Crackdown 3 – the sequel to one of the biggest video games ever produced in Dundee – will be released in November.
Crackdown 3 has been developed for Microsoft Studios by Dundee-based Reagent Games and Sheffield’s Sumo Digital.
Dave Jones, who created the original title for Realtime Worlds and was behind previous hit franchises Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings, has worked on the game as creative director.
Reagent Games are working on the multiplayer version of the game while Sumo Digital are completing the single-player mode.
Crackdown sees players assume the role of a high-tech policeman who must assassinate a series of crime bosses in a single city.
Players are free to explore the city and complete missions at will rather than following a strict path through the game.
The long-awaited title will be released on the Xbox One and PC on November 7 – more than three years after it was announced the game was in production.
On the game’s website, Mr Jones said: “Crackdown 3 is a game built for the future with a multiplayer experience that will redefine what it feels like to play games.”
A trailer for the game, starring Brooklyn Nine Nine and Idiocracy star Terry Crews, was launched at Microsoft’s E3 press conference last month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgOqWyOB1tE
Sumo Digital’s design director Clint Bundrick said Crackdown 3, which has originally been scheduled for release last year, had been delayed because of its ambition.
He said: “A game like this is just incredibly ambitious.
“The campaign world is twice the size of the city in the original Crackdown, and not only in terms of footprint – the tallest building is also twice as tall as the tallest building in the original game.
“So it’s a super ambitious game for the campaign and then an incredibly ambitious game for the competitive multiplayer mode. This is a franchise that deserved to come back right and we wanted to take our time to do it right.”
The first Crackdown was released by Realtime Worlds in 2007 and went one to sell over one million copies.
A sequel, developed by Dundee firm Ruffian Games, was released three years later.
Dave Jones founded Dundee-based games company DMA Design, which produced the hit titles Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.
In 2002 he set up Realtime Words which became the biggest development studio in Scotland.
But it went into administration just months after the release of its second title APB in 2010.
