive action, and a huge, explorable city.

In Crackdown 2, you play as a super soldier who can throw cars, jump buildings and shoot a lot of guns, but first you need to play enough to upgrade your skills in order to do so — just like in the original. For instance, to jump higher, you have to collect green orbs scattered around the city, a fun mini game in an of itself which can easily become obsessive.

You’ll be playing in the same city as before: Pacific City, and the layout is pretty much the same. The districts and roads, as wells as the cell shaded style and visuals — which is a bit of a disappointment, since Crackdown 2 more or less looks like the original, yet the original was released over three years ago. Your objectives are the same: take out the gangs that infest the city, but now, there’s something extra: come night time, a new kind of enemy emerges: mutants. The missions are pretty much like last time: lots of run and gun and almost no story. We would’ve appreciated the developer doing a bit more than last time here, but unfortunately, they seems to stick a bit too much to the original, both for the good and bad. But while it’s the same city, the buildings are crumbling, and the people who inhabit it are depressed and pretty much wander around on the roads, begging to be run over. You’ll have a hard time avoiding running citizens over in Crackdown 2.

While the missions are somewhat repetitive, you can now play through them with up to four friends over Xbox 360, which is a great addition. Another great aspect is that the game runs incredibly smooth with no loading times, despite taking place in a huge city. and once again, the vast city is a feature in and of itself, which once again offers lots of exploration and orb hunting. Overall, Crackdown 2 will satisfy the fans of the original, but it’s just feels kinda shallow.

The Good:
Keeps the same, fun gameplay formula
High-paced, intense action
Runs smooth
Huge city to explore

The Bad:
Not much new
Can get repetitive
Visuals are unimpressive

Overall score: 8/10