I’m only an hour or two into The Crew, but I do not like it. For a game that’s had more betas that you can shake a bumper at, you’d figure it would have more polish. It does not.
When you start The Crew, you’re placed in a big ol’ truck, tasked to avoid the police. If that’s not clichéd enough for you, you’re also doing so in a countryside, driving through fields and kicking up dirt and crops in the process. It’s very Forza Horizon 2, except in Horizon 2, you weren’t another token ‘wrong side of the law’ character.
Oh, and Forza Horizon 2 actually looks good.
In Horizon 2, you’re seeing crops fly to the left and right as your vehicle flies – literally and figuratively, in certain points – through them. Dirt is being kicked up and your car has a sense of weight behind it. It looks real, and fun. None of these things hold true for The Crew.
The default camera obnoxiously bounces around, jarringly on rocky terrain. The ground around you barely registers the fact that your car is trampling it. The truck sometimes jettisons into the air for no reason at all, with all the weight of a crumpled piece of paper.
At this point, The Crew feels hollow.
Getting past that, you can see the Ubisoft touch on the game. Around the United States, you’ll be taked to unlock data points which reveal items on the map. That’s probably the thing my OCD-like personality is most excited for in the game. Looking at other Achievments disappoints me. Quite a number of them want you to play this game in a group of 2-4 people at all times. It’s not going to happen, Ubisoft, regardless of the title of your game. Playing with strangers, as always, proved to be little fun as people did whatever they felt like rather than chased objectives.
The game doesn’t really look current-gen when compared to titles like Horizon 2 and Driveclub, but has some nice current-gen implementations. The map functionality is neat, basically pulling out of itself and zooming into your car as you leave it. GPS functionality was initially cool, seen on-screen as a solid blue line over your car, guiding you to your next objective. That changed when I actually had to use it; it’s WAY too hard to figure out where you’re supposed to turn when you’re concentrating on a blue bar high over your car. You’re meant to be looking at the road… and that’s usually where similar GPS-style guides can be found. It’s like that for a reason.
Other than that, it’s cars, levelling up and buying more cars. On the plus side, I haven’t run into any microtransactions yet.
I know I’m only a short while in, but right now, there’s nothing really driving me to continue playing, especially when comparing this game to Horizon 2.
Check back for our full thoughts and a proper review soon.
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The Crew is currently in review using a promotional copy of the game played on Xbox One. The copy was provided by the publisher. The Crew is available from today, hence the quasi-review.
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