
GameFocus writes: "The original Crackdown was a game filled with passion by the people which had worked on it. Obviously, Realtime Worlds believed in the principle to give a vast opened world for gamers to explore. To know that the next chapter was not going to be entrusted to Realtime Worlds can not be reassuring, but during a press event held in Toronto last week, I was extremely happy to see that Ruffian Games, which saw several key developers from the first game move from Realtime Worlds to the new studio including lead designer Billy Tomson, managed to keep the spirit of the first game alive and push the boundaries even further."

Darren writes: "“XBOX NEEDS EXCLUSIVES!”. Sound familiar? It’s something that has been ringing in my ears since becoming an Xbox gamer nearly 20 years ago. It’s possibly the longest standing and harshest criticism levelled against Microsoft’s console family, and I can’t say I wholly disagree. However, there are some out there which can slip through the net every now and then. But bucking the trend was the original Crackdown, which was not one of them. It shifted a very healthy amount of units as well as drawing in universal praise from critics. A sequel then, would be a no-brainer."
It was basically crackdown 1 with zombies, was fun but corners were cut, solid game though.
Crackdown 1 was one of the underrated gems of last gen. I loved that game. Crackdown 2 was crackdown 1 with added zombies and gave the map a paint job. Disappointing, but still enjoyed it for what it was with the added wingsuit, toybox mode and 4 player co-op. Crackdown 3 was basically what Crackdown 2 should have been.

While it is unclear at this time whether its a glitch or intentional. Crackdown, and Crackdown 2 are now free for download on the Xbox store.

Crackdown 1 and 2 were both given for free to Xbox One users to celebrate their launch on the Xbox Live Store and backward compatibility support for the Xbox One. In addition to giving the games for free, Microsoft is now also giving the DLC for Crackdown 2.
Much better than that doom and gloom article from earlier.