Racing Game Preview: The Crew, Forza Horizon 2 & Driveclub

Fan Expo gave me an excellent opportunity to check out some of gaming’s hottest upcoming offerings. As it turned out, it also meant looking at racing games of several different stripes and colors. Most consoles and non-handheld gaming platforms were represented, with The Crew acting as a multi-platform olive branch to racing fans on PS4 (who have Driveclub) and Xbox (who have Forza Horizon 2).

Even though each game plays very differently, I thought it was worth at least discussing gameplay aspect of each game, while contrasting with the others and compare their sensibilities as a whole. Let’s start with The Crew, and how an open-world, seamless single-multiplayer game can do a serviceable job, at certain costs.

The Crew

As was the case of each publishing company’s booth and floor segments at Fan Expo, The Crew had the shortest line out of all of Ubisoft’s offerings, as racing games seemed to take a back seat to general interest in FPS and action games. It also meant getting a better look at the game that a rushed line would not allow.

Picking up the controller, I immediately jumped into a Dodge Charger (I believe, not sure the year), driving around South Florida in the surrounding Miami area. The first thing I noticed, standing about 5-7 feet away from the television screen, is the quality of graphics on display. There seemed to be a distinct lack of anti-aliasing, as most edges surrounding background objects (buildings, other cars, obstructions) had very jagged edges. It may be a sacrifice worth keeping, however, as The Crew is touted to be a huge representation of the United States roadworks and expects players to take 90 minutes to drive from coast to coast.

The open world system allows for an excellent opportunity for players to just goof off, explore and have fun in a variety of different ways. However, the game needs human input and reactivity in order to keep the flame alit.

While I was tempted to just hit the open road and see how far I could go, I only had so much time to tempt the line behind me before jumping into missions. Unfortunately, because the demo was essentially the beta with a helper on standby to answer, I could only gather the essentials of one mission. You need to prove yourself in order to hang around with a prospective driving crew, so the mission goal was to complete the race that saw competitors drive around the lot in the area surrounding and including an airport.

The Crew very much plays like an arcade racer, but it’s not strictly as wild as you could expect from a game like an Initial D entry. Racing and edging out competitors can lead to crashes, but the handling of the car felt closer to the middle of the arcade-simulation spectrum. I never got the impression that The Crew wanted players to go out for a rip, running hog wild and tearing up the city, but more like as part of a sanctioned race that happened to blaze through traffic.

As the demo laid out, fellow racers were all over the US map, some tens of kilometers (or miles, for the less civilized) away. You can call other players into your races to get in on the fun, but everyone else seemed to get more enjoyment by doing their own thing. That may become an issue when it comes to the single player campaign, one that lasts 20+ hours long. From my short time with the mission system, it just seemed to be a regular racing experience, one not worth writing home about.

It will be up to the userbase to keep The Crew relevant and enjoyable for an extended length of time. The most fun I had at the demo was running into another racer, then tailing them to see where they went. It turned into a big car chase, each turn requiring a skilled maneuver to keep the hunt going. The open world system allows for an excellent opportunity for players to just goof off, explore and have fun in a variety of different ways. However, the game needs human input and reactivity in order to keep the flame alit.