The Crew Motor Party marks a change of pace for the series, on the one hand taking too obvious inspiration from the Forza Horizon series, on the other hand losing sight of the aspects that have characterized this intellectual property since its inception, ending up exploiting them very little over the course of a campaign that turns out to be the playlist fair.
Even from a structural point of view, the rethinking is evident and leads us to move from the enormity of previous American maps to the borders of a Hawaiian island, O'ahu, which however is presented as a setting not only suggestive at the level On a purely aesthetic level, but also provided with greater density and coherence in terms of the content that we can access.
Well, how much has this new course convinced us? Is this a step in the right direction or a misstep? To find out what we think about it, continue reading ours. Crew Motorfest Review.
Structure and contents: welcome to Motorfest
There is no doubt that the transition from the unlimited American open world described in the review of The Crew 2 to the island of O'ahu has meant a major structural change for Ubisoft's driving game. The developers of Ivory Tower wanted to focus on a setting capable of offering particularly evocative views, especially during certain hours of the day, and package this new experience in a similar way to Forza Horizon.
In fact, the opening sequences of The Crew Motorfest They really reflect many of the typical elements of the Playground Games series.: from the alternation of landscapes and Latin music in the opening titles to the introductory phase in which we get behind the wheel of the different vehicles that we can access during the campaign, to reach the concept of a motorsport festival. enthusiasts, which is presented just before going to the editor for character creation.
Should Ubisoft's be considered simply a passionate and sincere tribute to a runner who was able to surpass 32 million players? Whichever way you look at it, the intention is very clear, although already in the first minutes the curiosity grows to understand how the developers have combined the desire to refer to the important Xbox exclusive with the inevitable need to preserve the traits that have always characterized The Crew.
The answer to this question, however, seems confusing; especially during the first hours, which are a real concentration of playlists with an appreciable variety, in which, however, the peculiarities of the Ubisoft series stand out, mainly the possibility of change at any time from a car to a plane or a speedboat, which was also revived at Motorfest, ended up going unnoticed.
What really didn't convince us progression system is the fact that the starting car, which can be customized and improved through mechanisms based on unlocking new items obtained as in-game rewards, is practically never used in playlists, so we almost always have specific vehicles on loan.
Let's say that the traditional simcade system, which consists of buying a car and progressively improving it to participate in the different competitions, respecting the technical requirements, in The Crew Motorfest is hidden behind the need to frenetically show off the 'large fleet of cars, also avoiding a microtransaction system that can be seen and heard too in the vehicle purchase phases, as well as the different stipulations available.
The latter range from checkpoint races to drift challenges, from head-to-head races to drag races, from Formula 1 style racing with pit stop management to motorcycle and quad bike rides, finally reaching aquatic and aerial variations of the experience. There is also no lack an interesting online sector, which in addition to the traditional "crew" cooperative concept offers a Grand Endurance Elimination Race for twenty-eight participants and a Demolition Royale for thirty-two players.
Finally, a social center to ensure that users can meet, communicate, make friends and perhaps vote for the community's most striking creations, but this option is downright inconsistent, perhaps because it was hastily implemented and puts very little on the table beyond a brief (and often inexplicably choppy) walk inside what looks like a banal showroom.
Gameplay: improved driving and many precautions
The novelties of The Crew Motorfest extend to the gameplay, which presents a Substantially improved driving model compared to the past, capable of transmitting the weight of the car in a much more convincing way and maintaining high involvement during races in an attempt to balance acceleration and braking, skidding and acceleration to avoid impacts that could slow us down considerably.
In this sense, some important precautions can be noted: the first is the introduction of a functionality rewind which allows you to rewind the last fourteen seconds of action, in case you are involved in an accident that could frustratingly compromise the final standings of a previously perfect race.
The second refers to the design of the roads, almost completely free of obstacles to get stuck and equipped with side barriers in the curves that prevent excessive slipping when moving too far away, which could make us lose contact with the control points. The latter, however, have a certain tolerance to contact, designed to preserve the fluidity of the ride as much as possible and avoid ruining it by a few centimeters.
Finally, there are several options that allow you scale driving experience Depending on our preferences, from the banal trajectory indicators to the automatic or manual gearbox, through a whole series of electronic assistance that can make the system developed by Ivory Tower even more concrete and solid. It's a shame that later, when you get behind the wheel of a motorboat or especially an airplane, this thickness ends up irremediably dissipating.
Technical realization: pretty but not pretty.
Crew Motorfest includes two graphics modes on PS5 (and Xbox Series X): one in dynamic 4K and 30 fps, the other in dynamic 1440p and 60 fps. Obviously, the latter is preferable and also performs very well in terms of sharpness on Ultra HD displays, although it suffers from some annoying drops in frame rate, some deficiencies (seeing the reflection in mirrors) and quite obvious emerging phenomena when running at high speed.
Overall, The Crew Motorfest's visual representation does its best to come close to its much-cited benchmark, Forza Horizon 5, without reaching the same level of quality: in some situations the island of O'ahu looks really fascinating and its landscapes offer exciting moments, but when the sun is high the lighting system tends to flatten the elements a bit and in the end we move a little between ups and downs.
Il PlayStation 5 DualSense controller The Ubisoft title takes advantage of it very well, which uses haptic feedback, the adaptive resistance of the triggers and the integrated speaker to communicate a lot of information about the engine, transmission, asphalt and, in general, the interaction with the scenario. and the competition's cars: an implementation that we found truly competent.
Otherwise, the artificial intelligence of the opponents is average (although in some situations we seemed to perceive the much criticized elastic effect), the online infrastructure seems solid despite some problems from time to time and the audio of the sector accompanies the action. in a functional way, with a decent soundtrack and unfortunately some dialogue without dubbing in Spanish: sin
Conclusions
Tested version PlayStation 5 digital delivery play, playstation store, Xbox Store Price 79,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.0 Readers (14) 7.1 your voteCrew Motorfest marks a change of direction for the Ubisoft series, turning to a smaller but charming open world and overhauling its driving model in favor of a decidedly more robust and interesting simcade approach. The obvious references to Forza Horizon have a bittersweet taste, because the Ivory Tower creature is not yet capable of offering an experience of that level and in many situations it appears confused, losing sight of some of the characteristic features of the series and introducing one of controversial progression, which on the one hand abounds in loans and gifts, on the other erects inexplicable and annoying paywalls.
PRO
- Improved driving model
- Fascinating environment
- Much content
AGAINST
- Controversial progression system
- Peculiarities of the series put in the background.
- Too many hiccups at 60 fps
