Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title: The Crew 2
Developer: Ivory Tower - A Ubisoft Studio
Publisher: Ubisoft
Price: $59.99
Genre: Racing
Also Available On: Steam, XB1
It would be an understatement to argue that Ubisoft had grand plans when it released The Crew in late 2014. As an online-only racing title, it paraded a wide variety of cars and wide swaths of tracks overlooking popular locations in the United States. It envisioned a reimagining of the genre then dominated by the Gran Turismo and Need for Speed franchises, leaning on a combination of simulation and arcade features, not to mention loaded with customization options that highlighted the possibility of continued revenues through microtransactions.
As things turned out, The Crew wasn’t half bad. It fact, it showed enough promise to spur the release of two expansion titles. The flipside was that it was also nowhere near transcendent; it suffered from poor physics, unfairly high unlock requirements, and the uneven rendition of environments. Worst of all, it fell prey to its supposed innovation; because it offered no offline modes and required players to be connected a hundred percent of the time, it continually encountered server-interface issues.
Creditably, Ubisoft kept its support of The Crew, including in its Wild Run and Calling All Units expansions programming improvements to enhance player experience. The progressions coupled with the additional content underscored the richness of the gameplay and immensity of the areas open to exploration. Still, technical issues remained, and the sheer amount of work needed to raise the vehicle roster vis-a-vis simply purchasing the in-game models with real money bolstered criticisms on its cash-grab components.
Parenthetically, Ubisoft strove to learn from its mistakes even as it stayed committed to the franchise. The release of The Crew 2 last June represents a major step forward, with the new release putting forth even more features and components. Moving vehicles are still eminently subject to player tinkering and free to roam the 48 contiguous states, but the presentation has been much improved. Backgrounds are more lavish and lush, and the prominence of arcade features serve to flatten players’ learning curves instead of stunt their appreciation of the engineering marvels at their disposal.
In this regard, it’s telling that The Crew 2 expands both the disciplines and the types of vehicles on hand. Players can choose not just from freestyle, street, off-road, and pro racing, but do so with land, sea, and air in mind. With just a press of a button, the moving car can be changed to a motorcycle, or a boat, or a monster truck, or a plane — and each would have distinct mobility and maneuverability traits and mechanics. The offshoot is a friendlier, easier, more navigable title aimed at challenging but not frustrating. And, for the most part, it succeeds.
Visually and aurally, The Crew 2 is a marked improvement over its predecessor. Representations of known landmarks are believable if not spot on, aided in no small measure by the outstanding level of detail that remarkably requires little to no discernible load times. The soundtrack is catchy, and auditory effects are well timed and properly modulated. The script and voice acting could have been better; occasionally, the dialogue seems stilted and inappropriately produced. Still, there’s nothing in the cutscenes that qualifies as a dealbreaker.
Gameplay wise, The Crew 2 tries to pull out all the stops, but doesn’t always meet lofty objectives. Players aim to increase the main character’s “following,” the de facto mode of currency that defines progression, through the completion of a gamut of tests, skills challenges, and triggering events that literally need to be photographed for posterity. Meanwhile, the driving dynamics take a little getting used to, and not simply because of the number of choices on tap. Oddly enough, collision detection continues to be iffy, and rubber-band AI opponents abound.
Nonetheless, The Crew 2 promises to amp up the fun factor for hours on end. Perhaps it can be deemed a jack of all trades and master of none, but it does have plenty for everybody. And, best of all, its open world figures to keep on growing with content updates that Ubisoft aims to periodically roll out for free. Featuring an enhanced online experience and continuing support, it counts itself among the best massive multiplayer hybrid arcade-sim racing franchises featured on the PS4.
THE GOOD
- Full featured, expanding customization options and vehicle variety in an open-world setting
- Outstanding audio-visual presentation, with little to no load times
- Amps up the fun factor
- Periodic content updates and tweaks
THE BAD
- Occasionally questionable physics
- Generic storyline
- Stilted script and voice acting
- Rubber-band AI
RATING: 7.5/10
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