The Crew: Motorfest Review- A car enthusiasts joyride

The racing genre of video games can be mainly split into two groups: sim racers and arcade racers. These categories divide the fanbase into very distinct sectors. Sim racing enthusiasts rarely dabble in the arcade stuff, and vice versa.

It is somehow at the intersection of these two genres that I find the most amount of enjoyment. I rarely enjoy a punishing racing sim like the F1 games on their highest difficulties, and rarer still find myself attracted by drift-enthusiastic and over-the-top arcade racers. I seek perfect balance (as all things should be).

It is here (with a decent lean towards arcade) that the Crew: Motorfest stands. A fairly grounded experience for the car lover inside all of us. An experience that is neither too demanding nor too shallow, not too flamboyant and never too held back by reality.

I think this effort by Ubisoft is greatly successful in bringing back some of the love I have for the genre, despite the fact it uses the success of Forza Motorsport for more than just inspiration.

The Driving

Perhaps the least fascinating part of this game to me is the driving model. It generally feels very good, with a distinct difference between cockpit view and rear-mounted cameras. Cars have different feels, depending on their configuration and it overall is quite a robust system.

The car variety is also pretty great, and there is also a very mid upgrade system in the game. Generally, this game played single player is very permissive on the car choices. It does not really matter what you pick so long as you drive well, as the opponents will be scaled to you in a way. This is great because it means you can freely drive whatever you wish, however you wish.

The World

I think mostly every single arcade racer road map has been following the same principles for some 5+ years. American-like architecture and layouts, with extremely diverse landscapes (with dirt, sand, snow and mountain peaks if possible) in a sprawling map, with a few cities dotted about.

This game absolutely follows this template to the letter and I suppose there is nothing to really complain about. I think it does a good job to set a backdrop to ride fancy cars in, but I will not remember any of it in 2 years time.

The playlists

The single most enjoyable thing about this game are the playlists. They are very varied sets of thematic races that take you throughout most car periods and manufacturers.

There are playlists that focus solely on one manufacturer such as Porsche or Lamborghini, with the goal of taking you through this company's history. These usually start in a chronological order of notable releases and feel very lovingly crafted. I enjoyed the way the cars were portrayed, and the events themselves felt inspired.

There are also category-centric playlists: muscle cars, drift playlists, electric vehicles. All these subcategories of motorized beasts get their own spotlight, together with themed races that are enthralling most of the time. Whatever you fancy, there probably is a playlist dedicated to it.

Each playlist has an introductory sequence that honestly feels like it cost a lot of money, but was very well worth it. These are bombastic video clips showcasing what the playlist is about and hyping you up for that first event. After that, each event you complete will progress you to the next race, with yet another small series clip (this time slightly less ambitious) presenting the next challenge. At the end of some 7 races, you are gifted with a car from that specific theme to remember this experience by.

I vastly prefer this style of mission design to the lifeless grind of the Forza Motorsport. I realize Forza had some higher highs than this, but generally that felt like a same-y grind through random missions with little guidance or sense of progression. This game has style and passion, even though at the end of the day, its another delivery method for the same drink.

There were occasional moments of greatness that made me harken back to the days of the 2005 Need for Speed: Most wanted, and I think that can only be a good thing.

Conclusion (Grade A)

The Crew is undoubtedly a Forza clone. They did not bother to change almost anything in the driving model from the formula put forth by Turn 10 studios, but it mostly works. The AI problems i countered in Forza are not an issue here, and the playlists are obviously made by people who love cars. I feel like the attitude some of the playlists have is exactly what Forza lacked... some soul. The driving feels better in Forza than here, but other than that, I had a way more enjoyable time in Ubisoft's game. It is a great game that gave me small glimpses achieved by EA's Black Box studio in 2005.