Nerd Alert: Go Drive with “The Crew”

The Crew is a relatively new racing game release by publishers Ubisoft and Ivory Tower. If you're gamer or you like fast cars (or if you're a gamer who likes fast cars) you're going to want to check it out. Unlike most circuit racing games the Crew is “open world.” In this case the open world is a scaled down version of the United States you can drive across, albeit in an abbreviated approximation of real time.

It took me about an hour going between 120 mph to 160 mph. Real time in this context means no loading screens, which is pretty legit if you want to race your buddies past the major cities of the United States without waiting for loading screens or new levels or any of that business.

There are a multitude of cars (and trucks) available o choose from, for a variety of missions that demand specialization. Who is going to off road in a Lamborghini? Nobody, although I'm perfectly okay with taking to rough terrain in a Hummer. Different vehicles can be modified with different specs and features; there are currently five to choose from. They are Street, Dirt, Performance, Raid, and Circuit. “Street” is that speedy little Japanese car you see zipping around, glowing bright green and pink to and from some weird vegan hippie bar. “Dirt” is pretty self explanatory. The “Performance” spec is all about going fast in a straight line (Mustangs anyone?) while “Raid” is a little more unique. Its whole purpose is to provide a souped up version of the Dirt spec just so you can g smashing everyone else off the road (though there's every likelihood you will be doing to people anyway). The last spec is “Circuit” for you weirdos who like watching cars go 'round and 'round really fast.

The various different types of cars are used for the PVE (Player Versus Environment) story in which our protagonist tries to avenge the death of his brother through an off-the-books FBI operation (which literally none of the players care about). Be ready to skip a massive amounts of cinematic content in order to go fast. There are also smaller challenges in which you level up your car to go even faster.

Gotta go fast.

After that you can do player races with your faction against real people in your faction (your faction is a regional representation of the US you decide to race for).

The game has been getting mostly average reviews from just about everywhere, however if you want to play a game when you can go on road trips with your friends (or do some sort of CONUS-spanning  smash up derby, this is for you.

They have a few different trailer's varying in length. Here is the shortest one and if you like what you go watch the 8 minute trailer here. There's a 51 minutes cross country trip online here.

The Crew is available for PlayStation 4 or XBox One; rumors have an XBox 360 port under development by Asobo Studios.

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