We’re in for a fresh The Crew experience with the newly-announced The Crew: Motorfest. A game that takes a similar, ever-evolving live service model into new-ish territory with the single island of Oahu, Hawaii, which will be the (at first) stomping ground for drivers of every ilk. And while it is a new space for The Crew, Ubisoft Ivory Tower is returning to an old, old friend. Oahu is where it designed the much-heralded Test Drive: Unlimited around. And while there are definitely some Valentines-flavoured love-letter sentiments that can be put against that fact, the studio has learned A LOT in that time.
People are currently driving around the space under strict NDAs on PC, and that audience will soon be opened up to console players as well while the team tweaks and fixes and iterates based on community feedback. So before we know all the information from the flood of communities and other news outlets, let’s look at five specific hopeful things we want to see in The Crew: Motorfest when it releases later this year.
Your Own Horizon, Please, Ubisoft
One of the key things that stood out with the game’s official teaser trailer, which you can watch embedded above, is that it has a striking resemblance in visuals, tone and even racing style to Playground’s Forza Horizon series. Which is actually fine. That series needs a genuine competitor, and if any team can bring its racing chops to that drag, its Ubisoft Ivory Tower. But we’re hoping The Crew: Motorfest also brings a lot of the charm and love of The Crew and The Crew 2. It needs to stand out against Microsoft’s much-loved series, and is even in a position to fix or revamp elements of those games. But we just want to make sure that while Motorfest is definitely a bit of a reset, that it maintains a lot of its titular heritage.
Who knows just how OTT it’ll all be. But, like, they’ve always done it better…
On the topic of keeping a lot of the OG The Crew in Motorfest’s revamped DNA, we really want to see more stunt opportunities baked into the world. Horizon has them, but has never come close to Ivory Tower’s efforts, and there is a slight tease of some twisty, turner vertical, gravity defying roads at the end of that teaser, but it also morphs into the logo, so who knows just how OTT it’ll all be. But, like, they’ve always done it better so we want to see it amplified here along with the requisite challenges they come with.
Lambo in the city… has a nice right to it
© Ubisoft
A Ride for Every Occasion
Oh, on that also we definitely want to see multiple types of rides return. The teaser, again, only shows cars which is also where a lot of the Horizon-like comparisons and noise has come from, but it was also another way in which the series has, so far, separated itself from being too like-for-like with Playground’s game. There’s a lot of water around the island for some boat action, after all. Oh, and dirtbikes in tropical mud… potential *chef’s kiss* opportunities, right there.
Do you just ‘let ‘er rip, potato chip’ and have the whole place be able to be torn asunder?
Another thing we can pull from the trailer is the game will feature destruction. But just how much isn’t known. It’s not something that isn’t in the series’ repertoire, but how far do you and when do you pull the open-world types of players back with hard stops and indestructibles? Conversely, do you just ‘let ‘er rip, potato chip’ and have the whole place be able to be torn asunder? Our thinking is it’ll be a measured approach, particularly because the game is being developed with last-gen in mind, which could hamper the amount of power needed to make it all one big trash pile in your rearview mirror.
As long as we make a mess of the world a little, it should all still be good.
Not just a Sunday driver
© Ubisoft
Volcanoes and More Islands
Developers and publishers have a go-to line when you ask about future projects and it goes like this:
“We’re not really talking about that today. Right now we’re focused on getting this game into players’ hands in the best way possible.”
It’s fair enough until it isn’t. Games are an investment, and in particular live-service games. And to that end we’re keen on a roadmap and we hope within that roadmap to see even more of the complete Hawaii, even if it’s one island and volcano at a DLC time. Thankfully Ubisoft has been very good at this when it comes to big releases so we’re expecting to know at least a chunk of what to expect post initial release.
We’re sure you can expect to see lots of cars, and who knows maybe a few of ours will be in there — it’s not like we’re a stranger to the series. Still, it’s an exciting time to be a lover of car games, live-service games and open-world games — especially if you love all three. Stay tuned for more from us as we have it.