by Lucas Schmidt
The Crew attempts to stand out in the racing genre by placing you in a condensed version of the United States while striving to function like an MMO. This recreated nation is filled with hours of challenges and races for you to compete in with friends and strangers, or solo if you prefer. There’s no shortage of things to do in The Crew, but frustrating A.I. and some small annoyances serve as road bumps that hinder an otherwise enjoyable racing experience.
Throughout the course of The Crew you’ll travel from one region to another within the U.S., each one presenting new types of terrain and a new class of vehicles for you to drive. Environments are varied and expansive. One minute you’ll be behind the wheel of slick, fast circuit car on the sunny coast of California, then you’ll soon be taking your off-road vehicle to the badlands of Utah or Nevada. The transitions between the regions are smooth, and littered throughout your path are challenges and races that can be initiated simply by driving through them. There are always other players on the roads, as a connection to the game’s servers is required at all times, but you’ll likely just pass them by most of the time without a second thought.
Races and challenges can be completed with your crew, a four-person team that’s easy to set up so long as you have friends to play with. Races with other players are unfortunately unbalanced, as there’s usually a wide range in the quality of players’ cars. Naturally, the players with the best cars usually win, leaving little room for actual talent to come in to play. As a sort of compensation, no matter what place you finish in a race you’ll be showered with a healthy amount of experience points and in-game currency.
Most of my time spent with The Crew was done solo, but the potential for a good co-op experience is certainly there. It’s just unlikely you’ll experience it unless you have friends to play with.
Racing games have never been renowned for their narratives, often times opting not to include one at all. The Crew however contextualizes your cross-country races within the story of Alex Taylor, a street racer wrongly convicted for the murder of his brother. With the help of the FBI, Alex sets out to infiltrate the 5-10 gang, whose leader, Shiv, is the person responsible for the death of Alex’s brother.
As you go from city to city winning races, you steadily climb your way through the ranks of the 5-10s, working to get ever closer to Shiv and satisfy your revenge. The story moves along mostly through phone calls with allies and enemies who quickly guide you to your next set of races. These characters are far from memorable as their overbearing personalities and cheesy dialogue offer nothing more than the occasional chuckle. All of this is easy to overlook, but where The Crew truly falls short is the manner in which its A.I. acts unfairly in races.
Opponents will rubber band to catch up to you at an unfair pace on a regular basis. Many missions require you to evade the police or other enemies, but these chases can be far too aggressive and it’s guaranteed that during at least a few instances you’ll be boxed in by five cars and fail the mission within the first 30 seconds. There were far too many occasions where I failed races not because of my own inabilities, but because the A.I. was far too aggressive and powerful.
Vehicle controls work well for the most part, but there are instances where your car will scrape an uneven patch of terrain, flip several times, and fly off the road. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does you feel betrayed by the game’s physics engine and will likely have to restart whatever event you’re completing.
The Crew is one of the more ambitious games in recent months, and it successfully realizes some of those ambitious. The beautifully realized United States offers one of the best racing environments I’ve played in, and the huge amount of content will keep you playing for hours on end. Its overly aggressive A.I. and subpar online modes force you to deal with either one annoyance or the other, unless you’re completing challenges. It’s worth the time of anyone interested in an open world racing title, but if you’re picky about your racing games then you’d be better off looking elsewhere.
