Crackdown - Xbox 360

This is one of the games on the XBox 360 that i've been waiting for a long time for a variety of reasons not least being that it was developed in Dundee and is the brain child of one of the most influential players in the gaming industy; Dave Jones.

Crackdown places you in the body of a genetically enhanced law enforcement agent who has to battle to rid the land of 3 brutal crime syndicates. Throughout the game you are able to advance your skills by participating in activities such as scaling huge buildings, jumping from roof to roof, completing timed races on foot and by car and also dabbling in firearms and explosives.

It's a sand box game which means you are free to wander the map doing what you like to a certain extent. The aim is the rid the map of the criminal threat by removing gang henchmen and bosses, each of which gets progressively harder.

Think Grand Theft Auto and State of Emergency mixed together with elements of Marvel comic characters and you're on the right lines.

The single player is great but it's the online capabilities which holds the most value in my opinion. The ability to play the game in co-op mode makes the fun twice as much especially if it's with a friend and you both have headsets on. There is nothing more satisfying than setting up a huge pile of cars and blowing them up with various explosives just to see how big an explosion you can create... and big explosions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to visuals. The game has a stunning pixel shaded comic book look to it. I've yet to see pixel shaded graphics this good on another computer game. I've also yet to experience any slowdown on screen when i've got a mix of explosions, smoke, fire , flying cars and bodies and those lovely orbs floating around the place. Even from the top of the tallest building you can still see the residents of the map going about their business in their various modes of transport.

The single player game isn't the most challenging out there but as I said previously there are other elements that will occupy your attention and your quest for the full number of achievements, and that leads me onto another thing. The achievements are not your conventional ones. Sure some revolve around your main task of removing the gangs but others require you to do more, random things, such as seeing how long you can keep a car in the air for by firing rockets at it, or running down and killing a specific number of gang members in a set time limit.

The one thing that would make this game even better would be a deathmatch option. Imagine running around rooftoops in this huge virtual world chasing after or running from your friends firing and dodging rockets, grenades, machine gun fire and vehicles. It's be brilliant. 2 player co-op isn't enough to make this game a long termer. I'm hoping that something comes along in the downloadable content that'll make my geeky dreams come true.