Want to race? How about we take some missions from a massive underground circuit of street racers. Or maybe we just drive cross country? Even better, lets get our Crew together and enter into a massive multiplayer online version of the Cannonball Run. All of those elements make The Crew a premiere racing game, that is happily very much an MMORPG. We were very surprised by the game and while all of us here play MMOs, not all of us are racing fans, but we are now.
The Crew offers a huge map of the U.S. to drive around in a persistent world. You have your garage and cars set up and will earn upgrades and all types of customization. This is the starting point for a world of street racing that continues to grow. You can drive to Miami to check out the scene there. If the southern sun is not your style, why not head to the Rockies for some crazy off road missions to test your skills? The possibilities are endless in this game. The exploration factor is what makes this open world so interesting. You never know what you will find in parts of the country or who you will meet. Sometimes you can just go out for a drive, or maybe you will find a crazy PvP race between rival crews.
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PvP is a big element in any MMO and The Crew serves it up in racing form. You think you are good at driving games? You probably have raced a lot. Well now you can try all different types of races from winner takes all to team matches that pit groups of racers fighting for their rewards. We did some timed missions in the E3 demo against a rival crew and had a great time taking home the win. The mission we played was similar to the one at PAX. You had to crash and wreck a run away truck which caused some trouble. It wasn't just about speed but about targeting as well. Tis time I finally was able to take down the truck after four solid crashes. You can do up to seventy players in a PvP environment which is just a huge pile up waiting to happen.
The cars in the game really make up the characters themselves. You can drive a performance car like Ferrari, Porsche, or Lamborghini. Everyone will want one of these. However if you need more muscle there are cross country beasts which can hit any terrain. There are also circuit style race cars like you would find on a track. There are also cars that you can go anywhere with and even take across the country. Almost in the vein rally style racing.
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Any fan of racing games will pick up The Crew and immediately be drawn in by so many options for tracks and styles of play. The persistence of an MMO really does give to game depth and will have players and large crews working together to leave their stamp on the world. Being able to personalize your cars and collect a range of vehicles and upgrades with your winnings will bring a lot of tweaks and load outs for players to try.
We have seen racing and car MMOs before. I was a big fan of Auto Assault back in the day. While you may not be able to strap machine guns onto the hood of your car, The Crew really surprised us this past week at E3. Hats off to UbiSoft for coming right out and calling the game an MMORPG right away at their press conference. We are all excited for The Crew to land this fall and hope it lives up to the fun we had at the show.
Be sure to check out our previous The Crew Preview from PAX.
