The Crew 2 Review: Gameplay Videos, Impressions, Features and Modes

The Crew 2 from Ubisoft arrives as an ambitious and accessible title meaning to learn from mistakes of its predecessor and capitalize on the highlights.  

Ubisoft has ripped up some of the items players didn't take to in the first game and played to its strengths. Known for open-world environments and fun progression, the developers set players free in a re-creation of the United States with more than 250 vehicles over land, sea and air in the pursuit of becoming a global phenomenon. 

Fully cementing itself into a niche, The Crew 2 offers an always-online experience worth a look, even if it isn't always as fun as it is pretty. 

Gameplay

The Crew 2 feels great regardless of whether a player is ripping through city streets, off-roading over monstrous dunes, taking a stunt plane through a city's skyline or hitting ramps and flipping over the ocean. 

One complaint comes to mind—it's a bit disorienting at first. 

This game is pretty and the visuals—especially when it comes to the vehicules—rival something seen in a simulation like Forza or Gran Turismo.

But the game doesn't play the way it looks. This is an arcade racer through and through, with forgiving braking, little to no damage, turbo boost and an overall floaty feel. Everything is responsive and feels great, but slamming into a wall will give off a rubbery bounce and little else in the way of repercussions. 

On the ground, it's a thrill to get a palpable sense of speed while zipping through an environment, even if at times it's hard to tell where to go. Sometimes it's hard to tell what obstacles in your path will break as well, leaving your vehicle slammed to a halt regardless of speed thanks to an invulnerable piece of the environment. In the more open off-road events, tearing through various locales and finding a path to the finish is fun and retains the sense of speed. 

Water-based vehicles are a tad trickier but feel light. In the air is where things feel really loose, with heavy planes whipping around and pulling barrel rolls with ease. 

Part of the genius of the gameplay is the formats housing it. Typical races are fun, but so are drift events where risky moves get rewarded. Stunt events are exactly what they sound like, and sprints that take a vehicle across state lines can be downright stressful and intense.  

Switching between the three is as simple as pressing a button, too. Certain races swap between all three over the course of an event, but perhaps more appealing is the simplicity of hopping among the formats while cruising around the open world with no one goal in mind. 

Overall, gameplay paints in broad strokes while seemingly trying to appeal to as many audiences as possible. It's not a knock on the game by any means, but player enjoyment of the game itself might come down to the expectations before diving into the experience. There's an adjustment period where a player has to realize this isn't necessarily what it seems, but it's snappy, responsive and relentless once it gets going. 

Graphics and Presentation

Part of the critique above comes from the game looking so good. 

It isn't much of a surprise to hear Ubisoft has knocked another open world out of the park, not after repeated triumphs with games like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed. 

Like those games, The Crew 2 is massive in its recreation of the United States. While obviously not 100 percent accurate, each locale feels true to itself and different from each other. Chicago's city is dramatically different from New York and everything in between has its own stamp, for example, the progression from midwest farmlands to deserts of the west. 

Pretty doesn't always mean full of life, though. This can feel like a barren game at times, especially while ripping through rural areas in free roam. The forests right on up to the mountains can be gorgeous, but actual walking characters are rare and there isn't much in the way of car variety on the roads. As a funny aside in the cities, an apparent random details generator has created some hysterical storefronts if you actually slow down in urban areas. As Andy Kelly of PC Gamer chronicled, some of these hilarities include a restaurant advertising "chicken grilled coffee" while a storefront labeled as a pharmacy is very clearly a clothing store. 

That small hiccup aside, varying weather, gorgeous water and true-to-life locals peppered with landmarks make this one of the prettiest games on the market. Wrapping the bow neatly atop is a solid soundtrack that seems to read the activity and set the mood well. The voiceover work is easy to ignore because it's the typical bland fodder, but the game itself encourages players to tackle anything any way they want, so why listen to the guy throwing out suggestions anyway? 

Features

The Crew 2 can be intimidating until a player unpackages it all and gets going.  

Players suit up in the role of an anonymous racer, a stark departure from the revenge-crime storyline of the first game. Out is the drama, in is something everyone can relate to—gaining followers on social media!

Kidding aside, everything seems to revolve around the follower count and the characters in a player's ear won't let you soon forget it. Snapping photos, cheating death and pulling off tricks ups the follower count alongside earning cash and progressing through the game. 

Progression is tied to working through the four families, which are as follows:  

• Street
• Offroad
• Freestyle 
• Pro

Street offers events like drifting and drag racing, offroad has motocross and rally raids, freestyle involves the jet sprints, monster trucking and aerial aerobatics and Pro goes through events like grand prix and traditional racing in the air and sea. 

Then there is the Live Extrem Series overarching it all and acting as a story of sorts. The characters within are forgettable, but the so-called episodes are the thrilling events forcing a player to switch through all three formats in one go. 

There's no right or wrong way to progress through the game, either. Followers, experience and cash are consistently rewarded, so tackling an entire family or hopping around randomly will produce the same results. Cash required to keep working up the food chain of a style's type of vehicle is a lot and can be intimidating, but the grind doesn't feel like a grind if approached creatively.

While customization doesn't feel as important as it could, as slapping the part with the highest number on it is usually as complicated as it gets, RPG-style progression for vehicles means a player could pick a favorite car right at the beginning of the game and take it all the way through to the end game. 

Other features deserve mentioning. A nice touch is a recap feature on the map which outlines your path over the last 10 minutes and chronicles items accomplished. Load times for these sorts of features aren't bad either, which is impressive given the scope and density of the map.   

Taking photos is one of the big ways players who like to free roam can accumulate followers quickly. In other words, Ubisoft had to get the photo portion of the game done right and it is, as a rich photo capture feature works well and has plenty of options. 

As Ubisoft will surely hammer into the minds of players moving forward, The Crew 2 is best experienced with other players. Running into random people on the map and forming crews is a fun way to tackle events. Picking up the game with a few friends and hopping over each other's personal bests in real time is a thrill, as is merely goofing around on the huge map while switching instantly between the three styles. 

Conclusion

Predictably, this is a master of none sort of game. 

But Ubisoft saw the writing on the wall when looking at the gaming market—no sense in chasing the perfection of a series like Forza, except maybe visually.

Players will vary in opinion on The Crew 2. Some will love the open-world aspect and seek out fun on the way to the next objective, appreciating the scenery as it unfurls. Others will more align with the follower-count frenzy and fast travel to event after event while progressing toward the end game. 

But that's the point—there isn't a wrong way to play. Feeling unrewarded isn't in the game's DNA and the grind to become an icon while working through a steady stream of unlocks via varying gameplay that keeps things fresh makes The Crew 2 a success. 

Perhaps most exciting of all, the solid foundation here after learning from the predecessor means big, varied things for the continued support of what is sure to be an ever-evolving experience.