Crafting Crime With Crime Craft: A 1 Year Look

Crimecraft launched in August 2009 to not-so-huge fanfaire over the persistent-lobby-based-shooter-on-the-Unreal-3-Engine. A modest title by any means, Vogster quickly moved the game from a subscription base to a free to play cash shop system, not unlike the Turbine model, and since then the game has been trucking along with a healthy population, healthy enough to ensure that the game will stay afloat for a good long time, at least.

Looking into my archives, I haven’t written a non-sales article on Crimecraft since September 2009, so I was quite surprised when I received an email in my inbox regarding Crimecraft. Apparently at least one of the guys over at Vogster Entertainment is a big fan of the MMO Fallout, and noted my prior interest in the title and a lack of news-stuffs since then. The email contained a promo-code with a leveling boost to incite me back into the game, and incite it did.

I’ve clocked in several hours on Crimecraft in the past week, and I am thoroughly enjoying the new changes. My biggest gripe from the launch was that the A.I in the PVE matches was a combination of too unpredictable, and too stupid. All too often it was easy to sneak up on an NPC and kill them without their AI even activating, but this time around I found NPCs moving around and actively seeking cover. If you start a shootout, other NPCs in the area may come to investgiate. The system isn’t perfect, but it is a far cry from the figures who just stood around and waited for you to shoot at them.

Another great addition I noticed is the ease in obtaining weaponry. Within a few PVP matches, I had looted a decent shotgun and an assault rifle that gave me a fighting chance over my 3-shot burst SMG. Vogster wasn’t lying about the gibbing/gore mode either, as my character regularly found himself decapitated by close shotgun shells to the face.

I quickly obtained a few boosts in the form of a heart monitor that displays enemy positions on the mini-map, and a few healing drugs that can be consumed in-game. The missions, which will comprise much of your experience, are still pretty basic, not that I’m asking for more depth. You’ll find a myriad of what you would expect, each containing several tiers:

• Kill _ with smg/rifle/pistol/etc.
• Do ___ damage with smg/rifle/pistol/etc.
• Kill ___ of ___ type NPC.
• Kill ___ players carrying smg/rifle/pistol/etc.
• Win __ matches of ___.

The more traditional missions involve going from person to person in the main lobbies, with a story centered around the protection of the city from the unruly gangs and scum that inhabit the surrounding areas, and generally involves heading into PVE instances to complete one of the above mission types.

Stockpile PVE is still all about collecting crates containing everything from weapons to drugs to crafting materials. I also had the chance to try out Safeguard, a PVE mode where players are tasked with protecting a weapons cache from wave after wave of bots, which I particularly enjoyed as the opportunities to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of bots added to the difficulty if you didn’t clear them out fast enough before the next wave spawned. Headhunter is a test of patience, although killing the prerequisite number of bots to incite the boss to appear isn’t a particularly difficult task.

Ammunition and health are much more prevalent now than at launch, with players and bots dropping both much more often. Aside from the AI, one of my biggest issues was running out of ammunition and forcing myself to die in a PVE match in order to obtain more. Now, with the expected amount of ammunition conservation, I find myself running out of ammo much less.

Oh, and in case I didn’t mention it before, the Crimecraftian in-game advertising is still present, as seen below, and still raising the penetrating question: People still use Napster?

Jokes aside, Crimecraft is still a great game worthy of a look, even if you don’t plan on forking up any cash. The game can be downloaded from the website for free, or if you really want you can pluck down ten bucks on a digital copy and get the extra perks that come with it.

Me? I think I’ll continue sporting my OG (original gangster) title, and Tommy Vercetti lookalike outfit. Crimecraft is a great game, and you might even catch me logged in now and then! My character’s name is Rastlowski, if you didn’t pick it up from the screenshots.

More on Crimecraft as it appears.