It’s a well-established truth that games bring people together, and The Crew is banking on this fact wholeheartedly. Take a driving game, add the construct of forming a team of ace drivers, and travel the country together to infiltrate a notoriously evil racing gang. I’m gearing up to deliver a full review of this ambitious game, but having only received a copy yesterday, it’s still far too early to pass final judgement. I need to sink a significant amount of time into its world to get a feeling for its MMO-like qualities, and to see whether or not its multi-hour missions are worth the time investment, to name a few unexplored facets. I’m working on our review of the full experience, but in the meantime, let’s tackle what’s immediately satisfying and disappointing as you get started on your career on the road.
The Crew’s plot is ripped straight from the pages of The Fast and the Furious, and you have to suffer through roughly an hour of introductory cutscenes and missions before you can set out and form a crew of your own. Once you’re set free from your shackles, you have access to the entire country, though it’s scaled down considerably from the real world. Though you can go anywhere, you can’t tackle missions in any city just yet; you have to complete a series of missions in Detroit before you can accept missions in other locales, such as the relatively nearby city of St. Louis. There’s a handy map that lays out missions and other notable locations, and you can choose to set waypoints, or if you’re feeling antsy, teleport via fast travel.
The Crew embraces the spirit of arcade-style driving, and by default, it’s a forgiving driving experience that allows you to endure plenty of impacts, save for head-on collisions. The four cars you choose from the start are supposedly stock models, but they all come with nitrous tanks for speed boosts, because street racing, obviously. It’s hard not to notice how dated the vehicle models are, however, in light of recent games like Forza Horizon 2.
The general mission structure is good once you’re free to hit the road, and the challenges therein, at least at the start of the game, is an enjoyable mix of racing and other tasks, including running from the police and taking down rival drivers’ vehicles. Unfortunately, the difficulty balance has some issues. The AI drivers intermittently gain unreasonable bursts of speed, typically when you’re just about to take the advantage. Police cars easily outpace you, and when chasing a target in a takedown mission, you get the sense that you’re meant to be strung along until the final seconds on the clock start to tick by. You get opportunities to slam into them when they make unexpected turns, but unless you’ve played the mission before, you have no way of foreseeing when those opportunities might present themselves. If you want a good ranking, some of the early missions seem to be designed for a trial-and-error-like approach.
The Crew doesn’t just give you a chance to team up with other drivers, it practically requires you to do so if you want commendable rankings.
Eventually, after you finish a few challenges with low rankings, it sinks in: The Crew doesn’t just give you a chance to team up with other drivers, it practically requires you to do so if you want commendable rankings. Rolling with a team of friends allows you to form a mini phalanx when chasing enemies, and when you’re trying to outrun the cops, only one car is targeted, and the rest of your team gets to help provide cover and protection. In addition to making some missions more manageable, there’s the added benefit of communicating with one another as a team, and the satisfying feeling of camaraderie and cooperation that ultimately sinks in. Succeed together, and you all gain the mission rewards, regardless of who’s taking point. Considering that this is ostensibly how The Crew is meant to be played, it’s great to see this dynamic work, but should you feel hindered if you only want to play alone, without a crew? It seems to be that you are at a disadvantage in this case, which is unfortunate.
You also have to wrestle with the fact that you can only play The Crew, even when going solo, if you’re connected to the internet. This restriction is problematic for reasons beyond the obvious. During one mission with my crew, a member was booted at the results and rewards screen. In the end, he received nothing for his efforts, and given that some missions are purported to last for an hour or more, this harsh reality doesn’t bode well.
There’s no shortage of things to do or places to see.
It probably shouldn’t surprise me that The Crew lives and dies by its multiplayer component, but the online-only restriction, solo mission difficulty balance, and the risk of losing progress due to a blip in your internet connection makes me worry. Despite my reservations, I do feel compelled to keep playing, to push myself as a driver and form a team that I can rely upon. The notion of touring the country with friends is very appealing, but it will take a lot more time to find out if my dreams will actually come true. I’ll be busy exploring the depths of The Crew over the next few days, so keep an eye out for our full review in the near future.
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