The sequel introduces something brand new entirely that changes the pacing of everything: in the pure ability to seamlessly switch in mid-whatever from boat to car to plane to drag car to motorbike to-well, you get the picture. While it may feel like more of the same in the context of head-to-head racing, its open world shenanigans is where it really shines. I got to test drive a demo of Ubisoft's upcoming sequel of the racing game The Crew 2 last week for a little under an hour. Even our former resident racing superfan Jaz Rignall found it just okay when he played it. Yet in the end, repetition plagued it, and it failed to capture the hearts of racing fans. It was a half-decent racing game with a half-decent rendering of the United States as a fully driveable map. But who knows, maybe Ubisoft was accounting for traffic, trees, and whatever else can crowd your path. Before the game released, it was said to be nearly three times that amount. But if you don't keep checking your sat nav, it's easy to get lost or just misjudge a turn completely and slam into a wall.In the first The Crew you could drive coast to coast, from New York to sunny California, in around 40 minutes flat. This is best shown off in the Rally Raid challenges which are truly epic treks through the wilderness. On the one hand, there's mostly no confines, as long as you hit the checkpoints you can take any route you like. The open world racing has its pros and cons, too. There's a race in the touring car class that takes place in the snow, but as soon as the race ends the snow magically vanishes. One second it's nice and sunny, the next a torrential downpour. The weather effects turn on and off like a tap. The Crew 2 also features changeable weather, but it's a little abrupt in how it comes about and hopefully something Ubisoft will patch. It's pretty satisfying just smashing most things out of your way, too, though larger objects bring a most abrupt stop. The scenery and open water is superb, the cars both external and internal are well rendered, and the rolling day/night cycle adds atmosphere. On the Xbox One X the game hits 1800p and looks very pleasing to the eye. It's perhaps in the open spaces where The Crew 2 impresses the most. It'll be too simplistic for some, but it's very accessible to more casual players, and the fact you can race a Mini against a Lamborghini without getting smoked is fun. Loot upgrades your cars, and it's the performance level which dictates whether your car is good enough for each race.
If you complete challenges, you earn loot. Progress is at least fairly simple to understand, likewise upgrading your vehicles. You don't know how much you miss Forza's rewind system until you don't have it.
Bikes are really bad to play with, and it's too easy to make a tiny mistake that leads to a catastrophic fall down the order.
That's not really a knock on the game, it never pretends to be a serious sim, but at times the arcade styling falls flat on its face. In The Crew 2 your best chance at winning is being able to drift around corners at high speed and take shortcuts.īut if you're expecting any form of lifelike physics you'll be disappointed. You can use a racing wheel, though it's hard to say you'll benefit. It's also important to remember that this is 100 percent an arcade racer, for better or worse.