Dave Jones has been and continues to be a very busy man what with creating the now hugely popular Grand Theft Auto series and of late working on APB as well as Crackdown on the Xbox 360. After chatting with Dave at last years X05 it was clear that with Crackdown Dave and the team at Real Time Worlds in Dundee Scotland are aiming to create something a little more special than what may first appear as a GTA clone in brightly coloured clothing.

In Crackdown players assume the role of an enforcement agent whose job it is to literally crack down on the city's crime which includes gang members, lowlifes, kingpins, bosses and such like. However one of the main features of Crackdown is that players will be able to carry out justice in whatever way they please. Real Time Worlds are keen to stress that in Crackdown, players will be able to fully utilise the 3D space available and with a huge sprawling city at their disposal means that players can be inventive in how they tackle the game's missions. Do you play it stealthy and sneak up on your enemies before letting rip or go all out with a direct assault. From what was shown to me at X05 it's clear that the level design poses many options to the player with the use of height playing a bigger role than in most games. In Crackdown players can scale large buildings and use their ability to traverse the environment to find alternative routes and ultimately ways in which to attack enemies. Players will be able to track and hunt criminals and get involved in some high octane chases on foot or in vehicles. The beauty of the level design and free form game play means that these chases won't be scripted affairs and can end up being massive hunts across several blocks.

Crackdown features an impressive physics system where every object in the game world can be interacted with and even used as a weapon. What is also interesting is the fact that whatever is available to the player is also available to the criminals. On one such occasion we were shown a situation where the player threw an explosive barrel up on to a ledge and then exploded to reach a troublesome dug in foe. Dave was quick to point out that the enemy could have returned fire by throwing the barrel back at the player! What is more if players wish to take several objects in a create say a roadblock and then travel away from the area, the roadblock will still be there when they return. So imagine if you will a huge pile of objects that block a road being used to trap an enemy or objects piled up to help reach new areas. Imagine being able to lay some devious traps whereby players can place explosive items and then lure enemies to their deaths. In Crackdown players will be able to upgrade their character with extra abilities as they progress through the game's missions. Were promised quite an extensive system which will enable player characters to run at dazzling speeds, take death-defying leaps, handle the most incredible weapons, perform impossible vehicular maneuvers, move massive objects and deliver bone-crushing blows.

Crackdown features a distinct graphical style that presents a graphic novel type look. Whilst this may be akin to the cel shading techniques that have been used in the past, it certainly gives Crackdown a look which is unique on the Xbox 360. Every thing looks bright and colorful; however Crackdown will have plenty of violence. Another interesting feature in Crackdown is the fact that it will feature over 100 fully licensed music tracks to listen to. What is more the music is integrated with the game play and so players will be able to tell which syndicate or gang is nearby just by listening to the sounds and music.

One of the features of Crackdown that has got a lot of tongues wagging is the promised c-op game play in which two players will be able to independently explore the massive city working together or splitting up to tackle the crime. We were shown this feature and what impressed me very much was how players who are inventive can help each other reach seemingly unreachable areas or perform new co-op type moves. If implemented correctly and with no network issues I predict that this feature will prove extremely popular with gamers who want to goof around and those who aim to tackle tasks together in a serious manner.

As a new IP, it's quite tough bringing one into such a fickle market and with a number of games offering free roaming game spaces. Games in the 3rd person free roaming action genre need to have something special to not be written off as yet another GTA clone. However from what I've seen, Crackdown certainly has enough personality to make it stand out especially with all of its touted features and of course the unique graphic novel look. Crackdown is due out on Xbox 360 this autumn and I can't wait!