The Crew is a 2014 racing video game set in a large open world environment. It was developed by Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with an Xbox 360 port developed by Asobo Studio.
The Crew received a mixed reception upon release. Critics praised the game's world design but criticized the always-online aspect, which created technical glitches and other issues, the difficult-to-understand user interface, and the presence of microtransactions. The game shipped two million copies by January 1, 2015. The Crew is planned to have an expansion, called The Crew: Wild Run, available on November 17, 2015.[3][4]
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| Developer(s) | Ivory Tower Ubisoft Reflections |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Director(s) | Julian Gerighty |
| Composer(s) | Joseph Trapanese Peter Connelly[1] |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Gameplay[edit]
The Crew features an open and persistent world for racing and free-roaming across a scaled-down recreation of the contiguousUnited States.[5] The map is split into five regions: The Midwest, East Coast, Mountain States, West Coast, and The South. Each region has its own unique geographical features. Six main cities (one in each region, two in The Midwest) are featured in the game:Detroit and Chicago in the Midwest, New York City on the East Coast, Miami in The South, Las Vegas in the Mountain States, and Los Angeles on the West Coast. Various other cities, such as San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Dallas, New Orleans, Washington D.C., and St. Louis, are also featured in the game. Over thirty smaller cities and towns line the countryside like Nashville, Norfolk and others. It takes approximately 45 minutes in real time to drive from coast to coast in-game.[6] The single-player campaign is 20 hours long,[7] and entails infiltrating criminal groups with protagonist Alex Taylor (Troy Baker).[5][8] Players can also participate in mini-games called skills challenges that are peppered across the world. They are triggered when a player drives through them and it involves completing challenges such as weaving through gates and staying as close to a racing line as possible for a period of time. Players' scores are automatically saved so friends can try and beat their scores, in similar fashion to how Autolog works in games of the Need for Speed franchise. Missions can be played alone, with friends, or with online co-op matchmaking.[7] The multiplayer mode lets a maximum of eight players to compete in races and other gametypes.[7] There are no in-game loading screens or pauses.[5] Players can also build cars with a tie-in app for iOS and Android.[5]
The Crew creative director Julian Gerighty has called the game a role-playing game with large-scale multiplayer elements.[7] The multiplayer is not separate from the single-player.[7] Players can form "crews" to race together or against ghost records.[5]
Though the player can play alone, the game requires a constant internet connection to play.[9]
Plot[edit]
The story begins with the main character Alex Taylor being pursued by local law enforcement near Detroit. During the chase, he receives a call from Harry who wants him to participate in a race in the city. After losing the cops, he finds the Camaro that Harry loans him. Harry explains to him that Alex’s older brother Dayton, the founder of the 5-10 motor club, wants to speak with him. Alex participates and wins the race. After his win, Dayton arrives and orders Alex to drive him to the bridge. Once there, Dayton tells him to keep his head down. A vehicle pulls up, Dayton goes and talks with the driver before walking back to the Camaro; however before he can get there, the driver shoots him and drives off. Alex rushes to Dayton’s side as the police arrive. The police restrain Alex as Dayton dies. Alex is charged and later convicted of Dayton’s murder by FBI Special Agent Coburn and is sent to prison.
5 years later, an FBI agent named Zoe finds Alex and informs him that the new leader of the 5-10 motor club, a man named Shiv was the one who killed Dayton and that Coburn in collaboration with Shiv framed Alex for Dayton's murder. Zoe offers Alex a chance to get Shiv behind bars if he helps her get evidence against Special Agent Coburn, Alex takes the offer.
- Midwest
After getting released from prison and beating Zoe in a race, Alex accepts his first mission to help a 5-10 named Troy. After doing a series of missions for him, Alex is sent to St. Louis to kill a 5-10 of higher rank, called a V2. Alex and Zoe frame the V2's death, but Troy finds out that she is still alive. Troy sends his crew to get Alex and the V2. Alex manages to escape, but Troy gets the V2. He meets Herschel Craig, a 5-10 trying to take down Troy. He has him claim territory from Troy and beat his records. He is able to get his 5-10 ink by helping Craig recover a stolen car from Europe. Alex is sent to New York City soon after to help a 5-10 named Eric Tsu.
- East Coast
Alex goes to New York and is reunited with Harry, who agrees to help him with his mission. Alex gets a dirt car and meets with Eric, racing him and later doing missions for him. Meanwhile, Zoe and Alex are suspicious of Harry when he gets secretive. It is later revealed that Harry was helping Dayton's girlfriend, Connie, and his son by stealing and selling cars that Alex and Eric were forced to recover. Alex also has to deliver something to a mysterious person, later revealed to be Coburn's. The last mission in New York is three parts: Alex races against someone with a better car, who says that the winner will get the loser's car. Furious after losing, the driver calls the cops, but Alex manages to escape. Harry has Alex follow him with Connie and her son in the car so they can get on a bus going upstate. Alex gets his V2 ink, and is asked to go to Miami.
- The South
Alex goes to Miami and meets Alita, Shiv's ex-girlfriend. She challenges Alex to a race to see if he is ready for the job he has to do. After winning, he is forced to claim The South from Cameron Rockport, a dangerous 5-10. He manages to get it from his grasp, and Coburn has him take down Cam's number-one guy, but becomes difficult when Cam's crew chases him. The last Miami mission is also three parts. Alex finds out that Coburn is planning to kill Cam, and is forced to save Cam. He goes to Miami Beach to get him, but Cam is taken away by Coburn's crew. Alex must get in an off-road truck and crash the car Cam is in. Cam gets in the truck with Alex as they try and escape Coburn's men. After escaping, Alex gets his V4 ink and goes to Las Vegas.
