As you may have noticed, the fashion is currently for so-called social racing games. We were able to discover the interpretation delivered by Evolution Studios which released DriveClub not long ago; today, it's the turn of the Lyonnais from Ivory Tower to give us a taste of their recipe. The Crew is therefore presented as a massively multiplayer racing game, inspired by several concepts from MMORPGs. First stage: a massive and persistent open world to make players want to wear out the tires of their body on thousands of kilometers of asphalt. On this point, The Crew hits the bullseye! The 100% next gen realization is very successful, the graphics are clean and the United States with Ivory Tower sauce sends heavy. We are therefore immersed in a massive map, which offers an incredible number of roads, paths and highways with their specificities according to the regions. The Midwest will offer highways cut for speed, the Rocky Mountains will have to be traversed with caution, given the icy roads, while Florida and Louisiana offer hot and humid swamps. Moreover, to reinforce the immersion, the developers have thought of including an impressive number of monuments and landmarks of all kinds. We can thus pass in front of Cape Canaveral in Florida, drive under a giant sequoia in Yosemite National Park, or even hit a burst of speed on the Golden Gate in San Francisco or on the Bonneville salt lake. In short, there is no hesitation, the playground offered is really nice, especially since some circuits have even been modeled. Driving enthusiasts can burn the tires on the tracks of Laguna Seca, or Seabring, although the tracks are not very consistent with reality.
CHAUFFARD ACADEMY
An assumed choice, since the game has absolutely nothing realistic once out of vehicles or monuments. Indeed, the gameplay is arcade-oriented to the extreme, just to not repel the client not fond of difficulty. We find a maneuverability that changes little between the different vehicles when the latter are not yet modified. Basically, five categories of modifications are possible for vehicles, knowing that most of them can only be modified in two or three ways. Production cars can therefore be prepared in the Street category (light tuning), Performance (a little more advanced preparation), Dirt (Race car on land), Raid (Paris-Dakar style) or finally Circuit (racing car). race). Only here, between two cars prepared in the same category, there are very few differences in terms of driving and even less on the different surfaces. Whether you're driving on bitumen, grass, gravel, mud or snow, the ride doesn't move one iota. An approach perhaps arcade but completely beside its push-ups. An impression even more reinforced when driving, since the only difficulty of the game comes from the traffic which intensifies during the adventure, and which represents the major part of the obstacles. We will encounter few cars at first, while the last races have us slaloming on roads leading to a gathering of bus drivers and armored vans. On the other hand, no need to worry, since if the impacts damage your car aesthetically, the performance is in no way altered, and your car repairs itself like a big one. A bit like in an FPS where life goes up on its own when you stop taking bullets. Moreover, as in any good arcade car game, all the cars are equipped with nitrous oxide (nitro, nitrous, NOS, take your pick) which goes up on its own and at a fairly mind-blowing speed. In any case, naughty driving is strongly encouraged because the game does not hesitate to reward the player who smashes bus shelters and fences with short messages and a few credits. On this point, The Crew is strongly reminiscent of those schools where everyone is a winner, since at the slightest drift or jump, a little message will come to congratulate you. We then fall into the: "it's good big boy, you've achieved something, here's €3". A constant infantilization of the player which ends up becoming downright swelling over the length
Only here, between two cars prepared in the same category, there are very few differences in terms of driving and even less on the different surfaces. Whether you're driving on bitumen, grass, gravel, mud or snow, the ride doesn't move one iota. An approach perhaps arcade but completely beside its push-ups.
The time, you will spend it mainly doing the main missions. And there, bad surprise. If the main frame of the game lasts about fifteen hours, the scenario is directly inspired by Need for Speed The Movie, which is not necessarily a reference. The hero ends up in jail for a crime he didn't commit, gets out and vows revenge. Wow! In short, you will have understood it, we zap the cutscenes for their lack of interest, and so as not to hang around the friends of your Crew who have already zapped for a long time and who wonder what you are doing. Because yes, you can form a crew as the name of the game suggests. In fact, it is a team of 4 players max, formed on the fly in the game (nothing permanent) and which basically allows missions to be done in coop. The advantage? As long as a guy from the crew wins, everyone is a winner! Even if you finish last 3 minutes from first, or haven't even moved from the starting line. Honestly, given the level of difficulty of the title, it is quite possible to do everything on your own without sweating, and for the rest, you call your friends more to take advantage of certain shaky missions than to have fun as had predicted the developers. Let me explain: the type of mission where your friends are most useful concerns chases with the constabulary. The latter chases one of the crew members, the others being supposed to protect him. After a few tries, you drop the case in front of the moldy Fords of the cops that seem to weigh 50 tons, and can trace your prepared Nissan GTR to the marrow like Usain Bolt traces your grandmother. Suddenly, comes the second solution: if your friend is arrested, the cops then chase you. From then on, it is enough for the unchased player to go in a direction diametrically opposite to that of his friend, and when the latter is arrested, you are 300 km from the forces of order, hence a quick victory without get tired. As everyone is a winner, your friend wins too. Isn't life beautiful?
A GAME NOT WORTH THE CREW?
Besides the cops, let's talk about it! The latter only chase you if you run into a large, very large number of cars managed by the AI Overtaking them at more than 350 km/h is no problem for them, just like destroying the street furniture with blows of bumpers under their eyes. In short, the few chases are those that are scripted in the single player campaign. Moreover, bad luck for lovers of beautiful bodywork, the price of vehicles at the dealership is exorbitant. So we finish the game using two, maybe three vehicles if you have the means. Why such a choice ? It's simple, micro-transactions my friend! In The Crew, everything is bought via two types of currency: that won in the game, but which is not worth a kopeck, and that purchased with your credit card which sends much more dreams. Therefore, why bother hunting for mechanical parts (which represent the loot and are used to improve your car) by winning challenges? A state of affairs which becomes perfectly clear when one ventures into the PvP lounges, where one realizes that players who have 4 hours of effective play are already driving crates available after 800 hours of play for pay for them. In short, The Crew is what is commonly called a pay-to-win, except that for this one, you have to pay your €60 just for the cake. When the games that we pay full pot recover the economic model of free-to-play, there is something to be offended. In short, given that PvP has no interest against players who have dropped 30€ in addition to the price of the game, the interest of The Crew is greatly diminished, especially since these are not the few activities exploration or super long races (over an hour racing at 380 km/h on the highway) which will keep the player active in the game. No, The Crew is not an MMO. It's just an empty shell for now, destined to be stuffed with DLC.
