The first is still fun ... but seriously, this game kills alot of that fun. Basically, if you use Keys to the City when you first get the game, you can see everything in 5 minutes.
An awesome sequel to Crackdown, imo .. would have improved the AI of the enemies and especially boss characters, as I always found that to be a weakness in the first game. But the bosses in the 1st game add to the replay value because you could use Keys to buff your character and then find creative ways to take them out with new weapons.
In 2, once you've explored the map, that's it. There are 9 missions to activate beacons and these are exactly the same, not even like going into the bases in CD1. Then 3 Freak Lairs to clear ... which sound cool until you realize these are just 3 pits that have terrible design and nothing worth exploring in more detail. When you do the Freak lairs on a mission, all the freaks do is run at the bomb ... they don't even directly engage you in most cases ... poor poor AI.
The only somewhat amusing thing I could find in CD2 was the giant toilet under the Agency HQ ... and even that does nothing.
Frankly it makes me really sad that Ruffian is still up and running after this game and Real Time Worlds has shut down. At least there was a lingering hope in my mind they could come back and salvage the license for the 3. Instead Ruffian has been left to try and reach the same level of the first game, if they even get enough revenue to make a third game.
Honestly, I wouldn't even buy this for $10 ... I suppose the only upside is the 4 player co-op ... but the game and world get boring fast and who will be playing this by the time it hits $10? Just a really sad state of affairs for a game I had such high hopes for.