Games Like Crackdown
Quick Answer
The closest games to Crackdown are InFamous, Prototype, Saints Row IV, Gravity Rush and Spider-Man. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Crackdown, and what does not.
What Made Crackdown Work
Crackdown is one of the very few games built around the joy of a jump upgrade. The orbs make vertical movement the entire progression system, the city is a climbing frame, and the shooting is almost incidental. Open-world crime games are a bad match — superhero traversal is the match.
Crackdown was made by Realtime Worlds, founded by Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones, and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 in 2007. You play a cloned supercop clearing gangs from Pacific City, and every agility orb collected from its rooftops lets you jump higher. Crackdown 2 (2010) and Crackdown 3 (2019) followed.
9 Games Like Crackdown
1.InFamous(2009)
The other great orb-collecting superpowered city, released two years after Crackdown.
Why it fits: Sucker Punch Productions, PS3, 2009. Climb any building, grind power lines and choose good or evil, with abilities that grow as you play.
What is different: A story with a moral choice at its heart, and your powers come from electricity rather than stats.
Where to play it: PS3; the sequel, inFAMOUS Second Son, on PS4.
Games like this →2.Prototype(2009)
Wall-running and vertical traversal with no restraint at all.
Why it fits: Radical Entertainment, 2009. Super-strength and sprinting up skyscrapers, absorbing enemies for new abilities.
What is different: Darker and bloodier, and you never feel like a cop; the progression is shapeshifting powers.
Where to play it: PS3, Xbox 360 and PC; remastered for PS4 and Xbox One.
More about this game →3.Saints Row IV(2013)
Super-jump collectathon in an open city — the closest thing to Crackdown's orb loop.
Why it fits: Volition, 2013. Super-jump and glide over Steelport collecting data clusters that power you up — the agility-orb hunt in another form.
What is different: A comedy first; the city is a joke playground rather than a gang war to clean up.
Where to play it: PS3, Xbox 360 and PC; Re-Elected edition on PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →4.Gravity Rush(2012)
Turns traversal into the whole game by letting you fall in any direction.
Why it fits: Japan Studio, PS Vita, 2012. Shift gravity to fall across a floating city, collecting gems that upgrade your powers.
What is different: Slow, gentle and linear by comparison; there is no gang-by-gang takedown.
Where to play it: PS Vita; remastered for PS4.
More about this game →5.Spider-Man(2018)
The best-feeling city traversal ever made, if you want it polished.
Why it fits: Insomniac Games, PS4, 2018. Swing across Manhattan between rooftop fights and collectibles spread over the whole city.
What is different: A narrative-led hero story, with melee combat instead of guns and explosions.
Where to play it: PS4; remastered for PS5 and PC.
Games like this →6.Just Cause 3(2015)
Grapple and wingsuit movement in a huge open sandbox.
Why it fits: Avalanche Studios, 2015. Grapple, parachute and wingsuit across an island, levelling military bases with explosives.
What is different: Much bigger and emptier, and vehicles and explosions matter more than climbing.
Where to play it: PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Games like this →7.Agents of Mayhem(2017)
By the Saints Row studio and aimed squarely at Crackdown's audience.
Why it fits: Volition, 2017. Squad-based superpowered action in Seoul with triple jumps, from the Saints Row team.
What is different: A squad of swappable heroes and a lot of repetitive missions; it is rough in places.
Where to play it: PS4, Xbox One and PC.
More about this game →8.Sunset Overdrive(2014)
Grinding and bouncing through a city, and it never asks you to touch the ground.
Why it fits: Insomniac Games, Xbox One, 2014. Movement and combat are one system: grind, bounce, shoot.
What is different: Traversal is grinding and bouncing rather than climbing, and the tone is comic.
Where to play it: Xbox One (plays on Xbox Series X|S) and PC.
Games like this →9.Crackdown 2(2010)
More of the same city if that is genuinely what you want.
Why it fits: Ruffian Games, Xbox 360, 2010. Pacific City again, more orbs to chase, four-player co-op, and Freaks at night.
What is different: Same city, darker and emptier; many players rate it below the first.
Where to play it: Xbox 360; plays on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Crackdown's hook is climbing a city to get stronger. inFAMOUS is the closest in feel, and Saints Row IV has the best orb-hunting loop outside Crackdown itself. On Xbox, Sunset Overdrive is the other one to own.
How We Picked These Games
Each pick had to make getting stronger change how you move through a city — higher jumps, faster sprints, new ways to climb — or make the city itself the playground. Open-world crime games without that vertical freedom were left out.
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Games Like Crackdown Compared
Year is each game's first release anywhere, on the platform in the next column. "Play it now" is where it can be bought or played today.
| Game | Year | First released on | Play it now | Closest to Crackdown in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| InFamous | 2009 | PS3 | PS3; the sequel, inFAMOUS Second Son, on PS4. | Power growth while climbing a city |
| Prototype | 2009 | PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | PS3, Xbox 360 and PC; remastered for PS4 and Xbox One. | Superhuman jumping and strength |
| Saints Row IV | 2013 | PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | PS3, Xbox 360 and PC; Re-Elected edition on PS4, Xbox One and Switch. | Collect-to-upgrade super-jumps |
| Gravity Rush | 2012 | PS Vita | PS Vita; remastered for PS4. | Gems around the city upgrade powers |
| Spider-Man | 2018 | PS4 | PS4; remastered for PS5 and PC. | Rooftop traversal |
| Just Cause 3 | 2015 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | PS4, Xbox One and PC. | Explosive sandbox |
| Agents of Mayhem | 2017 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | PS4, Xbox One and PC. | Superpowered open-city action |
| Sunset Overdrive | 2014 | Xbox One | Xbox One (plays on Xbox Series X|S) and PC. | Movement as combat |
| Crackdown 2 | 2010 | Xbox 360 | Xbox 360; plays on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. | The direct sequel, with co-op |
Which One to Play, by What You Liked
If you liked Crackdown for hunting agility orbs, try Saints Row IV and Gravity Rush. Both scatter collectibles across rooftops and use them to make you stronger.
If you liked Crackdown for jumping higher every hour, try InFamous and Prototype. The 2009 pair of superpowered open-world games, one heroic and one not.
If you liked Crackdown for co-op chaos, try Crackdown 2 and Agents of Mayhem. Crackdown 2 supports four players; Agents of Mayhem is by the Saints Row team.
If you liked Crackdown for blowing everything up, try Just Cause 3. The most destructive sandbox on the list.
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Related Lists
- Games like inFAMOUS — Open-world superpower games where climbing the city is the reward.
- Games like Marvel's Spider-Man — Cities built to be crossed from the rooftops.
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