15. Crackdown 3 Features 100% Destructible Environments, Due Summer 2016
In addition to confirming that the new Crackdown game is indeed Crackdown 3, developer Reagent Games took to the Gamescom stage to show off the first pre-alpha gameplay footage, and reveal the game's extremely ambitious destruction mechanics. Crackdown 3's campaign mode is one thing, but the multiplayer is where the majority of the buzz has been directed: Reagent claim that the environment online will be 100% destructible, utilising cloud technology to potentially level an entire city, something even the complex infrastructure of modern games consoles cannot perform single-handedly. The demo showed off how the player can strategically collapse buildings by blasting away at the foundations, and also that debris doesn't disappear periodically: such is the power of the cloud. Considering that the demo itself apparently made use of 11 cloud servers in sync to deliver all the epic destruction (though this does prevent a few logistical issues regarding how Reagent can afford to devote so many servers to a single match), it'll be interesting to see how it plays out once players are scrambling to play it en masse. Will the game be crippled by server issues on its release (which is now confirmed for summer 2016), or will everything run unexpectedly smoothly for such a wildly ambitious effort? Time will tell...
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
