The Crew 2 is an upcoming open world racing video game developed by Ivory Tower and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Released back in 2014 The Crew was a problematic racer from Ubisoft that ultimately required players to pay out for the Wild Lands DLC to get a graphical update, which saw many critics changing their initial negative reviews. However for most it was too late but Ubisoft clearly saw something in their open world racer, as now, taking the lessons learned from Steep, Ubisoft returns with a renewed vision for the racer, adding add boats and planes to the mix.
Taking control of an unnamed driver, your tasked with competing in a range of different racing disciplines across a scaled down version of the United States as you aim to increase your racer popularity and social media status with more events being unlocked the more popularity you gain. This popularity can also be used to unlock new and better vehicles to add to your collection as well as to purchase updates.
As with the original game you are free to go anywhere in this world depending on your mood and the sort of event you wish to compete in. Of course the option is also there to just embark on your dream road trips and certainly this does provide a wide range of environments for you to race through with options for off road racing, street racing, pro racing and freestyle which also have their own hubs complete with their own themes and play style.
Certainly the addition of a much larger toybox, as well as having the racing now taking place in the skies and on the water really adds a lot of freedom to the world and certainly something which helps the game standout from its competition, especially when the only other game to offer this kind of racing freedom being GTA V. At the same time if you liked the freedom Steep provided to essentially go and do anything The Crew 2 offers more of the same, only switching out winter sports for motorsports.
What the game doesn’t deliver however is a realistic driving experience as here the game is very much an arcade racer, which in itself isn’t a big issue especially if you prefer your racing games more pick up and play. However the collision effects here certainly leave a lot to be desired as you find yourself bouncing off other racers with no real sense of a collision, while hitting a wall or tree can bring you to a sudden stop which is far from the best thing when your in the middle of a race.
While the locations might be stripped down versions of their real life counterparts, (don’t expect to be able to park outside your house in the game) they are enjoyable to drive around, even if some of the outside environments do feel muddied and blocky compared to the more detailed city scapes and impressive water effects.
While the beta might have only given us a small portion of the game it certainly has us excited to play the full release when it comes out at the end of June as Ubisoft clearly have learned from their mistakes of the first game and here have delivered a fun and varied arcade racer which certainly feels fresh especially with the market already being dominated by the likes of Grand Turisomo and Forza, here they clearly show that they can provide a racing game on par with the best.