Crackdown 2 Demo's "Psychotic" and "Sadistic" Difficulties to be Unlocked

I must say, if other demos follow some of the trends set here by Crackdown 2, I'll probably download a lot more of them. Not only did the game's devs, Ruffian, allow for achievements to be pre-unlocked for the full retail game, but they have also decided to unlock the game's higher difficulties for players to get a taste.

The demo started out with the "Fragile" and "Tough" difficulties available and Ruffian has since made the "Ruthless" level available, too. But they're not stopping there. The last two difficulty levels, "Psychotic" and "Sadistic," will be available today and tomorrow, respectively.

Alongside the demo's 30-minute, freedom-enabling time limit, these features really flesh out the player's experience with this demo. For a sandbox game like this, the player really needs to be able to experience it the way they would once they'd purchased it, so, like Just Cause 2 before it, the devs decided a time limit with no set structure would be best.

But the other features are new to game demos. The thought of being able to get achievements out of the way early is pretty awesome. Especially because there are some achievements that can be very difficult and unlocked without actually trying, by some miracle. The increased probability of that occurring is welcome for achievement whores like me.

And then there's the unlocked difficulty levels. I love trying games like this again on a higher difficulty and the opportunity to check out what those are like without having to unlock them, even just a little taste, is a nice thought. I just hope that these become some regular features as opposed to one-time anomalies.