Not so long ago – let’s call it three years seeing as that’s how long ago it was – cynics were suggesting that Crackdown must be rubbish. Why else would Microsoft bundle a Halo 3 beta key in it if they didn’t think it was a dead duck otherwise? That was the logic, but it was, of course, more than a little flawed. The fact is that any new IP, no matter how good, is a risky prospect even for a platform holder and Microsoft wanted to ensure Crackdown got the chance it deserved. Sure, it ended up selling to people that didn’t really want it, and the pre-owned sections of game shops were flooded with copies soon after the beta was finished, but a lot of people hung onto their copies of Crackdown. We did. We’ve still got four Agility Orbs to find yet.

So Crackdown now has a following of its own, and a lot of us will be getting excited about Crackdown 2 purely because we want some more of that particular brand of action and not because of any freebies that might come with it. Ruffian Games is no doubt massively excited, too, but also, we’d wager, a bit nervous. We wouldn’t be surprised if it was crapping in its development studio’s bottom-shaped pants.

Why would Ruffian be scared? To be honest, the staff are probably getting on with it, working hard, enjoying themselves and not worrying much about external pressures. But this magazine is one of those external pressures, right? So if we want to paint a dramatic portrait of the games industry as a perilous place where hopes and dreams balance precariously over a bottomless abyss of doom and despair then we bloody well will. So, with that in mind, we’d be scared if we were Ruffian because a) we’d be a brand-new studio with a lot to prove, and b) because we’d be working on a game that itself has an awful lot to prove. Both game and studio alike are going it alone for the first time.

But Ruffian was actually set up by ex-employees of Realtime Worlds, developer of the original Crackdown, so those guys have flown the nest. And you could say that Crackdown 2 will see the series flying the nest that was that rather comforting beta key. What if it turns out that either the studio or the game hasn’t got what it takes for a solo career? The abyss of doom and despair awaits.

On the other hand, though, this element of uncertainty could have an invigorating and galvanising effect on Ruffian and Crackdown 2 could exceed all expectations, taking the solid groundwork of the first game and turning it into something special. It’s difficult to identify exactly what Crackdown needs to take it to the next level though, as the first game was generally very strong, even if it was a little bit of an acquired taste. We’d suggest that it needs to break away a little from the first game’s very pure, very single-minded sandbox design ethic and introduce a little bit of structure along with a little bit of personality.

The only real character in the first one was the voice of your agency commander, with everyone else feeling very anonymous. The voice is back in Crackdown 2 and the game does look to have a grittier, more detailed look and feel to it, which suggests Ruffian may well be taking it in just the right direction.