I know that this The Crew Motorfest review is about a month late. Back in a day I was an achievements hunter (I still am occassionally). I played The Crew Motorfest quite obsessively as I was hunting achievements for this game. And guess what? I have 48 out of 50 achievements.
Anyway, this post is not about achievements. This is my honest The Crew Motorfest review. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed playing the game. It’s my personal #1 in racing games this year.
The Crew Motorfest massive world
I am not sure if I should say that open world in racing games is a good or bad thing … the world is huge and there are tons of activities to do besides racing. However, what helps this game is that your transport vehicle can transform into boat or a plane for faster travelling. Of course it doesn’t make sense because you are not playing Transformers game but it’s OK. Anything to make your travel faster before Fast Travel opens up.
The Crew Motorfest follows the latest NFS and Forza Horizon games where you explore the world and do side activities such as speed traps, drifts, slaloms and also collecting the collectibles. For me, personally, it is not necessary for a racing game. I mean, for racing – I just want to race with all kind of vehicles.
Massive collection of vehicles
There is a massive list of vehicle you can buy. Anything from old classics to hyper cars, from nothing-special cars to expensive lucury vehicles. The game features 607 cars. I only got around 50. This list, of course, includes boats and planes. The vehicles are based on real world vehicles. I believe there are 40+ FORD vehicles in the game.
Sometimes it is too difficult to choose what vehicle you want to drive on your next race. Most vehicles within the same type will feel the same. Of course, the difference will be in acceleration, top speed and how it handles (there is slight difference). However, that being said, there is massive difference between Street type vehicle and DRIFT type vehicles. Of course, you can’t drive a Street vehicle on a DIRT type race.
15 Playlists in The Crew Motorfest
Playsists in The Crew Motorfest are like “story” chapters. I wouldn’t say that there are any storyline here. You arrive at this “Motorfest” festival and you are free to do whatever you want. You can choose whatever “Playlist” you want provided you have a required vehicle.
As you progress, you earn more money and also acquire more vehicles from Playlists. Each playlist you start – adds more side activities. Each “Playlist” has anywhere from 6 to 10 races. However, you need to complete the previous race before the next one is unlocked. You don’t need to win (unless it’s 1 vs 1), mostly finishing in top 3 or top 5 is enough.
There are 15 Playlists in total and each one of them is different. There was one called “Hawaii Expeditions” or something like that. You don’t even need to race, just drive around scenic Hawaii and explore this beatiful world while narrator talks about Hawaii itself. I can’t confirm nor can I deny that the guy speaks truth … I have never been in Hawaii in real world … xD
Then there is another Playlist where you drive Lambo and other luxuriious vehicles. There are some playlists that would require you to deliver a specific vehicle (basically, a time trial 🙁 ).
Too many side activities
Let’s circle back to the massive open world of Hawaii in The Crew Motorfest and all that it has to offer. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t feel that racing games need any of that side stuff … just give me massive list of vehicles, lots of racing tracks, good gameplay and I will be happy. The Crew Motorfest, however, gives you that and more (side activities).
Besides the usual open world activities like speed traps, slaloms, etc … there are also challenges and photo ops. Challenges are actual challenges where you have to do a specific thing, usually, with a specific vehicle. Such as perform a donut in a certain area with a certain type vehicle or specific vehicle. Drive X km with a specific vehicle in open world. Drive X km outside roads with a specific vehicle, etc …
Then there are photo ops. Now you would say it’s just reaching specific area and push A/X/Enter to get the photo op completed. And you are right … partially … you need a specific area, specific vehicle (either exact vehicle or type of vehicle) and specific day time (yes, mornings, evening, etc …). OK, not every photo OP will require specific day time and even if it does, you can easily change it because it’s not about pressing a button but using “photography” feature. Yes, you also, sometimes, need to move camera to a specific angle to make it work as some photo ops will require certain things visible such as certain graffiti. You can also manipulate timing there so day time requirement is voided.
Be always ONLINE
Due to nature of The Crew Motorfest, you must always be online. For me, it’s not very problem unless I want to go for a poo. If you are someone like me who spends 15-20 minutes while pooping, then you will have the same problem – you get logged out.
Someone calls me and I spend 15 minutes chatting – I get logged out. Someone knocks at the door and I need to tell them that I not need their preaching services or whatever else, I come back – I am logged out …
The Crew Motorfest Multiplayer
Now let’s get to one of the best parts of the game – multiplayer feature.
Battle pass
Of course, the game has battle pass like most games these days. We NOT NEED THIS FEATURE! I believe it’s called Timelines in The Crew Motorfest. There are 3 types of timelines – offline racing, world exploration (side activities) and online racing. Each can be leveled up to level 4. Once you reach the level 4 in one (or all) timeline, you start gaining Legendary levels.
Each season takes 4 weeks and all Legendary levels and timeline levels (max 12 levels (because 3 x 4 right?)) get converted into The Crew Levels. After first season I became level 22. 12 levels of timeles and Legendary level 10. I feel this system is stupid and really confusing. WHY?
Grand Racing
Grand Racing is basically a racing with 3 vehicles. That’s right. Each “activity” will require 3 different vehicles. Once you reach 33%-34% of race, you are transformed into different type vehicle. Same goes when you reach 67%. If you don’t have specific type vehicle – don’t worry – you will be loaned for that race. Types of races changes every 30 or 60 minutes. While racing with 3 different vehicles during 1 race is weird – I dig it.
Demolitions
My favourite part – derby demolitions or whatever they called. There are 32 players put into 8 teams. While you can’t damage your teammate – your enemies can … (obviously). If you get into a really good team then that’s where the fun begins as you all can team up and try to destroy other enemy teams. Sometimes, some players don’t want to team up so they are easy prey if it’s 4 of you hunting 1 guy. Such players and teams don’t get far in the game.
Personally, I loved this feature and I spent a lot of time on it. Out of 28 enemies, I manages to destroy 5 guys, transform into Monster vehicles 3 times during the same match! It’s really about NOT to get into the middle of things but rather watch enemies and hit them when they are most vulnerable. Of course, the game has pick ups and by hitting other players you gain this special bar that once filled, you can transform into this Monster vehicle – bigger, faster, stronger … for a short while.
Weekly races
There are also 9 weekly race challenges. While the experiene counts towards “online” timeline, there is nothing online about it – you end up racing against AI. There are usually 6 races and 3 challenges/activities such as completing specific speed traps, etc … those 6 races also may require certain vehicles that you might not own so you will have to buy them. I believe races change every Wednesday.
Summarising The Crew Motorfest review
To summaries this review and exactly why I give it 8 out of 10 is this:
- Lots of vehicles
- Lots of racing
- Great graphics
- Fun multiplayer feature (Grand Racing and Demolitions)
- I don’t need much in a racing game!
However, the world was too large with too many things to do that is not necessary for a racing game. Lucky that there was no achievement that would require to complete all these activities so the sin is not damaging xD
