A city filled with gangsters, drug dealers and crime lords, all waiting for someone to do their dirty work by any means necessary – but mainly with pure firepower. Gangs ready to pump a few hundred bullets into anyone who opposes them. This is what awaits you in Sunrise City. This is what awaits you in CrimeCraft.
I typically stick to fantasy and sci-fi MMOs, and initially passed on CrimeCraft. My first mistake was to completely categorize it as an MMO. Sure, thousands of players can log on simultaneously in a persistent world, and you complete jobs for NPCs, but CrimeCraft is better described as an Online Third-Person Shooter.
I roamed the dark streets of Sunrise City as QueenBe, the very voluptuous vixen armed with an SMG, a light machine gun and assault rifle in search of jobs and reputation. At level 50, my only way of rising through the ranks was to gain Reputation, which I will get to later. I took on as many jobs as I could, which requires a player to go into a PVP or PVE event and either win a versus match, or fulfill certain conditions. There are a couple of modes that come standard in multiplayer shooters, such as deathmatch and team deathmatch or a zone control mode called Turf War, but the one my favorite was Robbery.
Robbery is essentially a capture-the-flag variant in which each team has a safe filled with $100k. Your job is to steal their money and bring it to your safe. Unlike capture-the-flag which only requires you to grab it and go, there is a risk and reward opportunity in Robbery. The longer you stand in front of a safe, the more money you’re able to steal. This of course means you’re more vulnerable to attack as the opposing team will immediately rush over and kill you since they’re able to see that they’re quickly losing money. I was also happy to see modes that focused only on teamwork, and had gangs working to defend themselves against enemy bots.
As I completed my given tasks I was rewarded with many in game goodies, such as new clothes with improved stats, one of which was a snazzy looking cowgirl hat, the aforementioned Reputation and of course money to be able to purchase new upgrades. Unfamiliar with the ways of gaining new skills I roamed the seedy downtown area until I found a couple of skill trainers who will give you access to new and useful skills or gadgets in return for a fee of course. I found myself dying a lot so I purchased the Liquid Armor to be able to take a few more hits, and the Active Camouflage System which could render me invisible for 15 seconds. Needless to say these definitely helped out, even if I did continue to die a lot.
The reputation system is new in the Bleedout expansion and it ranks every player by how well they play, how much money they spend, etc. You’re able to check your progress for any given month, or even check how you stand against other players of all time.
Though the meat of the game is in the versus matches, I found myself wandering through the different districts, past dirty alleyways, by exploded cars left to rust on the curb, and shiny neon signs scattered all across the city. I even visited a nightclub and busted a move or two in the process. It was apparent that Vogster really took their time to create a a dark and grim environment where crime thrives and violence is the only way to survive. If you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend you give it a shot, especially since the game went Free-to-Play and Vogster promises to constantly update the game with new content.
