Crackdown 3

Crackdown 3, an action-adventure game from 2019, was developed by Sumo Digital and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. It picks up the series roughly nine years after the 2010 Xbox 360 title *Crackdown 2*. Initially planned for a 2016 release, it faced several delays before launching on February 15, 2019. Critics gave it mixed reviews, appreciating the return of familiar series features and the fun factor, but faulting it for a lack of new ideas and a dated feel.

**Gameplay** The game keeps the core loop from the first two *Crackdown* games: players must dismantle multiple organizations controlling the city of New Providence by eliminating their bosses and Kingpins, wrecking their facilities, and weakening their infrastructure. To do this, players can use a range of weapons—guns, grenades, rocket launchers—along with their own physical strength. Any vehicle found in the city can be driven. Picking up a new weapon or driving a new vehicle for the first time adds it to the player's collection at any supply point. The "Skills for Kills" system returns: killing enemies with various tools and collecting hidden pickups around the city rewards orbs that boost core skills—agility, firearms, strength, explosives, and driving. Each skill level-up unlocks a new maneuver or item tied to that skill, like a ground-pound from leveling strength or a double-jump from agility. Agility Orbs, Rooftop Races, Driving Rings, and Road Races are scattered throughout the city, each increasing the related skill when collected or completed; Hidden Orbs boost all skills at once.

Different activities are linked to specific bosses and underbosses. Completing tasks like destroying vehicle lockups, freeing monorail stations, or wrecking machinery gives the player more intel on each boss. Once enough intel is gathered, the boss's location appears on the map. Each branch of TerraNova controls a part of the final boss's defenses, and taking down a branch boss weakens one aspect of the final fortress. However, causing too much chaos in one branch raises the player's heat level, sending more reinforcements from that branch. Staying at the highest heat level too long triggers a city-wide lockdown, forcing the player to kill a set number of reinforcements to lift it and regain access to supply points.