Graphics
Looking at The Crew purely as a next-gen game (though it is available on the Xbox 360,) it’s hard not to feel disappointed in the lack of polish.
One of the pleasures in any open-world game are the environments and the ability to explore and appreciate the craftsmanship that’s gone into creating a digital world for you to explore.
The Crew isn’t terribly bad, but there are some extremely poor instances of blurry textures that just don’t belong on the PS4 and Xbox One and in some cases they would be shocking even on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Cars are well designed but the recurrent theme here is a distinct lack of polish which the vehicles could have done with. For the most part they look perfectly fine, but on closer inspection there’s enough aliasing going on that you’d expect Q*Bert to be hopping up and down them like little steps.
When you don’t look too closely and just enjoy the ride, The Crew looks pretty good and at times it does display moments of grandeur, even if they are few and far between.
It’s just not what you’d expect from a next-gen title and when you compare it to recent offerings on both machines it’s hard not to feel short-changed and, to put it bluntly, lied to.
Ubisoft hasn’t had a great time lately with the catastrophic launch of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, so you’d have though that the publisher would have been a bit more wary about selling a pack of lies to the customers who keep them in business.
The Crew is essentially an arcade racer that’s been dressed up as something more. Promises of a rich online world are fabrications and it’s left me wondering if The Crew is nothing more than a test-run for future always-online games.
If you’re a hardcore racing fan then you’ll probably find a sufficient amount of fun with The Crew, just go in with lower expectations and you’ll be left with a less bitter taste than this reviewer was.
The Crew is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Xbox 360 and you can get your copy from Amazon.
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Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out after extensively plaything through the PS4 version of the game which the reviewer purchased at a cost to himself.