The Crew Motorfest is battling for second place behind Forza | Digital Trends

While playing a preview build for three hours for The Crew Motorfesti felt i had experienced most of what it had to offer before.

Ubisoft’s latest offering Ivory Towers is a fully competent racing game experience set on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It allows players to transform into a plane or a boat and then explore an open world with those, which is something other open world racers don’t offer. But other than that, The Crew series seems to have dropped other parts of its identity to instead pursue a setting, premise, and even gameplay mechanics that seem to be derived from the current crown jewel of the genre: Force Horizon 5.

During my three hours with The Crew Motorfest, enjoyed some surprisingly challenging races that were full of style and showcased all the colorful corners of Oahu. Outside of a few fleeting moments though, I realized that I was playing a racing game that owed almost everything to another, better racing game. As such, it’s not so clear what The Crew Motorfests entry is actually ahead of its October launch.

Hawaiian vacation

In The Crew Motorfest, players participate in the titular festival, which turns the island of Oahu into a virtual playground where players can drive cars, fly planes, and sailboats anywhere the game allows. Quests that test players’ speed as they pass through checkpoints are scattered throughout the open world, as are more linear races linked to themed playlists. Weekly Main Stage also aims to create additional themed experiences each week, like the European Velocita Main Stage theme in my demo which puts the emphasis on European cars.

The playlists I encountered during my demo centered around cars, but had some variety. The intense road races and neon-lit aesthetics of the Made in Japan playlist stood out from the much more relaxed and exploratory races of the Hawaii Scenic Tour playlist. Many of the races presented a healthy challenge, even if the trajectory and new feature rewinders were there to help when I went wrong. The car’s handling feels as effortless and arcade-like as you’d want in an open-world racing game, though learning how to drift properly will take some time to master.

motorfest it appears to be a fairly numeric racing game, although Ivory Tower’s years of experience in the genre make it work. It looks and plays as great as a game like this should be, and some memorable races like an amazing one that takes place along the beaches of Oahu provide exciting virtual tourism for those unable to get out and actually visit Hawaii. Ivory Tower knows how to make a solid racing game, though motorfest it’s not propelling the genre forward in any notable way.

Most of mine motorfest play time was behind the wheel of a car which is a shame as what really sets it apart from the pack are the other vehicle types. I love soaring through the air in an airplane or sailing across rivers and oceans on a boat. The funniest moment I had during my playtime was when I flew over a target in an airplane and then transformed into a car and tried to land as close as possible. That’s why I was disappointed that none of the playlists in this demo centered around planes or boats, as that type of gameplay is entirely unique to The Crew.

In the shadow of Forza Horizon

Some might think that all racing games are created equal, but as a fan of the genre, I disagree. Most series, and even the individual games within them, typically create a unique identity for themselves; 2022 is also mediocre Legends of the grill it had a mock shot from the documentary to help it stand out. Previously, The crewThe main benefit of S was that it allowed players to race across America and, with the sequel, do so in a variety of vehicles. While motorfest maintains vehicle variety, ditches the rest of The Crews identity for a festival gimmick that seems derived from Force Horizon and even owned by Ubisoft Republic of the Knights.

I might as well ignore it Force Horizon 5AND motorfest have similar premises; it happens sometimes in the racing genre. What’s harder to digest is when motorfest begins to copy aesthetics and mechanics. motorfests run lines and checkpoint indicators look very similar to Forza Horizon 5s, as well as its new rewind feature which is pulled directly from the Xbox franchise. Also, the Oahu and Mexico maps look a bit similar, to the point where they are both tropical locations with a giant volcano on the west side of the map.

Of course, this is how Oahu is structured in real life, so it would be foolish to beat Ivory Tower for faithfully recreating a Hawaiian island. However, the developers have chosen a tropical setting that closely mirrors the map Playground Games was created for Force Horizon 5. Because of these aesthetic and mechanical similarities, plus the lack of airplane and boat-focused playlists in this demo, I couldn’t help but compare it toForce Horizon 5 all the time i’ve been playing and it’s hard to compete with the best.

This doesn’t mean that The Crew Motorfest it will be of no value to those who want more well-constructed racing games. Those looking for a challenging yet satisfying open world racing game spread across land, air and sea will likely enjoy it. It’s undeniably derivative in a way that’s hard to shake off the first demo. Of course, I can’t fly a plane or drive a boat Force Horizon 5But Crew 2 it also has both of those things in a larger environment and several years of live service content to play. But with both titles available as part of game subscription services, Ubisoft will need a stronger tone if it is to convince racing game fans to buy it at launch.

The Crew Motorfest will launch for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Amazon Luna on September 14.

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