Crackdown, revisited

I mentioned a while back that I bought Crackdown for my Xbox 360. I don't remember when I posted about it, but my opinion was low at first. I found it hard to get into the game because the controls were akward and I was having trouble getting into the story. Well, I cracked it open again (no pun intended) and I think I need to revise my opinion. I finally decided that I was tired of getting my ass kicked in NCAA 07 football and I am getting tired of poker (more like losing in Poker in real life, but that's another post) and to be honest, I just wanted to shoot some stuff. What makes Crackdown is that there is more to it than just shooting. It's like a combination between a shooter and an adventure game (like Fable). Yes, you go around shooting crooks, but you can also develop you character by going through car races, foot races, and by finding these orb things that give you points towards your next level up. There are agility orns that make you jump super high, which is fun. Also, depending on how you kill the crooks, your character develops differently. If you run them over, you get points towards driving skills. If you shoot them, you get points towards you weapons skills. If you beat them or throw somthing at them, you get strenght points. It's a neat twist to the shooting game. So far, the hardest thing for me to do in the game is drive. The cars are pretty fact and hard to handle. Plus, the pedestrians are all over the place and it is really easy to run them over (which is frowned upon). The best part about the game is that I will get access to the Halo 3 beta test (if/when it comes out). Still, in the mean time Crackdown is a pretty game. I am enjoying it.