The Crew is a bizarre franchise. The primary recreation was centered on a narrative involving automobile gangs and criminals. The second recreation stored the map from the primary—a scaled-down recreation of the US—however ditched the narrative and centered on exploration and including extra varieties of autos to function. Now the third recreation, The Crew Motorfest, has excised all that to change into a Forza Horizon-like open-world racer with its personal massive pageant positioned on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. And whereas Motorfest is a beautiful automobile recreation that presents a wackier and wilder tackle Horizon’s open world, its odd development hampers numerous the liberty and attainable enjoyable.
It’s not possible to speak about The Crew Motorfest, out now on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, with out speaking about Forza Horizon. The brand new open-world driving recreation from Ubisoft Ivory Tower shares a lot DNA with Xbox’s fashionable franchise that it’s arduous to think about The Crew Motorfest current with out Horizon.
Purchase The Crew Motorfest: Amazon | Greatest Purchase | GameStop
Motorfest opens with flashy and spectacular introduction sequence, very Horizon-like, that has you quickly hopping into numerous vehicles in the course of totally different occasions, offering fast tastes of what to anticipate. As soon as that’s over, you meet some unbearable individuals who speak about how the Motorfest pageant might be a lot enjoyable and the way they’re so pumped that you simply’re right here to expertise all of it. In addition they promise that, if you happen to drive nicely sufficient, you would possibly find yourself profitable the entire thing, though it doesn’t actually appear to be a contest. You then set off throughout the open world of Oahu competing in numerous occasions that function colourful decorations, loud music, and over-the-top moments. If it didn’t say “Motorfest” on the entrance of the field, I would assume Microsoft had stealth-released a brand new Forza Horizon and slipped it onto my Xbox Sequence X whereas I slept.
As soon as previous the intro, I rapidly found how The Crew Motorfest is totally different from Horizon, for higher and for worse.
Planes, boats, and cars
Let’s begin with the great things! Motorfest’s big selection of autos spans extra than simply vehicles and vans, letting you drive boats, planes, dirtbikes, avenue bikes, and even ATVs. These automobile varieties all deal with utterly otherwise, every with their very own quirks, reminiscent of having to handle how out of the water your boat is or isn’t.
Even higher, and in an indication of how Ubisoft’s recreation is keen to be extra wacky than Forza, you possibly can change between your present automobile, airplane, and boat at any level. And I imply at any level. I used to be flying in my airplane and determined to change to my automobile, simply to see if the sport would let me. It did, and I used to be capable of crash-land my automobile and drive away with no problem. This rapidly grew to become my journey technique of selection after I wished to avoid wasting time. I’d fly towards my vacation spot after which swap out the airplane for a automobile and crash into the world like a Ford torpedo. It by no means obtained previous.
![A screenshot shows a WW2 fighter plane flying above a city.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/4c2957812c008bf01ed6c56ebae6cf8d.jpg)
Sadly, no less than within the recreation’s first dozen hours, the planes and boats really feel like foolish distractions and never totally developed elements of the sport. Most occasions early on don’t use them, and I discovered my speedboat obtained little use because the map doesn’t really feel designed for it. Nonetheless, it’s rad that I can simply fly up into the skies above Hawai’i, flip into a ship, and slam down on high of a soccer subject or race observe and the sport doesn’t punish me in any respect.
Whereas Motorfest allows you to go wild in its open world, dropping automobile bombs and browsing mountains with boats, the sport’s precise occasions and development are the precise reverse.
So many vehicles, so few choices
The Crew Motorfest is full of numerous playlists containing themed occasions that function about seven or so races or different driving segments. These playlists usually function various kinds of gameplay and have hosts that speak to you throughout the races. You would possibly do a typical lap-based race, then a drag race with its personal controls and mechanics. After that, you may be challenged with some drifting and even driving a truck that has no brakes by way of an impediment course. Lots of the playlists are a blast, providing up inventive and attention-grabbing occasions.