- Mountain States
Alex goes to Las Vegas and meets Roxanne, a technology whiz whose sister joined the 5-10s. Alex does a boatload of missions, mainly collecting crates and time trials. One-third of the way through the Mountain States storyline, it is revealed Roxanne's sister has been shot by Shiv. After the second-third of the plotline, Zoe finds out that Coburn is selling impounded contraband. Alex does another series of missions and gains enough evidence to help Zoe take him down. The last mission in Vegas is another three-part mission. Alex travels to the location of Coburn's said contraband and collects it. Coburn finds him and tries to escape. Alex follows him to the airport in Vegas, where Zoe arrests him. Alex then gets a call from Shiv saying he is invited to "The 5-10 Face-Off" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. This is the only way Alex can get to Shiv.
- West Coast
Alex goes to LA and meets Vincent, a former pro racer that Harry recommended. Vincent helps Alex in Face-Off events. He even helps him break a record of his. But Shiv makes the Face-Off interesting by adding a twist to each event. For example, at an illegal race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, he calls the police. Alex is also forced to break Troy out of prison. In one race, Alex is forced to race in a car that isn't as fast as the other racers's cars. Towards the end of the game, Alex manages to escape from Troy's crew again and win the Face-Off. But Shiv finds out that Alex is trying to kill him and sends an army of 5-10s after him. He escapes and goes to Shiv's victory party. Shiv challenges Alex, but Alex realizes that the people he met on his mission are his family. He suggests to settle it in a race. Alex wins, but Shiv refuses to give up, leading Alex to crash his car. At the end of the game, Shiv is confronted by police and Alex explains his love for racing.
Development[edit]
The Ivory Tower development team includes former Eden Games employees, and is receiving assistance from Ubisoft Reflections.[7] The game plans to use the new consoles' social and cooperative play features.[7] On 13 August 2014, Ubisoft confirmed that the game will be released on the Xbox 360 the same date as the other versions, with Asobo Studio leading the development and Ivory Tower, Ubisoft Reflections and Ubisoft Shanghai providing support.[10][11]
The Crew used Babel as its video game engine modified with Ivory Tower’s proprietary tools.[12]
On 21 July 2014, Ubisoft released a closed beta of The Crew on the PC for a limited time only. The beta allowed players to play a portion of the story-driven missions in the Midwest and East Coast and free roam the entire United States of America at their own pace. Cars and a variety of other things such as driver levels and specifications for cars were limited.[13] The second closed beta for PC took place from 25 to 29 August 2014.[14] A PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console beta was released on 30 September 2014.[15]Another closed beta for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One took place on 6 to 10 November 2014.[2][16] An open beta for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network members also took place from 25 to 27 November 2014.[17]
An expansion for the game, titled The Crew: Wild Run, was announced at E3 2015 during Ubisoft's press conference. Introducing new vehicles to the game, the Wild Runexpansion is set to be released on November 17, 2015.[4][3]
Soundtrack[edit]
| The Crew Original Game Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Joseph Trapanese | |
| Released | November 11, 2014 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 73:03[18] |
| Label | Ubisoft Music |
The soundtrack for The Crew was composed by Joseph Trapanese. The track "Heavy As a Feather" was used in the official launch trailer for The Crew.[19]
| [Reception[edit] |
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The Crew received mixed reviews from critics. Critics overall praised the game's immense world, but disliked the game's technical issues relating to its online-only gameplay, as well as its complicated user interface and use of microtransactions. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 71.57% based on 7 reviews and 71/100 based on 12 reviews,[20][23] the Xbox One version 59.57% based on 14 reviews and 64/100 based on 18 reviews[21][24] and the PlayStation 4 version 58.73% based on 37 reviews and 61/100 based on 60 reviews.[22][25]
Mike Channell from Eurogamer gave the game a 8/10, praising its rich content, worthy side-missions and activities, enormous driveable space, successful blend between the story and the multiplayer, huge variety of scenery and rewarding and entertaining co-operative gameplay, but criticizing its poor story and lead character, "outrageous" AI, as well as the inclusion of microtransactions. He stated that "The Crew is an astonishing achievement, not only because of its vastness but also its level of fidelity and the authenticity of its character.[28]
Matthew Kato from Game Informer gave the game a 7/10, praising the satisfying upgrade and car-purchasing system, as well as the decent voice-acting. However, he criticized the cliched story and stated that "The Crew feels like an average arcade racer. There are some fun times, but you may be surprised to discover that America is a pretty empty place."[29]
Josh Harmon from Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 6/10, praising the game world, which he stated "has captured the spirit of America" and described the game as "the best open world in a racing game to date". However, he criticized the off-putting microtransactions, as well as poor story-telling and the pay-to-win model of the game. He stated that "Despite delivering an impressive playground, The Crew struggles to build out a worthwhile game experience around it."[27]
Peter Brown from GameSpot gave the game a 5/10, also praising the massive game world, as well as the single-player mission, but criticizing the automatically activated missions, frustrating side-missions, such as the raid car missions and the fleeing missions, as well as outdated graphics, poor physics, AI and user interface, texture pop-in and disappointing cars, buildings and environment models. He also criticized the game for not encouraging players to form a crew to play missions. He summarized the review by saying that "The Crew isn't that good after all. When you can't play due to server issues, you find a new game to play and leave The Crew in your dust."[32]
The Crew has shipped 2 million copies as of January 1, 2015
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