THE CREW 2
Blast across the United States, and look cool doing it
AN OPEN-WORLD RACER that takes in the whole of the lower 48, TheCrew2 is in no doubt about its size. Everything about it is tuned to be huge, to be extreme, to make you want to call people “bro.”
It’s not actually that huge—a drive from coast to coast takes less than an hour—but it is filled with stuff to do. Your nascent racer, looking for fame, fortune, and the opportunity to get paid for misbehaving in motor vehicles, attracts the attention of benefactors by, let’s face it, coming last in the opening race, from where you head out on the hunt for more followers.
Followers are used as currency, enabling progression, as well as making you feel better about coming second by watching a number increase. It would have gone up more if you’d won, though, and this is the game’s major hook. The attempt to blend a narrative into the mix of car, boat, and airplane racing is semi-successful, with veteran racers positioned as bosses to overcome, but its tone, especially the unskippable loading screens, can make you wish there was a way to turn them off.
The map is speckled with events to take part in. Sure, you could drive between them, and enjoy a greatest hits collection of US scenery, but given the size of the map, it’s much quicker to click on them and fast travel. Win races and you can unlock car parts to upgrade your ride, which can greatly alter its performance and handling.
Pitched as a fun way to thrash about in expensive hardware, rather than as a simulation, TheCrew2’s vehicles are easy enough to drive after a bit of practice. Taking your finger off the gas for a corner (there’s no damage, so you can often use the old GranTurismo trick of bouncing off opponents’ cars), and keeping the car roughly on track toward the next waypoint marker is all that’s required at the beginning. As you progress, a degree of proficiency is required, but there are so many events that you can drag out the early part of the game in which you become actually good at it for as long as you need.
City locations, despite excellent weather effects and lighting, are less impressive than the countryside, mainly as there’s too much going on to distract your attention. Civilians frequently wander into the middle of a race, and as you smash them out of the way, you’ll have a second to appreciate how low-res and rubbery they appear. Stores and restaurants have weird signs, offering Facial Wax Nails Massage Body Gift Shop Pizza Pizza Pizza, and it’s hard to drag your attention away as you round a corner to find Breakfast & Mechanic Spa.
Another oddity, in a game about speed, is the 60fps cap. Play at that frame rate in 4K and you get an exciting experience, but racing games are ideal for the kind of frame rate heroics only PCs can provide, and it’s a shame it’s not implemented here.
In the absence of a Burnout game since Paradise, the open-world racer is looking for an identity. TheCrew’s mix of events, gameshow-like presentation, and steady drip of increased followers is almost there, but with a front-end out of a skateboarding video, it still has a way to go.
The Crew 2
DUDE Huge selection of cars and events; looks great; enormous map.
CRUDE No reason to drive anywhere; presentation may leave you cold.
RECOMMENDED SPECS i5-4690K/Ryzen 5 1600; 8GB RAM; GTX 1060 6GB/RX 470 8GB.
$60, http://thecrew-game.com, ESRB: T