The Agents are genetically modified human beings, created by the Agency, using the disgraced work of Dr.
Balthazar Czernenko. In Crackdown, there are eight playable agents characters in total (12 if you have downloaded the Four-Play pack DLC) however the exact number of Agency Agents in service is presumed to be much higher. In Crackdown 2, there are only four Agents to choose from, but a variety of suit colors to select (16 in single-player with all DLC, 20 in multiplayer with all DLC).
Characteristics and Abilities
The Agents have The Agency's best equipment at hand in their fight against crime in Pacific City. Being enhanced, Agents are physically stronger and faster than normal human beings. They can resist far more damages that can instantly kill ordinary humans, and can heal from these at a very fast rate. They can jump over tall buildings in one bound and have very fast reaction time. Agents start off with basic Agency weapons, such as the Colby "Master" sidearm and the Colby EAR50 assault rifle, which both have agency skins and are highly advanced in technology compared to average weapons. Agents are given the choice to unlock Agency supply points around the city, which are indicated by a orange beam of light, which is only visible through an Agent's HUD. Unlocking an Agency supply point means the Agent can store gang weapons he has collected and use them in the fight against crime.
The Agents also use a special bio-armour, which was created by the Agency to adapt to an evolving Agent. This armour will evolve as the the Agent does, changing their appearance as they improve their 5 core skills. With all skills at max level (level 4) the Agent will wear a full set of armour. The armour also has a advanced shielding function, which will absorb all damage to a certain extent before damaging the Agent themselves. This shield also regenerates when not taking damage. The Agents can also live very long lifespans. Previous Agents were still operating 10 years after they successfully fought gang members after the events of the first Crackdown, and were only destroyed when Catalina Thorne infected them the Freak virus while they were at stasis.[1] While being highly resistant to many forms of physical harm, Agents are also seemingly recyclable after death. In Crackdown 2, they can be respawned to tactical locations when they die in the game and during the last cutscene where Catalina Thorne dismembered one using her helicopter's blades, while still retaining their current level and physical stats they previously had.
Agents have access to vehicles designed by the Agency, which react to the Agents presence and driving skill. As the Agents driving skill evolves, so do the vehicles the Agent uses, so much so that when the Agent reaches a 4-star level in driving skill, the vehicles gain their own special ability, for example, The Agency Supercar transforms into a vehicle which bears resemblance to the Batmobile, and gains two guns that appear on the side of the car, which can be fired at enemies, provided that said enemies are directly in front of the car.
Agents have super-human capabilities because of extensive genetic enhancements done by the Agency, including increased agility, faster reactions and super strength. Agents are highly trained in combat, military, and tactics, starting as soon as they are created.[2]
Consequently, the public look up to the Agents as being heroes.
Crackdown Agents
Note: In the pictures, the prominent agent face on the left is the Agent's facial appearance at the beginning level of the Strength skill. The smaller image on the right is the Agent's face at the highest level of strength. The agents in the game represents different ethnicities.
Note: Strength changes the Agent's facial appearance not Agility. If this page says agility changes facial appearance, it is a typo.
Standard Agents
- Black Agent - This is the African Agent, and is the Agent that Realtime Worlds (the game's developers) uses to show off the game. As he progresses in strength skill, his face becomes more square, and the hair style and beard change.
- Asian Agent - This Asian Agent is said to represent a modest Agent. As the Agent increases the agility skill, instead of the face bulking up, the Agent appears older. Also, as the Agent increases his strength skill, he grows a goateé, a small pony tail and a small amount of spiky hair at his fringe.
- Norse Agent - The Norse Agent evolves rather menacingly. He develops a large braid from the front to back of his head, and a knotted beard on his chin, as well his scarred eye becoming more prominant. As he develops, he dons traditional Nordic warpaint.
- Goth Agent - The Goth Agent represents the Gothic sub-culture. As the Goth Agent upgrades, his face becomes more square, he develops a Mohawk haircut that continues into flared sideburns and a thin beard.
- Russian Agent - As this Agent's agility level increases, his cheek bones become more prominent and his eyes more sunken and closer set. He swaps his cropped hair for some blue tribal tattoos, and his beard develops clumps. He also gains several facial piercings, including two through his nose, and three through the labrette.
- Maori Agent - As this Agent becomes more agile he goes back to his tribal roots by adopting tribal face paint and hairstyle. Also as this Agent's skills increase, he gains eyebrow piercings across his whole forehead, and a bull ring piercing in his nose.
- Hispanic Agent - As this Mexican Agent develops, his face shape changes, and he grows facial hair and a beard, and gains ear, eye brow and nose piercings. He then begins donning some tribal tattoos.
- Thai Agent - As this Agent becomes more agile, his chin becomes larger, and his hair is contained to two rows of four bunches. He also dons red and white face paint.
DLC Agents
- Black Agent (DLC) - As this Agent develops he grows dreadlocks and a beard.
- Caucasian Agent - As this Agent develops he paints his face with camouflage, wears goggles, and dons a bandana.
- Helmeted Agent - When this Agent develops he dons a full-face helmet complete with red vision-enhancers and lights along the top of the helmet. Also, when near a wall and the character becomes transparent, his fully developed face can be seen,
- Masked Agent - When his strength increases, the Masked Agent develops a face mask with a gas breather included.
Crackdown 2 Agents
A Level 5 Crackdown 2 Agent, with the "Agency Blue" suit color.
In the Pacific City Archives mini-series released prior to Crackdown 2's release, it is revealed in Episode 2: "Evil Seed" that the original Agents from Crackdown were infected with a deadly virus by Catalina Thorne, which grossly mutated the Agent clones. This resulted in the destruction of the Agency's cloning labs, setting The Agency's cloning technology back many years effectively to "square one".
Crackdown 2 sees the creation of a new type of Agent. These new Agents are now protected by a more advanced suit, which evolves along with the Agent, providing the Agent with heightened body protection and full facial protection.
The new Agents also gain new abilities once they reach the peak of their abilities. Agility level 5 earns you a Wingsuit, and Strength level 5 earns you two abilities: Barge, which knocks enemies and environmental objects out of the way while running, and Ground Strike, which will damage everything around the Agent in a large shockwave.
Suit Colors
- Standard
- Agency Blue
- Dark Grey
- Mid Grey
- Light Grey
- Multiplayer Only
- PVP Red
- PVP Green
- PVP Blue
- PVP Yellow
- DLC: Pre-order Bonus
- Gold
- Gunmetal
- Black
- Xbox Agent
- DLC: The Toy Box
- Peacekeeper
- Terror Firma
- Agent Orange
- May Contain Nuts
- Minti-Sting
- Mega Agent
- Haz Mat
- Dem Apples
Trivia
- In the Xbox Live Arcade release of Rareware's Perfect Dark, an Agent can be unlocked as a playable multiplayer character by having a Crackdown 2 save file on your hard drive. This Agent is known as "Agent 4".