North Texas Daily

Game Pass is a monthly/yearly subscription service on the Xbox One. Every month they release titles new and old onto the roster, sometimes adding games from this generation as well as the 360 and the original Xbox library. If you’re a college student/gamer on a budget, there are plenty of great offerings on this service that will make you forget you used to spend 60 bucks on a new game every week that you may not have even liked. Seriously, this service is worth the price.

My task is simple: highlight a game weekly and talk about why it might be worth a look. This week is all about “Crackdown 3,” which came out on Game Pass Feb. 15. It’s Microsoft’s latest offering in the long-running franchise as well as the most recent Xbox published exclusively. It’s a game that’s been stuck in development hell since its announcement in 2014 and although it faced many delays, it is finally here. This game is tricky because although I can personally say it’s worth a standard $60 price tag to me, there are quality-of-life details it lacks. Simultaneously, it looks vibrant and decidedly aged.

However, while “Crackdown 3” was in development well before Game Pass was announced, the delays and problems Sumo Digital (the developer) ran into may have been a driving factor in the release of the game on their service. It is hard to say most games on the service aren’t worth a monthly or yearly subscription asked, especially when offered with a library of games ranging from this year all the way back to “Ninja Gaiden” on the original Xbox. 

Anyway, more about the game.

I’ve spent about seven hours in its open world and have done the majority of tasks to do. Collect agility orbs, liberate prisoners and take down robotic regimes: these are just a few of the semi-varied objectives in the game. As you collect the orbs, you can jump higher, run faster, dash mid-air — the works.

The longer you play, the more fun it becomes as you bound from skyscraper to skyscraper effortlessly. It is not particularly deep and I have no idea what the story is actually about, but it is a game that is begging you to collect every car and gun, finish every race, collect every orb and generally cause organized mayhem. It is neon-soaked just enough to strike a balance aesthetically between classics like “Blade Runner” and “Total Recall,” all with an energy that is reminiscent of “Borderlands” in a lot of ways. It even does that ‘80s movies thing where building-sized holograms of people spouting random advertisements demand your eyes as they overlook the darkly lit, spooky skylines. You should definitely give it a try. 

Featured Image: Gameplay screenshot by: Zach Helms.