The Crew Preview

The Crew is massive. It’s massive and ambitious and the first truly next gen racing game. If that claim isn’t enough to excite you and get you poised to pre-order the self proclaimed CaRPG then not much will. The final closed beta recently ended and it gave hordes of petrolheads the last taste of The Crew before its launch on 2nd December.

Thrown straight into a story mission, my objective was to evade the police; do you try to outrun them on the winding middle America A-roads, join the freeway and hit the accelerator or make a sharp handbrake turn and go cross country? It’s your decision. As long as you reach the hide-out without being arrested, America is at your disposal.

At this point, I had to sit back and watch a cut-scene. It was here that The Crew’s story came to life. It’s your generic ‘revenge story’: infiltrate the nationwide street racing gangs to find the person who killed your brother. OK, so it’s every cliché in the book, and the tough guy voice acting is enough to turn your stomach, but when did you ever play a racing game for the gripping story? In no way will it hinder your play through, and if anything it improves on previous racing games, giving more purpose behind each story mission.

As is Ubisoft’s ethos, you start with a completely blurred map, which through progression gradually unlocks. Like viewpoints in Assassin’s Creed, or outposts in Far Cry, The Crew offers data stations for you to find, doing so will unlock a small chunk of the map as well as skill missions, car dealerships, database locations and tuning shops. The main difference with these data stations however is that they are not firmly placed on the map. Instead of just driving straight to them, you are shown their general location, you have to follow your car’s GPS ‘hotter/colder’ signal to locate the data station proper. It seems a bit of a cop out to copy features from other successful franchises, but why would you change a winning formula which has proven itself time and time again? Not only that, but it forces you to explore parts of the map which might otherwise remain uncharted territory.

Speaking of the map, as you’ve probably heard, it’s massive. And that is no understatement. Think Grand Theft Auto V and multiply it by five… at least. Being the typical Brit my initial instinct once free roam was made available was ‘Vegas baby!’ and off I went, from home of Eminem, Detroit, to Sin City itself. 40 minutes after departing, and driving through the mountain states of Colorado and Mid-West small towns, I was pulling up onto the strip. 40 minutes of reckless driving, averaging well over 100mph, and avoiding various random skill missions and I hadn’t even seen 5% of the map. Simply put it is the biggest in-game world i’ve ever been part of. With countless ways to get to each town and city, I’m certain most of my time will be spent simply cruising from city-to-city. But if you’re not a fan of driving in free roam you can fast travel to and from airports and train stations across the nation without having to unlock them, it’s win-win for both sets of players.

As for the graphics, the cars all look spot on, are damaged just as real cars would and even get caked in mud and sand when driving off-road or on the beach. That being said, the roads are populated by less than imaginative vehicles, much less defined than the playable cars. I did notice a lot of pop-in with the scenery too, particularly during high speeds, but you have to take it all with a pinch of salt, and betas are never a full representation of the complete game.

The missions pack a lot of variety also. Standard street races, drag races and off-road, while I particularly enjoyed Ambush, a mission type where you have to chase down a vehicle and ram it off the road. Perfect for those with a passion for destruction.

All of this leads into classic RPG elements. After completing missions, you are rewarded either a gold, silver or bronze medal, with each medal getting you closer to exclusive vehicle upgrades. For instance, 10 gold medals gets you a new turbo, or five bronzes unlocks exclusive decals. All of this gives great reason to replay missions over and over in order to try and better your score. While receiving medals, you’ll also earn XP, this goes towards your overall level, and simply, the higher level you are the better the upgrades you can use.

The Crew certainly boasts a wide range of activities to keep racing fans and RPG nuts content. With a near limitless supply of upgrades and car combinations, and one of the biggest maps I’ve ever seen, a weekend long demo certainly whet my appetite and has got me more excited than ever. The question that remains however is can a CaRPG attract the attention of the masses? We’ll know more once the game comes out on December 2nd.