Ubisoft’s premier racing franchise, The Crew, typically will get a nasty rap. Developer Ivory Tower had very sturdy ambitions proper from the beginning grid, offering drivers with an open world approximating the complete United States of America. It is a terrific thought; roam the complete nation from coast to coast along with your buddies, taking up challenges and constructing a diversified assortment of automobiles. The Crew 2 doubled down, even offering new methods to get round with boats and planes. For us, nevertheless, the execution was by no means actually ok, with a vapid open world and lacklustre driving. The Crew Motorfest is a special story.
The third entry within the sequence is well our favorite, addressing our two greatest gripes with earlier entries. For as commendable as it’s to present gamers a lot acreage to discover, all that house was by no means full of something memorable. Motorfest takes the reverse method, shrinking the map right down to Hawaii’s major island, O’ahu, and packing it with character. Although it is nonetheless a sizeable open world, it is so way more attention-grabbing to drive via — lovely coastal roads lead into verdant forests, volcanic seashores, winding mountain trails, and Honolulu’s metropolis streets. It is a unbelievable setting that serves as a picturesque backdrop to the motion.
Talking of motion, the dealing with mannequin is a large enchancment on The Crew 2. Undoubtedly leaning in the direction of the arcade half of the spectrum, Motorfest strikes a pleasant steadiness; it is a variety of enjoyable, throwing automobiles round with relative ease, however nonetheless requires you to concentrate and anticipate turns correctly. Essentially the most spectacular factor is the dealing with feels good no matter racing self-discipline. Selection is the order of the day right here, and whether or not it is avenue racing, open-wheel indy automobiles, or off-roading, it is all strong and satisfying. Strong use of DualSense’s haptics and triggers is a pleasant bonus, too.
The one factor we’ll say is on-road driving can really feel a bit slide-happy, generally kicking the again out right into a drift a little bit too eagerly. It is by no means too massive a problem, however one thing to pay attention to. General, driving is way more entertaining right here, and you’ve got a great quantity of assists and car-specific tuning to tweak it to your liking. Boat and aircraft dealing with is not fairly on the identical degree, however they’re nonetheless fairly enjoyable to mess with, and add much more selection.
The sport contextualises your highway journey in O’ahu with the titular Motorfest, an island-wide celebration of automotive tradition in all its permutations. Not less than to start with, your major supply of racing comes from Playlists, which comprise themed occasions specializing in a selected area of interest or model. The 15 Playlists at launch embrace Hawaii Scenic Tour, which emphasises the setting with some informal races; Off-Roading Addict, lining up occasions via muddy jungles and sandy seashores; and 911 Legacy, celebrating Porsche’s beloved sports activities automotive vary. They act like miniature campaigns, and make the a whole bunch of automobiles and lots of race varieties properly digestible. Finishing Playlists rewards you with new automobiles and additional challenges to tackle, ultimately providing you with a whole bunch of issues to do across the island. That may sound overwhelming, however a beauty of the sport is that all the pieces is non-obligatory; you may ignore no matter components do not curiosity you.
There’s heaps to do whereas taking part in solo, however there are additionally some attention-grabbing methods to interact in multiplayer. Clearly you may create or be a part of a crew and go for a drive along with your buddies, and a handful of aggressive modes are good enjoyable too. Grand Race is a chaotic, 28-player race that has you hot-swapping between three automobile courses on the fly; Demolition Royale is a destruction derby spin on battle royale; and Summit Contest is a weekly problem comprising 9 themed occasions, and also you earn rewards relying on what number of cumulative factors you may have on the finish. Lastly, there’s the Customized Present, in which you’ll submit your decked-out rides for public vote. Unusually, there would not look like a technique to simply matchmake for a easy race — at launch, a minimum of.
The Essential Stage offers a seasonal wrapper for what you are doing, rewarding you with XP, in-game money, and extra as you full Playlists, discover the map, and compete in multiplayer with sure automobiles. The presentation right here may be fairly complicated with 4 XP bars and a wealth of themed occasions to partake in. It is not the one factor we discovered a little bit of a puzzle at first, both. The wealth of automobiles is unbelievable and there is a variety of customisation choices, however you will shortly be inundated with improve components that every one have seemingly random further perks or buffs along with the common stat will increase. Our recommendation is to equip no matter makes your automotive’s stats go up and be executed with it, lest you spend half your time worrying what all of the little icons imply.
The sheer quantity of stuff to do means Motorfest by no means leaves you bored, however generally it goes a little bit far to advocate issues to you. In free roam, you will get notifications for challenges you have accomplished or challenges you may tackle, whereas Feats — easy aims like slaloms or velocity traps — pepper the island and, if you happen to’re not paying consideration, can lead you away from the place you had been heading. On high of all the pieces else, ghosts of different gamers will zoom previous, which may be distracting, and NPCs and your onboard AI assistant are consistently speaking. Often the dialogue is attention-grabbing, including extra context within the Hawaii Scenic Tour Playlist, for example, but it surely’s principally superfluous. These presentation decisions may be overbearing at occasions.
It is not all unhealthy, although. The in-game map is a spotlight, permitting you to take a broad view of the island or zoom proper in to see different gamers driving round. Additionally, there are some very nice stylistic modifications made relying on the Playlist you are taking part in. Made in Japan, for instance, coats Honolulu in neon, whereas Classic Storage applies a refined color filter to present a extra old-timey really feel. Whereas the visuals aren’t fairly on par with PS5’s best-looking racers, they’re nothing to smell at both, with a vibrant use of color being a power. The body charge is a near-constant 60 frames-per-second on efficiency mode, which is our most popular technique to play, however you may swap to decision mode for 4K and 30 frames-per-second if you need.
Conclusion
The Crew Motorfest is the most effective within the sequence to this point. Whereas some could miss the large US map of previous, O’ahu makes for a way more inviting setting with its tropical vibes and diversified environments. The dealing with has by no means been higher both, someway feeling good it doesn’t matter what you are driving. A wealth of issues to see and do is made manageable because of the addictive Playlists, though some presentation selections could make the sport really feel a little bit scattershot generally. Even with a few potholes, although, Motorfest is an entertaining drive and, understanding Ubisoft’s observe report with dwell service, will solely get higher over time.