I used to be shocked by simply how a lot selection is packed in Motorfest. Each playlist feels distinctive, and the sport is continually throwing new concepts at you. At one level I used to be driving F1 vehicles and managing my tires and when to pit, then later I used to be cruising across the coast of Hawai’i in a Nineteen Fifties convertible utilizing pictures, not a contemporary GPS, to assist information me to my location. And but later I used to be collaborating in a Japanese-themed underground racing circuit full with a crew of racers who heckled and praised me as I drifted round neon-drenched streets and alleys.
Purchase The Crew Motorfest: Amazon | Greatest Purchase | GameStop
![A screenshot shows a blue car burning rubber on a drag strip.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/0601dcb5d1d47f968489b76f241f8518.jpg)
Nonetheless, each single one in every of these playlists—I’ve performed by way of the primary seven up to now—forces you to drive a selected automobile that you would be able to’t customise or improve. This makes the vehicles you unlock and improve within the open world really feel much less helpful, and makes it arduous to develop any type of reference to them. And whereas it’s true that Forza Horizon typically has fixed-car occasions, it additionally options loads of races and different actions that permit gamers select their very own vehicles and develop favorites that they improve over time.
That’s not likely how The Crew Motorfest operates, which is extraordinarily complicated and irritating. I stored questioning why I even had all these vehicles in my storage if the sport hardly ever let me use them in occasions.
When you full a playlist, you unlock the power to replay its occasions with any automobile you need, which is good. However I’m undecided why seemingly each single race on this recreation must be so locked down. Moreover, when you end a playlist, you unlock challenges related to it and its theme. Weirdly, most of the challenges ask you to carry out particular feats within the occasions you simply accomplished utilizing vehicles from the identical playlist.
Positive, you possibly can ignore the challenges, however you then gained’t progress by way of every one’s battle pass-like reward system, lacking out on credit, vehicles, and new automobile elements. All of it simply feels very unusual, like the sport needs you to do the whole lot twice in a small number of autos. This development system feels utterly at odds with the sillier open-world motion that occurs between the playlists.
Forza Horizon: Irritating Version
Different little annoyances additionally begin to grind after some time, like being unable to fast-travel to massive sections of the island till finishing a selected variety of playlists, or what number of challenges ask you to do sure issues in particular areas, however don’t let you know the place these locations are or information you to them through a GPS marker.
You additionally begin each session of Motorfest on foot in a bizarre hub space that’s principally empty except for different gamers and their parked vehicles. You possibly can stroll round and vote on vehicles you suppose look cool, and uh…not a lot else. This odd purgatory doesn’t add something to the expertise past an additional layer between me and the improbable really feel of driving vehicles at very excessive speeds or dropping Ford Mustangs on mountains.
![A screenshot shows an old muscle car driving near a sunny beach.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/c03f9ddb3bfe28f3c2c6651a43f02160.jpg)
The Crew Motorfest jogs my memory of an previous, badass muscle automobile that wants some work. It may be enjoyable to drive, it appears cool as hell, and with some endurance, it’ll get you the place it is advisable to go. However it additionally has a nasty gearbox, stalls at cease lights, and isn’t dependable sufficient to plan your week round. It’s a must to struggle it to take pleasure in it.
And to be clear: There’s a lot to take pleasure in in Motorfest, like its beautiful open world or the best way it allows you to combine vehicles, planes, and bikes in foolish methods. And a few of us would possibly want the sport’s tightly managed and centered strategy to development. I additionally assume PlayStation gamers would possibly take pleasure in having a Forza Horizon-like recreation on their PS5 or PS4.
Nonetheless, I believe Xbox gamers and those that want extra freedom of their open-world racing video games would possibly simply return to Forza itself as an alternative of placing up with Motorfest’s odd annoyances and shortcomings.
Purchase The Crew Motorfest: Amazon | Greatest Purchase | GameStop