You play as Alex, a hotshot racer who doesn't play by the rules. The developers have freely admitted that the story's a throwaway excuse to punt you to and fro across America, and I'm fine with that. I mean, I wish I hated everyone in it a little bit less, but you can skip cutscenes and there's absolutely no pressure to pay attention to this rather tedious tale of rival racing gangs, undercover cops and other cliched nonsense.
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| Off-road feels much more satisfying than circuit racing; the handling is far less punishing and the freedom more fitting for the game |
For hopeless incompetents like me, The Crew's focus on freedom and spectacle rather than pure hardcore racing - something which Project Cars looks to have pretty well locked up - is far more enticing than any sub-Fast and the Furious shenanigans. The best moments in my brief time with the game involved racing around with my 'crew' (as a deeply uncool British man I'm still uncomfortable using that term) causing chaos and contributing to the world's ongoing climate change crisis. The Crew's clearly going for a more mainstream audience than its rivals, and I think that's probably a smart choice.
Not that the racing itself is bad. Handling's maybe a little looser and less responsive than it could be, which makes street racing tricky to get the hang of. I'm not totally convinced by the game's circuit racing, which lacks the precision of something like Project Cars. Off-road is far more enjoyable, letting you swing your back end around corners with much less chance of losing control. Most of the off-road races don't seem to punish you for skipping corners and going off-track, which encourages much reckless flinging of expensive vehicles down thickly-wooded slopes in an attempt to shave off a few seconds.
Cars come in six distinct flavours; you've got your vanilla, unmodified Full Stock, the self-explanatory Street spec, rally-style Dirt, reinforced off-road Raid, high-tuned and blisteringly fast Performance and traditional Circuit spec. Each category has a pretty hefty roster of vehicles. There's something for everyone, from fancy, low-slung supercars to fully-armoured, off-road behemoths. There's also a really impressive level of cosmetic customisation, with a truckload of paint-jobs, spoilers, wheels and so on that you can bung on to make your car feel unique. I drove around in a big old off-road monster kitted out like some kind of nightmare ice-cream van, and it was glorious.
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| The car roster is impressive, whether you want to stick to the streets or hit the dirt track |
Ubisoft claims that The Crew is a true racing MMO rather than a driving game with online features, and from the brief session I played the social aspect does seem to be the major draw. Form a group with your friends and you'll jump into a little instanced bubble, letting you race about without interruption. This instancing means that once your crew jumps into a race or a mission, you won't see any other player-controlled cars on the road – that's a smart anti-griefing decision designed to stop your average online troublemaker ruining the game for everyone else. The downside is that The Crew requires an always-on internet connection, but unlike other high-profile examples (I'm looking at you SimCity) it makes a bit more sense here, with the game's obvious emphasis on multiplayer.
Every mission and challenge in the game can be played solo or co-op, so there's a tonne of things to do if you're bored of free ride. Particular highlights for my gang included chasing after an armoured car in a Los Angeles viaduct, Terminator 2-style, attempting to kill each other while racing through a forested mountain pass and zipping around desert dunes in high-powered buggies. Being able to just mess about with your pals in a giant open-world playground is such a neat concept, it's surprising that no racing game has really tried it before.
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| Learning when to trigger your nitro burst is key if you prefer not to go careening into oncoming traffic |
One thing to mention is that the sheer scale of the game does impact the performance a bit. The frame rate never drops to concerning levels, but if you're a 60FPS or nothing kind of gamer you might be disappointed with The Crew's modest performance. Having a souped-up gaming PC won't help much either. Ubisoft announced recently that even those with advanced mega-computers will find themselves locked to 30FPS. Honestly though, while I do agree that limiting the frame rate on PC these days is a strange decision, it never really bothered me. Textures, lightning and shadows looked sharp, and there's an impressive amount of detail crammed in to the environments. I'd prefer a smoother performance, but the game looks nice enough that I'm willing to give it a pass.
With most of the high-profile racing titles focusing on simulation these days, it's refreshing to jump into a more arcadey, relaxed affair. It's no Burnout – the driving shies away from cartoon physics and Michael Bay explosions, but The Crew puts the focus firmly on messing around and having fun with your friends rather than hardcore realism. For those like me, who suck at simulation titles and just want a fun way to race with friends, The Crew looks like just the ticket. If the social and online features hold up long-term, and if the server performance can justify that always-on connection, then Ubisoft could have a big hit on its hands.
Most Anticipated Feature: Despite the multitude of events available, I'm most interesting in road-tripping across America with a few friends – avoiding police helicopters and squad cars along the way.
