MMO With Street Racing as the Backdrop

User Rating: 7 | The Crew XONE

Enjoyment of The Crew is based on your expectations of the game. The game doesn't compare to other racing games. You could say that it has similarities to Need for Speed and Forza Horizon, in that there's a large open world to race in. The game is really an MMO, with your vehicle being your avatar. The game actually reminds me more of Defiance than anything--I don't really play MMOs. I've only played DC Universe, Defiance, and Destiny.

I will say that I haven't come close to finishing the game. I'm only still in the Midwest United States, but I have driven around several cities including Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and New York and played several of the challenges and won one the weekly challenge races. The game map is huge--a modified version of the United States and is the biggest map I've ever played in a racing game.

In The Crew, you follow a Fast and Furious" story about taking down corrupt government agents that set you up. You level up by earning experience for completing missions, challenges, finding landmarks, etc. There's weekly events and "raids--multi hour races" to complete like MMOs.

Like other UBIsoft games, you find towers (you don't have to climb them) to unlock the map as you drive around, which then displays all of the challenges--things like navigating obstacles, passing through gates, speed runs, etc. These events earn you upgrades for your vehicles--which are assigned levels and boost your stats, like pieces of armor in a roleplaying game. You can also fast travel to anywhere that you've unlocked the map--you can also unlock the map as you drive around. The races allow you to ask for co-op assistance from other players, which can make missions where you escape from the police easier. There are competitive multiplayer races to participate in as well.

The game plays like an arcade racer and the cars handle fine--you can upgrade your cars to handle on different types of terrain as you level up. The graphics are fine--anyone saying this looks like a PS2 game is exaggerating, is it the same as Forza, no. However, the world is much larger and this is an online game--graphics are similar to other online only games. My only gripe is that the mirrors in first person cockpit view don't work.

So far in my playing, I haven't had any major bugs, like others have stated, there may be some lag in the competitive races, depending on internet connection and time of day playing--(internet bandwidth), then again I've had the same lag playing COD on the PS4--no different to any other online game. I have not noticed the horrific pop in, that the reviewer claimed.

Overall, I am happy with the game and it promises to be lengthy and I will get my money's worth out of it. The only downside to this game, is that as an "MMO" you have to be connected to the internet to play it. Just know, that this is more of an MMO roleplaying game rather than an actual sim/racer.