Crackdown 3 release date and news: Crackdown gets a snazzy new E3 trailer ahead of 2019 release

After news around Crackdown 3 being delayed until February 2019 surfaced last week, Microsoft used its E3 conference to showcase just what the game has become. Unfortunately, it’s not looking too hot.

A new trailer put emphasis on this being a Sumo Digital game, helping provide some direction to a title that’s been plagued by delays and passed between multiple developers. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of just how much Crackdown 3 has changed since its initial announcement.

Instead of the rampant destruction of cities, Crackdown 3 now looks like a futuristic take on Just Cause. There’s absurd weaponry, ridiculous environmental traversal and even a car that can drive up buildings or transform into a tank.

If that wasn’t enough nonsense for you, Terry Crews voice acting is very present throughout the trailer. In fact, it may just be that little bit too much Terry Crews playing Old Spice guy for my liking.

Here’s the trailer, you can judge it for yourself.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YC4oty9jnMU

Crackdown 3: Release date

At this point, it would be tempting to dismiss Crackdown 3 as vapourware – software that gets perpetually delayed and never sees a firm release date. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Crackdown 3, but it does have a habit of slipping. Last year, the game was scheduled to come out during Holiday 2017 “or earlier”. It had missed release dates before – apparently due to efforts being made to complete the campaign. 

Unfortunately, Crackdown 3 has faced yet another delay, making this eagerly awaited Xbox-exclusive seem like it simply just won’t be coming out any time soon. Having first been announced in June 2014, Crackdown 3 has been plagued by continual delays, slipping past it’s Holiday 2017 release and then again past its spring 2018 one. Now, as Microsoft has confirmed to Kotaku, Crackdown 3 will be arriving in February 2019.

At least this time around we’ve been given a launch month, rather than a vague window, so it’s actually likely we’ll see Crackdown 3 arrive then too.

Not much is known about the delay, nor why the project has been so troubled in the first place. However, Microsoft said that fans could look forward to more information during this year’s E3 keynote, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more information then.

Crackdown 3: Features

Things have been generally pretty quiet since Crackdown 3 was first announced, leading many to suspect it would never see the light of day. It has had a fairly rough gestation period, but according to tipster shinobi602, things are picking up:

We’re now a lot more confident that it will emerge this year, and with that in mind, here are some of the main features that have been confirmed:

The environments are more destructible than we’ve seen before

Destructible buildings have been seen in games before, but Crackdown 3 is promising something beyond just set pieces. Using Microsoft’s cloud technology, the rendering work can be done by cloud servers – taking the heavy lifting away from the limited processing power of the Xbox One and dramatically increasing what can be done in game.

What does this mean in practice? Well, it means you can destroy cities to your tastes. Everything from shooting a hole in a wall for the perfect sniper spot, all the way up to removing the floors from a building, crushing everyone underneath. You could make your own doors and forge a path through any building in the game.

The bad news? This feature is just limited to the competitive multiplayer version of the game, and won’t be part of single player or co-op. It’s not clear if that’s for technical reasons, or whether it would just make the game too easy.

Agility orbs are back

In the original Crackdown, there were 500 agility orbs dotted around the city. Bright and green, they were easy to spot from a distance, and each one would help you level up your skills. They were the very definition of “just one more before I turn off”.

Well, they’re back again, and you can expect them to be the same mix of hiding in plain sight and annoyingly well hidden when you’re down to your last 100.

It wouldn’t be Crackdown without them.

A full cooperative campaign is also in the mix

The original Crackdown allowed you to play the whole of the campaign cooperatively with a friend. Crackdown 2 doubled this to four players.

The good news is that this is definitely back for Crackdown 3, with four player co-op supported from the launch.

Crackdown 3: What the critics say

A playable demo of Crackdown 3 was available to try at the recent Gamescom, and critics reports have been mixed about the return of the open-worlder. Tech Advisor described it as “incredibly fun to play if you like explosions, super-human powers and over-the-top gunplay” – and really, who doesn’t? However, this positivity is by no means universal. For one thing, video of the gameplay makes it pretty obvious why it was delayed, with plenty of game-breaking bugs on display: 

Bugs can be fixed – even if it sees another slip – but what about the gameplay itself? Well on that score, The Sixth Axis has doubts too, with its hands-on review reporting that the game world is “very bland” and not as compelling as previous installments. 

A ten-minute demo is far from the final game, but let’s just say the jury is still out. 

Crackdown 3: Formats

This one is nice and easy to answer. Just as Crackdown and Crackdown 2 were exclusive to Xbox 360, so will Crackdown 3 be exclusive to Xbox One.

Xbox One also includes the upcoming Xbox Scorpio. The same disc will work in both machines, though the Scorpio version will apparently allow you to play the whole game in 4K.