BitSnark

Those lucky folks at US gaming rag Game Informer have revealed the first details on Crackdown 2 in an exclusive scoop.

Confirming the setting laid out by the E3 trailer shown earlier this year, it appears that a virus has decimated the populace of Pacific City, at best turning them into 28-Days Later-esque bloodthirsty fiends and at worse, changing them into hulking behemoths capable of widespread destruction. In a savage ironic twist, the virus was actually released by none other than YOU, as apparently one of the Shai-Gen labs that the player torched in the original housed a number of these infected nutcases and the rest is well… history.

A tenuous narrative link you might think, but there are other forces involved this time around. With much of the city in ruin, the super-secretive ‘Agency’ has retreated back to it’s tower, conducting operations where and whenever they can, which has allowed a new faction known as ‘The Cell’ to stake their claim in the madness and devastation that has claimed Pacific City.

Billed as a primal, Mad Max type group, these post-apocalyptic poster boys and girls will obstruct the Agency at key points in the story, but other than this their goals remain largely unknown.

As far as game mechanics are concerned, this time round there will be underground areas for the player to cause mayhem in (hopefully not too many) and missions will generally be a lot more varied too. The same five skills return for you to level your agent up with, but this time each will unlock an additional ability such as a dash attack or a helicopter for you to pilot.

The Ruffian Games developed sequel will up the ante on the original by allowing four player co-op instead of two and this time will also have a sixteen player competitive mode, in which players can wage war against each other in the ravaged remains of Pacific City. The competitive multiplayer mode has also been said to employ a more skillful aiming system, which suggests that the ‘EZ-Mode’ aiming of the original will be done away with in favour of a more accurate and auto-target free system.

Oh, and orb collecting will make a return. So that obsessive compulsives among us can rest easy.

There will be more as and when, but it looks like the Crackdown 2 wheels are finally turning.

Colour me excited. Now where the heck is that 500th agility orb?