I've been making my way through GamePass games lately. One of the benefits of the Coronavirus lockdown is that you get to use the time you would have used for commuting more productively.  For me, this means video games and reading.

Even though I own the other two Crackdown games, I didn't want to buy Crackdown 3, mainly on account of the bad reviews, and because the price (on sale) has not dipped beneath the max threshold for me - so GamePass it is. I finished this game around mid-March (I think).

So here is the story from Wikipedia:
Ten years after the events of Crackdown 2, a massive terrorist attack from an unknown source cuts electrical power around the entire world. The Agency is thrust back into action after the attack is traced to the city of New Providence, controlled by the mysterious but sinister corporation TerraNova, led by Elizbeth Niemand; New Providence is the only city that still has power. The player characters - super-powered Agents - are called into the field by Agency Director Charles Goodwin (Michael McConnohie) and led by Commander Isaiah Jaxon (Terry Crews) to drop into New Providence and dismantle Terra Nova any way they can. As Jaxon briefs the agents of their mission, their drop ship is attacked by TerraNova, resulting in the deaths of everyone on board.

Echo, a member of the New Providence rebel group known as the Militia, recovers the remains of one of the agents and regenerates them. Heavily outnumbered by TerraNova’s forces, Echo enlists the agent's help in fighting back by dismantling TerraNova's infrastructure - Logistics, Science, and Enforcement. As the agent fights TerraNova, they discover that the Science branch of TerraNova has been mining a mysterious green mineral called Chimera, which Goodwin deduces is responsible for the power outage - Chimera reportedly consumes electrical power. The agent also investigates the mysterious disappearance of many New Providence citizens, discovering they have been kidnapped by TerraNova in an attempt to brainwash and create an army of genetically enhanced super-soldiers. Audio logs found throughout the game allow the agent to learn the existence of an anonymous client who reportedly paid TerraNova to perform their

Eventually, the agent assaults Elizabeth Niemand's tower and ascends to the top, where they confront Niemand, who is piloting a massive Chimera-powered dragon mech; Neimand states her desire to use the Vitalis project to make herself immortal. The agent destroys the dragon mech, killing Niemand. In the aftermath, Goodwin offers Echo a position at the Agency, which she accepts. An agent's severed arm suspended in a Vitalis tank is then seen as the voice of the anonymous client addresses the agent, stating that the Agency is the next step in the evolution of Chimera.
---------------------

Storywise, I am glad that we didn't have to deal with streets filled with mutants again (as in Crackdown 2).  Also, storywise, some of the story's finer points seem to be relayed through audio recordings (ugh) that you have to find (double ugh), which doesn't allow the player to really get the full story unless they feel like playing in completionist mode.

The gameplay was fine.  If you've played the other two games, this game definitely feels the same. Collect orbs, gain power, go unlock bases and weapons.  While scaling high towers and vertical puzzles gives you that slight feeling of vertigo that makes the game exciting, it's also frustrating when you miss a ledge and you might respawn at the base of the puzzle if you don't recall yourself quickly enough.






At the end of the day, Crackdown 3 was a fun 12-hour game, but it's nothing to really write home about.  If you are a fan of Terry Crews and you like the Agency Director's abrasive humor, it's worthwhile playing this game, but if you're easily bored by repetitive gameplay, and are expecting something different compared to the previous two games, you can just skip this one. All things considered, I'd give this a 7/10.

My stats on this playthrough:

• gamerscore: 435/1750
• Achievements: 37
• hours played: 11h 39m
• Enemies killed: 2269
• Hidden orbs found: 19
• Agility Orbs collected:  229