I’d like to start this review with an admission of guilt. The Crew series from Ubisoft has largely been ignored by me. One reason for this is the fact that as an Xbox owner, I already have a fantastic open-world racing series to look forward to in the form of Forza Horizon. The other is that I was disappointed by the first Crew game. I felt that it could not make the most of its humongous setting, which was a ‘smaller’ version of the continental United States. This combined with the mediocrity that the Need For Speed series has been wallowing in means that the Forza Horizon series has been my dopamine dealer for many years.
A couple of months ago, I picked up The Crew 2 and I was blown away by how good the sequel was compared to its predecessor. The mechanic that allowed players to switch between a car, plane or boat at any time was refreshing. Each racing discipline felt unique and offered a different challenge. But was it a better racing experience than Forza Horizon 5, not quite. Will the Crew Motorfest push it to be the best open-world arcade racing game currently available? Let’s find out!
Table of Contents
Setting and graphics
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Forza Horizon 5 must be supremely flattered. The Crew Motorfest is set in the tropics of Oahu, Hawaii and follows an unnamed driver as they race their way to the top of Motorfest, a festival about racing and car culture in general. This is completely different from Forza Horizon 5…not! It is also set in the tropics of Mexico and follows an unnamed driver as they race their way to the top of the Horizon Festival, which is about racing and car culture in general.
Graphics-wise, the game looks really good. The lighting effects are very well done and the world detail is nice. However, it’s the cars that steal the show. Each vehicle is carefully crafted and looks stunning.
The biggest change in The Crew Motorfest is the map. Previous editions of The Crew have been set in a scaled-down version of the continental United States. By comparison, Oahu feels tiny. A race that went all the way around the island took me about 17 minutes. By comparison, a race from New York to San Francisco in the Crew 2 took me about 40 minutes.
But reduction in scope is not necessarily a bad thing. It can give developers a chance to add increased detail to the world. Oahu feels lush and detailed with jungles, beaches and even a mountain. This offers plenty of opportunities for off-road racing and street races.
However, there is one niggling issue. The Oahu does not feel as varied as the map in The Crew 2. The sheer size meant that Crew 2 was able to offer everything from forests, deserts, swamplands and everything in between. Forza Horizon 5 was able to avoid this issue by not specifying any particular area in Mexico. So they were able to do whatever they wanted.
I also feel that the developers should not have removed pedestrians from the world. Sure, in Crew 2 the pedestrian AI and animation were barebones, but it did give the world a more ‘lived-in’ feel. Motorfest has instead opted to show AI drivers racing about as though they are in their own event when you are in Free Roam mode. It’s a very interesting idea, but it can be a little distracting when you are driving around and suddenly there is a gaggle of racers rushing towards you. They can’t hit you as they are ‘ghosted’, but any driver (real and virtual) will instinctively avoid a car coming towards them.
Story
As mentioned earlier, the main story mode in The Crew Motorfest is told via Playlists. These are a curated set of events based around a particular part of car culture. This includes everything from the Japanese import scene, American Muscle, Porsche 911 and more. Even modern influencers are taken into consideration with Supercar Blondie and Donut Media having their own Playlists.
If you are even a little bit of a car nut, you will love these playlists. They feature live-action cutscenes with key people while also letting players control different cars related to their respective playlists. This lets players try out different cars without the annoyance of having to wait to either level up or earn enough in-game cash to try faster vehicles.
There is a problem here as well. With Playlists, you are given a vehicle to drive. So it dilutes the point of choosing a starting vehicle or even buying a new vehicle as you only need a vehicle to travel from one playlist to another. I think the developers should have mixed in standard races to give players a better reason to customise and race their own cars.
Gameplay
The change in vehicle dynamics was the first thing I noticed when I played The Crew Motorfest. The cars now have more of a heft to them and the bumps feel a bit more ‘real’. This is especially noticeable when playing the Alpha Series, which is the game’s take on the Formula Series of racing events. In the Crew 2, these cars felt a little too light, making controls a little wonky. The Crew Motorfest seems to have fixed this particular issue. Aside from this, two more welcome additions to the series include the racing line and Flashback. Both of these make the game a bit more accessible to newer players.
The gameplay also gets a slight tweak with a much-increased focus on cars. One of the best features I liked about The Crew 2 was how each racing discipline felt different and unique. The Crew Motorfest slightly changes this dynamic. A few disciplines such as Jet Sprint and Hovercraft are completely removed, while the boats and planes are relegated to a single category. The boats are the ones most affected by the change in setting. The previous map had everything from lakes, rivers and even the ocean to call up for racing locations. Oahu doesn’t have a lot of water bodies to race in aside from the ocean that surrounds the island. I feel that in its quest to beat Forza Horizon at its own game, the developers sort of lost focus on what made The Crew series stand out in the first place.
Verdict
Even with its niggling flaws and smaller scope, The Crew Motorfest is a pretty good racing title, there’s no doubt about it. The graphics are great, and the gameplay tweaks have made it more accessible to new players. The only two things standing in its way are the obvious comparisons to the Forza Horizon series and its predecessor, The Crew 2.
From a purely racing perspective, Forza Horizon 5 is a better game. However, The Crew Motorfest offers a bit more variation when it comes to racing disciplines and the Playlist system is something that will interest gearheads. If you are a PlayStation player, Motorfest is a great way to scratch that open-world itch as it may be the best open-world arcade racer for them.
Rating: 7.5/10
Pros
- Great graphics
- Huge roster of vehicles
- Improved car physics
Cons
- Smaller scope than before
- Boats and planes feel like an afterthought
More info
Developer: Ubisoft Ivory Tower
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
We played a review copy of The Crew Motorfest provided by Ubisoft
