CrimeCraft: GangWars

CrimeCraft: GangWars Review

By, Marc Marasigan

CrimeCraft: GangWars is a free-to-play 3D MMO shooter set in a persistent post-apocalyptic world and is the second and latest expansion to the original CrimeCraft game. GangWars takes place after the Bleedout campaign and the dissolution of Sunrise City’s governing body. The city is now run by gangs and as a newcomer players must perform tasks for the local authorities (a.k.a. gang leaders) to build their reputation, join gangs or establish their own, and eventually take control of the entire city. The game was developed using the Unreal Engine 3 and looks absolutely great. Players can choose to play the game either in first-person or third-person, and can easily toggled between the two with the press of a key—even when in a match. The audio is also top notch, including background music that goes well with the game’s dark theme.

Refugee Orientation

Players start the game by creating their avatars. Players choose their gender, name, and are also given a handful of choices for their face, hair, and starting outfits. After creating their characters players are given the option to go through a quick one-match PvE combat tutorial. Once players have completed the tutorial, they are then given the option to go through refugee orientation or jump right into Sunrise City. The refugee orientation serves as both a prologue and a more advanced tutorial focuses on advanced gameplay mechanics like customizing their combat profiles, modifying weapons, and crafting items. The prologue, however, takes a while to complete (around an hour or so), and is no walk in the park, but is definitely well worth it. Players have the option to skip the prologue at any time but those who go through the entire thing come out at level 10, which is more than enough incentive for me—apart from the cash and weapons that are also given as rewards for completing the missions.

Sunrise City

Sunrise City is one of the last safe havens in the world and is the headquarters for the gangs running the city. The persistent city also serves as a 3D, free-roaming, alternative to the game lobbies typically found in most MMO shooters. Unfortunately, whether you go through the prologue or not, you’ll more than likely be clueless as to where to go or what to do when you first hit the city streets. Different areas and game modes can be accessed by talking to specific NPC’s. Finding out what each NPC does may be a bit confusing at first but should get easier with time. Luckily, players can use the Quickplay bar, which can be accessed using the Tab key to start missions, join PvP or PvE matches, and buy equipment. Players, however, still need to talk to certain NPC’s to acquire single player missions before they can be accessed from the missions menu on Quickplay bar.

Game On

CrimeCraft: GangWars plays like any other lobby-based shooter except that it’s set in a persistent world much like the game APB Reloaded. The controls are also typical of an FPS games except for a few awkward keybindings such as F1 to toss a grenade and F4 to use a medkit. New players might struggle for a while but shouldn’t face much of a problem. What’s good about CrimeCraft is the number of game modes available. The game offers more than 10 PvP and PvE game modes across more than 20 different maps. Players can play solo against AI in a variety of PvE game modes, that include dungeon-like Boss hunts where players are required to eliminate AI enemies before taking on a more powerful Boss mob, or modes where players are tasked with collecting items in maps crawling with enemy AI. Players can also play against other players in classic PvP game modes such as Team Deathmatch and Zone Control, or unique ones like the MOBA-like Core Annihilation mode. Unfortunately, due to the game’s lack of players, finding a PVP match is next to impossible and can take hours depending on the time of the day.

Moving Up In The World

Players gain levels as they complete missions and progress through the game. Aside from determining which weapons and equipment a player can use, reaching specific level milestones also automatically unlocks certain game features such as additional profiles or a new skill slot. Leveling up also rewards players with skill points that they can use to unlock or improve a number of active and passive skills, including the ability to use certain grenade types. Players also gain profession levels by crafting items. Higher profession levels allow players to craft more complex and more powerful items.

Taking Control of the City

Gangs run the whole of Sunrise City so it’s especially important to enlist in one as soon as possible. Gangs are also very beneficial to new players since veteran gang members are great sources of information for newbies. Joining a gang, however, requires an invitation from one of the gang members. For players who would rather start their own, creating a gang requires the gang leader to be at least level 10 and costs 15,000 in-game cash. Gangs function the same way as Guilds or Clans in MMORPG’s. Gangs can participate in Gangwars where two rival gangs fight it out on an agreed map and game mode. A certain amount of cash is wagered by each gang which will be rewarded entirely to the winning team. Gangs can also fight other gangs for control over certain city zones. Gangs that control the zone get paid taxes when players join matches in that zone as well as a number of other rewards.

The Black Market

Like most free-to-play games, CrimeCraft: GangWars lets players purchase subscriptions and premium items using real-world cash. Players who purchase subscriptions get bonuses to experience points and cash earned while playing the game. Players can also choose to purchase weapons, gear, and boosts from the cash shop. Premium weapons are usually more powerful than their free counterparts but not to the point of breaking the game. Also, like most FPS games, CrimeCraft focuses more on player skill rather than weapon strength. A veteran equipped with a basic assault rifle, for example, will do much more damage than a noob equipped with a premium one.

The Final Verdict: Good

CrimeCraft: GangWars is a great game with amazing graphics, great audio, fast-paced combat, tons of items, and a large variety of game modes. The prologue seems a bit too long and tedious and the controls take a while to get used to, but overall this would have been an excellent game if it weren’t for the glaring and thoroughly disappointing fact that only a handful of people in the world play it. The PvE game modes are great but an MMO shooter can’t really be called an MMO without players and unless this issue is resolved, the game will have nowhere else to go but down.

CrimeCraft: GangWars Screenshots

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CrimeCraft: GangWars Videos

CrimeCraft: GangWars Links

CrimeCraft: GangWars Official Site
CrimeCraft: GangWars Steam Page
CrimeCraft: GangWars Wikipedia
CrimeCraft: GangWars Wikia [Database/Guides]

CrimeCraft: GangWars System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Single Core 1.6 ghz
RAM: 1 GB RAM
Video Card: GeForce 7600 class/ATI Radeon X1600
Direct X: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Disk Space: 10 GB available space

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Dual Core 1.6 ghz
RAM: 2 GB RAM or more
Video Card: GeForce 9600 class/ATI Radeon 38xx
Direct X: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Disk Space: 10 GB or more available space

CrimeCraft: GangWars Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon!

CrimeCraft: GangWars Additional Information

Developer: Vogster Entertainment
Publisher: Vogster Entertainment

Distributor: Steam

Game Engine: Unreal Engine 3

Closed Beta: May 20, 2009
Open Beta: July 31, 2009

Official Launch Date: August 25, 2009

Shut Down: August 31, 2017

Development History / Background:

CrimeCraft: GangWars is a free-to-play 3D MMO Shooter developed and published by Vogster Entertainment. GangWars is the third and latest expansion to the original CrimeCraft game which went into Open Beta on July 31, 2009 and was officially launched on August 25, 2009 as a retail game in partnership with Best Buy and THQ. THQ continued to publish the game until it went free-to-play on Steam on August 22, 2011 and has been free-to-play ever since. Crimecraft shut down on August 31, 2017.