Crack Down for the Arcade and Sega Genesis has always felt like Gain Ground's cousin. It employs basically the same hardware, uses similar tiny sprites in an overhead view, and also places a strong emphasis on positioning like Gain Ground. It is similarly designed with cooperative play in mind, as up to two players can work together to take on an evil artificial intelligence like, um, Gain... Ground...
In Crack Down, the goal in each stage is to plant bombs on the red X marks throughout each stage while either killing or avoiding bad guys along the way. There is a rudimentary stealth element, as players can hug walls, and enemies move in patterns, turning their heads with their limited vision, firing if they spot you like in such stealth classics as Metal Gear or Bonanza Bros... anyway, enemies tend to fire in cardinal directions, so choosing angles, running distractions, and clinging to walls so the enemies hit each other all work together to make a fun, if simple experience. Ammunition isn't infinite, so being creative can save you trouble. You can also get cannons and smart bombs to help you clear a good path, which are extremely helpful in later stages.
The graphics and sound are solid but tiny, and the game displays in split-screen regardless of the number of players, with a map and radar taking the top third of the screen, and the bottom two thirds split into squares for each player, giving player 1 extra info in the box player 2 would occupy if playing alone.
Crack Down is more fun co-op than alone, but it certainly has that old-school Sega charm about it. It's not too difficult, though the electrified floors in one stage right by the finish do piss me off at times. It's a neat little action/strategy game that doesn't cost a ton, and is a must for Gain Ground fans.
Played it? Any good co-op stories?