Game Preview: The Crew

Developer Ubisoft is throwing away the idea of a racing circuit with its new franchise The Crew. Instead, the developers have reimagined the entirety of the United States of America as their racing playground.

“We want to give players a driving experience that goes way beyond the classic circuit-based racing games and really captures the boundless sense of freedom of driving across the US,” said Julian Gerighty, creative director of Ubisoft.

“Our teams are harnessing the power of next-generation platforms to make The Crew a challenging, immersive and non-stop world that can be shared by millions of players. This is a brand-new driving game experience unlike anything that’s come before it.”

Arriving in 2014 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, The Crew is brought to us by the same team that predominately worked on the excellent Driver series. The Crew development team also includes some of the folks that toiled some years ago on the Test Drive series, which promised a similarly massive open-world driving-orientated multiplayer theme.

Despite the huge playground to drive in, The Crew includes a story-driven campaign.  Players take part in a relentless ride to infiltrate and overtake the 510s, a gang based around Detroit’s illegal street racing scene.

The challenge? Get a rep on the underground racing scene and sabotage their activities city-by-city all across the United States. Manoeuvre through the bustling streets of New York City and Los Angeles, cruise down sunny Miami Beach or trek through the breathtaking plateaus of Monument Valley.

Each locale comes with its own set of surprises and driving challenges to master. On your journey you will encounter other players on the road – all potentially worthy companions to crew up with, or future rivals to compete against.

There is a lot of freedom on offer here, to crew up with friends and strangers or go it alone. There’s also the chance to take your ride down to bare nuts and bolts, then build it up again to suit your planned mission terrain.

There’s plenty of ground to cover in this game, from downtown city centres, suburbs, hillsides, cornfields, canyons, desert dunes, race tracks – you name it and it’s in the game.

There are 1000 real-world landmarks to gawk upon as you race across the US in a Cannonball Run, and players will need to be at the top of their game to earn XP in order to progress.

Ubisoft is promising intense vehicle action along the way, whether it’s with the varied driving or mechanic skills required to put together a ride that will provide success in urban NYC in one mission and then the dunes of Miami Beach soon after, or the social skills needed to put together a four man crew to do the job.

Finally, like many games destined for the next generation of home entertainment consoles, Ubisoft is planning for players to be able to extend their Crew experience into the real world via tablets and mobile devices.

No firm details are available at the moment, but according to Ubisoft: “We intend to allow players to be able to do all their building, organising and trading away from the console, so valuable time spent in front of the console can be spent immersed in the pure adrenal delight of the core experience.”