The Crew 2 is a beautiful follow-up to the first. It packs a lot of punch inside of it and it’s friendly to all types of gamers. The world is still big, the events are great in number, and it just feels like a fun/simple racing game that you want to play on and off for a long time.
I do remember the original release for The Crew. There were a lot of ambitious ideas on how it was going to work, what people could do, and how it was going to reinvent a racing genre that had hit the Gran Turismo wall. Ubisoft had plans. Then those plans sort of came up short. The game, at least at launch, had some problems, as the racing was a bit uninspired, and it never quite came together.
Round Two. 3. 2. 1…GO!
The Crew 2 launches on Friday of this week and has brought with it the same type of ambitious personality that was planned with the first release. This time the game comes with different styles of play in the form of boats, planes, and off-road, as well as XP replaced by gaining followers (more to come later). The game goes beyond just simple racing and playing with friends, as the world now features random drops, records that are constantly challenged, and different styles of events to make the experience much larger than it seems. While I certainly could do without all the Red Bull advertisements, the gameplay and design are far greater than the first. On that note, let’s get right into it.
Ivory Tower brought the whole kit and caboodle with The Crew 2. The inclusion of different types of vehicles to race was a huge plus, as it gave more variety to the player and fit multiple different fancies. Drawing in various interests from gamers will most certainly give you a greater chance of success, at least in theory. Each type of vehicle brings with it an easy-breezy arcade feel, which translates to a friendly game for various gamer skills. This means that your 10-year old kid can pick up the plane racing and go, while the adults in the household can do the same with the street racing or off-road — one size fits all. The game seems to be built on the foundation that it’s more fun if you keep the focus on the controls and making it easy to play, rather than complicating things with tedious F1-like configurations that require you to be a mathematician. Because of this, The Crew 2 is more San Francisco Rush in gameplay design, rather than Gran Turismo. Again, easy and fun seems to overtake complicated and brutally earned. I can dig that type of gameplay, but I can also understand that hardcore racers might be disappointed because they wanted something more. That said, gaming was meant to be fun and quite frankly in this gaming day and age where complication sometimes drowns out enjoyment (see Project Cars for details), it’s good to see a game hedge its bet on simple entertainment and gameplay design, as is the case with The Crew 2.
Beyond simple gameplay design, there is also an underbelly of slight complication to upgrades and leveling. First and foremost, XP is out in place of gaining followers. You have ‘followers’ that you need to acquire to achieve and unlock more goodies in the game. The better you do on the track/sky/water/off-road, the more followers you will acquire along the way. You can also acquire followers in the free-play (more to come) area through tricks and accomplishments. It’s all relative and it all works within the system provided to you.
More slight complication enters the gameplay with the addition of rewards/upgrades to vehicles, as well as other goodies as you complete goals during competition. Acquiring other vehicles and upgrades vehicles becomes a motivating factor to keep racing, doing well, and replaying. The upgrades come in the form of parts. Each part has a number attached to it, as well as attributes, and is color coded for labeling as ‘better parts’. It’s as if they took The Division’s color-coding and leveling system and gave it to The Crew 2’s design — it looks eerily similar. The upgrades and rewards I certainly accept as motivating factors to achieve better rankings and explore the game (you can find parts and secret stash items throughout levels). The more you do in the game, the more you see and accomplish, means the more you get. The system is just that simple. It’s easy to pick up on, which is the staple of a solidly built game. The complication of the matter really boils down to what parts you’re going to use on any particular vehicle, as it can be a mix-match deal. Ultimately, the slight complexity of the upgrade/reward system helps to keep a player on track and it works well. Much like the rest of this game, at least on the surface, understanding and using the system is simple, which keeps playing into the underlying theme that this game was built for everyone.
As for other gameplay aspects, The Crew 2 does its best to institute some sort of storyline into the mix. You play as someone trying to make it in the racing world. You have an annoying manager that pushes you along all the way and helps you to make the most of your opportunity as it unfolds within the game. Each type of vehicle brings in new characters and a new team to help you achieve your goals to be the greatest. As you build further and further towards greatness, you unlock more events to increase your notoriety and presence amongst your followers. The story, in a sense, plays as more motivation to keep going and becoming a better racer.
Now, beyond events and other actual races, there is a free area to roam around in. The free-play area is the respectful gimmick of the game. It allows you to travel cross country in huge environments to do what you want. It’s a neat gimmick and one that, when you give yourself time to enjoy it, is relaxing and a big sandbox of fun. Picture GTA V’s landscape of exploration, then multiply it by 6-7, and you get the idea. What’s remarkable about the exploration of the girth-y landscape is that Ivory Tower put in some details. Unlike the previous attempt at the game, where it looked somewhat bland, the textures are built beautifully built out and the world feels like it’s populated with details that are everywhere. For example, going through the woods brings about tall trees, amazingly wavy creeks, and gorgeous sunshine that blinds you when you’re looking at it in the wrong direction. These are lovely details that make it seem like Ivory Tower put some magic into the making of the game. There’s nothing common or usual about that, as it just feels like some thought and care went into it.
Speaking of pretty, the game does a great job of bringing some try current generation console power to the mix. The textures, shadows, lights, and looks of the cars/environments/other cars is nothing short of stunning. The only shortfall to the visuals are the people on the streets, who look like last generation Sims. When you’re going fast, though, I’m sure you’re not going to stop and enjoy the sights of people, so it’s no biggie. They’re just the visual ‘blah’ of the game. Beyond that, though, The Crew 2 is gorgeous. It’s one of the better-looking games out on the market right now. Not quite the scale of an Assassin’s Creed Origin, but nonetheless pretty and expansive for a driving game.
Overall, The Crew 2 is a beautiful follow-up to the first. It packs a lot of punch inside of it and it’s friendly to all types of gamers. The world is still big, the events are great in number, and it just feels like a fun/simple racing game that you want to play on and off for a long time.
