“The art and science of blowing sh*t up” in Crackdown 3

In the word of Mr Torgue: EXPLOSIONS! Crackdown 3 has always been a fantastic simulator of what would happen when a genetically-altered human was given super-strength and a license to kill, but it’s also an even better simulator of what happens when said agent is controlled by the biggest jackass around who has no regard for human life whatsoever.

The original Crackdown game didn’t just give you an excuse to earn skills for kills. It was a playground that encouraged you to line up ramp-trucks and race a sports car off of them and launch yourself deep into enemy territory. With a few petrol barrels attached, possibly. Fantastic stuff. And that’s an idea which is part of the genetics of the Crackdown franchise, in much the same way that Barry Hilton has an entire DNA strand dedicated to comedy and promoting scooters that fall apart when a gentle breeze blows past.

Explosions make everything better, which is possibly why I’m not invited to weddings anymore. And Crackdown 3 wants to ramp that destruction up. In a new blog post that is accurately named “The Art & Science of Blowing Sh*t Up,” narrative designer Dave Mongan offered some insight into how such large-scale destruction works.

“In Crackdown 3, explosives take front-and-center when it comes to the destructible world we’re building for multiplayer, and for the open-world playset of campaign,” Mongan said.

Whether you’re deploying a cluster grenade to disassemble a squad of mechs, or taking down a skybridge while another player runs across, or toppling a tower to create a path for your teammates to infiltrate the enemy’s stronghold–explosives and the explosive skill are a critical part of making every corner of the Crackdown world versatile and exciting.

To better show this off, the post included a pair of Jeefs Tiffs Gifts GIFs:

Developers can only predict so much of what could possibly happen when a set of tools are handed to players, as “Crackdown players are the ultimate x-factor–and we can’t wait to see how you blow up our world,” Mongan said. Crackdown 3 will hopefully be out later this year, because I genuinely do feel a need to stack too many explosive barrels together and see what happens when I ramp an 18-wheeler truck into them.

Last Updated: March 22, 2016