Overall, 'Speed Crew' isn't what you'd expect from a game around motorsports. It's a simple concept and action, but allows for a lot of fun to share with your friends.
The dream of being a race car driver has been with me ever since I was a little kid. I have fond memories is tearing around the farm on a go-kart thinking I was ripping around Watkins Glen in a NASCAR Cup Series car. Sadly, money and talent weren’t in my favor. However, one thing that was is my love to tinker and work. Dad taught me a lot about working on cars and how to fix problems. I still do. I changed the shocks on my truck a few weeks ago. So when ‘Speed Crew’ came into my hands, it felt like it was a match made for my tinkering hands.
Let’s head back to 1977. The music is bass-heavy, the mustaches thick, and the cars, fast as hell.
You and your team are set to compete in the 1970s Racing Championship as a rag-tag bunch is going up against the Furious Famly Racing team, headed by…Dominion Torrento. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
The task at hand is simple, be the fastest, but instead of being behind the wheel of a speed machine, you’re a wrench jockey. Slinging tires and hammers and pumping gas as fast as you can. Like a Formula 1 pit crew, your job is to get drivers in and out as fast as possible.
Your main tasks are tire changing and repair, body damage repair, and fueling the car. All simple tasks, until you add in the outer elements. Each task has its level of difficulty. Some tires can just be swapped out, others have major damage and need a complete overhaul. Cars roll up on fumes and need extra time to fuel up, and body parts are just left hanging on for dear life at times. All the while you run around the clock is ticking down on you.
All the while the environment and the track are changing. Unlike most racing series, you’re working on all the cars coming into their stalls and garage bays…in all kinds of conditions.
Rain, wind, a massive manhole cover blowing off, several roads with traffic racing by. Oh, also you’re dodging traffic because you can die at any moment getting hit by a car.
The..mechanics of the game (get it, like with cars) feel simple but realistic. The timing of actions feels good. While it’s overall just quick time events, the way they are timed out feels very satisfying and is good and weighted. This is where the game starts to struggle though. This is a multiplayer game. As you move through the levels and the worlds, things start to ramp up. Work gets longer, cars start coming in at a breakneck pace, and the environments get more chaotic and larger. It is definitely a game that you can handle at first, but be careful because you will need your friends to come here.
Everything visually is a cute art style. Easy on the eyes and comforting in some ways. There are times though when maps get larger that it is hard to find the tools or parts you need. I found myself having to go back and forth several times just trying to find a jack to lift the car up or find a wrench for a second time. It’s also a bit of a bummer that character design was limited to prebuilt characters.
Overall, ‘Speed Crew’ isn’t what you’d expect from a game around motorsports. It’s a simple concept and action, but allows for a lot of fun to share with your friends.
