Crackdown Review Round-Up

Enough advance reviews of Crackdown have rolled in by now for Metacritic to publish their summary of review scores. This works great for me, as I can finally cut down on the Crackdown posts and move on with my life. ;)

The sole new Xbox 360 release has posted up some impressive numbers, garnering a 90 or 91 from many reviewers and a surprising 70 from OXM.

Now I love scores and ratings as much as the next guy but I can't stress enough the importance of actually reading what the critics have to say. Many reviewers for the major sites and magazines are excellent writers and can articulate their thoughts about a game to the finest detail. Sometimes, they are just fun to read. The 1UP review in particular, while a bit hyberbolic, was written with some unadulterated fanboy zest -- like he couldn't wait to hammer out a review so he could return to playing the game -- that you can't help but get some entertainment out of it.

Naturally the forums have been buzzing this week as each new review hits the Interweb. Crack-fans are sulking a bit at some of the less stellar reviews while err... Anti-Cracks are nodding their heads, with some suggesting that the critics weren't harsh enough on what they believe to be a shallow, repetitive sandbox platformer. This is, of course, all a little bit silly. I say again: just read the reviews.

Even a "low" score of 7.8 from Gamespot is backed up by a very positive review. Jeff Gerstmann's complaints pretty much echo those of other reviewers, even the ones that have given Crackdown top marks. In the end, it's just a number, peeps. It's just a number.

Pre-order stands, big surprise. I would have needed to see some dismal, basement-busting scores to have even considered cancelling my precious pre-order at EB.

Check out the review scores for Crackdown