Crackdown is a 2007 developed by and distributed by the . Crackdown was conceived by Realtime Worlds' founder, , who also created and .
Set in the fictional Pacific City, the player controls a biologically enhanced Agent, tasked with defeating three crime lords and their organized crime syndicates. The Agent's abilities improve by defeating both crime lords and their top subordinates, as well as by completing optional activities, such as street races and scavenger hunts. The gameplay is nonlinear: instead of following a rigid mission sequence, players are free to select the approach to completing their missions and activities. The game features a two-player cooperative play mode via . It was released worldwide in February 2007.
Crackdown, initially planned for release on the original console, was envisioned as a vast world in which players could experiment and explore freely. Game Studios bundled specifically marked copies of Crackdown with an access code to the multiplayer of the much-anticipated Beta. The game sold 1.5 million copies in its first six months of release. It received critical acclaim from reviewers and is widely considered to be the best entry to the series. It has garnered several awards for its innovative gameplay. A sequel, , was released in July 2010 by Ruffian Games without Jones' input, and was released for and in February 2019, again directed by Jones.
- Crackdown takes place in the fictional metropolis of Pacific City, whose several districts and areas are divided among four islands.
- The city is controlled by three criminal organizations: Los Muertos (which means "the dead ones" in ), a street gang of drug dealers from who runs "La Mugre";
- The Volk ( for "Wolf"), a militia group from who dominates "The Den"; and the Shai-Gen Corporation, a formerly above-board, corrupt governing body from that rules "The Corridor"
- Normally, a -like organization called the Peacekeepers kept the city under control; their forces, however, were overwhelmed by the sudden rise in crime
