When I was younger, I had a sandbox. It wasn't particularly big, but it had sand, and the infinite possibilities that sand offers. It was fun for a while, but the thing about sandboxes is that it's just as much about what accessories you have, as well as the sand itself. The same applies to 'digital' sandboxes - the open-world games that are starting to become a more defined a genre of videogames.

There's an array of fun vehicles to make use of

Crackdown 2 is the sequel to the 2007 game by Realtime Worlds. This game was the brainchild of David Jones who created the original Grand Theft Auto, and bizarrely, Lemmings. At first readers may be worried by the fact that this game was actually made by Ruffian studios, a new start-up company, but the reports from Microsoft is that over half of the development team is from Realtime Worlds anyway. This leaves the game with a rather unique combination of the fresh perspective a new develop gives a franchise, but also the experience and 'inside-knowledge' that the creators also have. It seems to have worked more or less in the game's favour, at any rate.

Crackdown 2 still sports the cell-shaded look of the original, which helps add to the comic-book air the whole concept evokes. This style, combined with the jumping along roof tops, lifting cars and other feats of brilliance add an odd sense of realism to a truly fantasy world, triggering memories of your favourite super heroes. Your time is also still constantly narrated/ guided by the nameless 'Agency Director' back in the Agency tower, who's tone is a weird combination of Kevin Butler and Robert Duvall's character from Apocalypse now - you keep expecting him to say "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning" at any moment.

The player returns to Pacific City ten years after the events of the original. Whilst the franchise is left open for sequels (in fact there has always been talk this was meant to be a multi-game franchise), Crackdown 2 doesn't present the sequel you would expect. There's no more Shai-Gen or Los Meurtos, there is only Cell - a terrorist organisation who believe the Agency is corrupt. Also, the 'Freaks' you encounter briefly in the first game are back, and in bigger numbers. With the agents wiped out sometime between the first and second games, Pacific City is once again brought to its knees between Cell during the day, and the Freaks by night.

This is where you come in. As the first in a new 'batch' of agents, you are tasked with helping the Peacekeepers clean up the city. There is two main ways this is to be done - the first is to take back Cell strongholds dotted around the city, the second is the 'Sunburst Project', which is designed to eliminate the Freaks. After the initial introduction to these two aspects, you're pretty much given free roam of the city.

Level up your strength enough and you can just boot that truck out of your way

Still, the value of the choice you're given in this game isn't as good as in the first game. In Crackdown, you had the choice to either go straight for the bosses, or take out their support first which would make the boss fight easier. There's no such 'tactical' choices in Crackdown 2 - you simply get to decide whether you want to go left or right. There is also an air of repetitiveness to the game but only in the sense that you simply have to do the same thing each time. With strongholds, you simply clear out the base, trigger an air drop, and then defend the base until you deplete the enemy. With the Sunbursts, first you must turn on sun collectors (lightly guarded by Cell), and then enter the Freak lair and defend the beacon until its detonated. Rinse and repeat throughout the whole game.

It's gets a tad dull by the end of the game, and as your character levels up, it becomes less of a challenge as well (unless you're on harder difficulties, naturally). You can see what Ruffian is trying to do - part of Crackdown's charm was its simple premise and not trying to give a Hollywood-style narrative performance, and they've tried to take this to the next level. You could argue they succeeded, but it would be harder to argue that this was a good thing. Much like real life sandboxes, you have to have a variety of things to use with the sand, otherwise it's just that, sand.

The single player mode only really accounts for half of the total experience. Like before the main campaign is relatively short, but there's a certain replay-ability in the extra difficultly modes and the fact that you can do anything in any order. What can you also do though is do the campaign in co-op mode. Unlike the last game, you can now bring in 3 extra friends into a separate online campaign. Your character stats will carry over from your single player agent, but not your campaign progress. Co-op is definitely a must on the harder difficulty levels, and accessibility has been improved. It's easy to drop-in to a friend's campaign, or start up a separate one for a group to play through, and many of the objectives have a team focus to them.

There is also an online deathmatch mode to contend with as well, that pitches agents against each other in typical no-holds-barred mayhem. This is probably the most entertaining mode, as the maps are usually littered with jump pads. It's rather amusing to watch 15 agents flying all over the place, and even more amusing to try and shoot them down. It's important to make sure you enter a full game though, as some of the maps are rather large, and if you don't have at least half a dozen or more, it can take a while to find anyone.

Cleaning up scum is always more fulfilling with friends, no?

Crackdown 2 is a respectable sequel and a fun game to play, but it's not perfect. Odd design choices throw in many a 'niggle' that can easily get annoying, and the even more simplified campaign can just get repetitive. Still, Ruffian has done a good job, and this is still a game you should play and have fun with, even if you have played the first one. Ruffian have some interesting ideas on the sandbox model, and whilst this is lacking in certain respects, it's certainly a step in the right direction.

Top Game Moment: Flying back-kicking a truck into a hoard of enemies is both as ridiculous as it is fun: Very.