Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

CrimeCraft Preview for PC

CrimeCraft Preview for PC

April 27, 2009 – What do you get when you cross an MMO with a shooter? A Persistent World Next-gen Shooter – or PWNS for short. CrimeCraft will be a subscription-based, online shooter loaded with character-leveling, professions, crafting, and guilds… or should we say Gangs! CrimeCraft allows subscribers to join sides in a plot to divide up the power in Sunrise City (a metropolis in an alternate universe devastated by ecological and financial disaster).

CrimeCraft screenshot

PWNS (don’t call me an MMOS) is a genre rarely attempted and never really capitalized upon. Vogster Entertainment hopes to change all that with CrimeCraft. The game will take players to a beat-down city at the mercy of hustlers, Sunrise City. There, players join each other’s clans, fighting for rep and turf in border skirmishes. Rather than the massive showdowns touted by Sony’s MAG and Resistance2, CrimeCraft goes for more intimate battles including two-on-two to eight-on-eight match-ups.

CrimeCraft sports a lot of RPG mechanics that are bound to hook players into paying the monthly fee. Developing a character and improving its abilities should be quite compelling. Players will be able to improve a host of skills and abilities, craft ever-greater gear, auction off rare and tricked-out weaponry, customize the look and style of the character, take on professions, do side quests, and complete storyline missions. All of this will net you valuable cash and XP to help distinguish yourself amongst the chaos of the bad streets.

As cool and unique as your character will get, it will always be put to the test. That’s because the gameplay in CrimeCraft is fast-paced like a shooter; players will have to rely on their “twitch” shooting ability in order to succeed. In this way, Vogster has gone to some lengths to try and narrow the gap between noobs and experienced players. After all, if you rule at online shooters, you’ll still prevail in the action-heavy combat – there’s no “target it and forget it” for CrimeCraft.

This should make CrimeCraft extremely attractive to fans of the Call of Duty franchise, digging rank boosts, looking for a bit more. PWNS essentially expands the demographic footprint of the MMO genre to include millions of shooter fans out there.

CrimeCraft screenshot

One thing CrimeCraft has that previous games in this sub-genre didn’t is the Unreal Engine. From extensive gameplay trailers, it is apparent that CrimeCraft will be highly detailed and colorful; it’s quite beautiful to behold. Best of all, gameplay looks to be utterly fluid – the use of grenades, mines, small-arms, and heavy weapons looks to be at par with the top shooters out there. We’ve got a feeling that this playground will succeed where others have failed.

The only real hiccup we can see so far is that players may not find the experience compelling enough to warrant a monthly fee. After all, playing Halo 3, Gears of War 2, and the recent Call of Duty games’ multiplayer components for free is tough to beat. Nevertheless, the developers/publishers seem to be confident that their offering is worth every penny to serious gamers.

CrimeCraft screenshot

They may be right. Completing missions to improve your avatar is an MMO characteristic that probably proves to be enjoyable for any committed gamer. Moreover, joining up in gangs should breed a level of competition that goes beyond that offered by clans in a standard online shooter. If the game is supported by a devoted community early enough, or if it brings a stellar version of this game to home consoles, I think it may become a phenomenon. That is… as long as it can convert enough players away from similar games where players are already having lots of free fun.

CrimeCraft will look to establish itself as the premier virtual shooter experience very soon, as the game is currently in closed beta. It will shortly be opened to the public and available for free download, and it will include an extensive free demo. However, to keep up the fight, a monthly subscription will be charged to the player; the price of which has yet to be determined by Vogster. Stay tuned for our full review when the game drops in Spring 2009.

Game Features:

  • A persistent world next-gen shooter: Join up with legions of the world’s best shooters to leave you mark on Sunrise City.
  • Roll with Company: Take your shooting skills online and gain rep and status in your virtual gang.
  • AAA Graphics: Utilizing Epic’s Unreal Engine, CrimeCraft is visually stunning!

  • To top