In Crackdown, Crackdown 2 and Crackdown 3. Various Factions have specific motives for something in each of the Crackdown games, in Crackdown, the Agency is at war with three criminal gangs that each hold sway over one of the city's three main districts. In Crackdown 2, the rebellious Cell and Freak infestation have managed to ravage the city and push the Agency back into its own Headquarters.
Factions[]
Friendly Factions[]
The Agency[]
The Agency is a powerful international police organization based in the Agency Tower, and is led by the engimatic Director. The Agency fights to restore law and order through its Peacekeepers and Agents.
Civilian Militia[]
The Civilian Militia are a friendly allied faction in Crackdown 3, who effectively replace the Peacekeepers from the first two games.
Echo was a refugee from one of the Blackout attacks that devastated the world, before she was rescued by TerraNova and brought to the island nation of New Providence.
At first, she thought the city was paradise, but once she started to look past the corporate face of Elizabeth Niemand and her team, she started to realize all wasn't as it seemed with TerraNova.
She watched from afar as the Agency transport ship Sweet Justice was shot down and the team of agents killed. She recovered the player character from the wreckage in hopes of taking down TerraNova.
Hostile Factions[]
Crackdown[]
Los Muertos[]
Los Muertos ("The Dead") have rapidly grown from a petty band of Central American drug dealers into a significant narcotics operation dominating the two islands forming Pacific City's east side, a district now known as "La Mugre" ("The Dirt").
The gang's "Death" designation was originally chosen to strike fear into those who might dare stand in their way, now their name is more associated with the consequences of their vile trade.
Los Muertos members are formidable fighters with remarkable brute strength and brutality to match. They are also renowned vehicle specialists, stealing and customizing the finest cars and vans before using them to great effect in crimes and getaways.
Volk[]
The Volk are hardened militia from across Eastern Europe who tired of relentlessly fighting for poor pay and no recognition, and came together to put their skills to more profitable use: organized crime.
Their "Wolves" embrace strict military discipline and are experts in the use of firearms and explosives. They bolster their ranks with skilled illegal immigrants and use the rest as a disposable workforce.
The Volk controls the entire industrial area of Pacific City, locally known as "The Den". The district's most notable trait is thick suppressive smog, appropriate for such an oppressive regime.
Shai-Gen[]
The Shai-Gen Corporation is a sinister and pervasive force for evil. It was founded and funded by the previous government with a remit to evolve radical preemptive defense solutions.
Its intensive scientific research, strategic influence initiatives and black propaganda yielded staggering and disturbing results. The burgeoning division became financially independent (probably through illicit sources) and more powerful than its original patron. This led to its purchase by a mysterious individual and the birth of the Shai-Gen Corporation... and as a result, the Agency.
Shai-Gen is based in "The Corridor" a space created for the lavish lifestyle of its personnel and a superficial utopia for its numbed citizens.
Crackdown 2[]
Cell[]
The Cell is a terrorist group made up of disaffected Pacific City citizens, radicals, and criminals that openly oppose the Agency. Led by Catalina Thorne, Cell terrorists have taken over various buildings and areas across the city's districts. During the day, the Cell riots across the city and clashes with Agency Peacekeepers; at night, they shelter in their fortified bases and wait until morning for the Sun to force the Freaks back underground.
Starting from a deranged pack of psychopaths with the verge of killing off the 'new' Agency, Cell will start to grow its influence with Pacific City's residents, with endless propaganda from Throne herself, and will start bringing in more teething crooks, weapons, and of course more rebels to oppose you. It is advise to approach them with caution, they may be weak but the term 'strength in numbers' plays a vital role in their survival.
Freaks[]
Freaks are former Pacific City citizens who have been dramatically mutated into mindless monsters by a virus that has swept the city. The transformation from human to Freak has given these creatures increased strength and physical durability, they can easily overpower a patrol of Agency Peacekeepers and take negligible damage from conventional firearms. However, Freaks are also extremely vulnerable to light sources, especially the Sun, as well as light-based weapons created by the Agency. Freaks roam Pacific City's streets in droves at night, but retreat into several underground lairs across the city once the Sun rises. The Freaks will evolve and grow with you as you level up your skills. Their use of acidic attacks and and the introduction of more ugly and stronger monsters will evolve as you carry out the Agency's priority task.
Crackdown 3[]
TerraNova Incorporated[]
TerraNova Incorporated is the conglomerate that owns and governs the city state of New Providence, and are the main antagonists in Crackdown 3.
They are responsible for the "Blackout" attacks in which they cut the world's power using a powerful new resource called Chimera.
TerraNova was founded by Elizabeth Niemand, CEO of this mega-corporation. Elizabeth explains how she started TerraNova with nothing, and that she was devoted into expanding it. She was mentioned to have survived crimes of blackmail, shareholder revolts, and boardroom assassination. It is also mentioned that Elizabeth Niemand outsourced three of her customers who were known as the Los Muertos, The Volk, and Shai-Gen, the organisations who previously controlled Pacific City in the first Crackdown.
Trivia[]
There are specific scripted areas and places in Crackdown, where members of two Factions can be seen fighting each other across the map of Pacific City.