Welcome to Hawaii where gorgeous white beaches, vibrant cities, and dense forests are waiting for you and your car. Drive through these iconic locations with hundreds of vehicles, including some legendary classic cars. Explore the open world and leave your mark. Welcome to Forza Horizon… I mean, welcome to The Crew Motorfest.
The Crew Horizon
If you’re new to The Crew franchise, it’s Ubisoft’s open-world racing franchise that gathered a lot of fans in the past thanks to the great support the company offered. Years after the initial releases of The Crew and The Crew 2, Ubisoft made sure there was always something new to discover. From small cosmetics to huge DLC expansions, if you were a fan of the franchise, you knew you were settled for the next couple of years. The first two games were set on the USA mainland, Motorfest takes the party to Hawaii which sets the tone immediately. The moment you start playing it, you feel like you’re on vacation, a vacation every car lover would dream of. The opening minutes include a couple of different cars ranging from off-road vehicles to some legendary classic cars. There’s something to discover for everyone here and both the location and gameplay style resemble to Forza Horizon formula, which isn’t bad at all.
At its core, Motorfest offers a couple of different ways to play the game. The first and major mode is the Playlist. These are special events, mostly consisting of different races and certain types of cars. There’s a huge difference in playlists, one will make you drive around the entire island in a virtual road trip kind of way while another one will put you behind the steering wheel of F1. Variation is the key in this mode. Although there’s a pattern of driving to locations, clearing a couple of races, and gaining a new car if you gather enough points, it’s never boring to compete in the playlists. In my opinion, it’s the best mode to discover the islands and its gorgeous cars. It’s in the playlist mode that you’ll probably learn what type of driver you are or want to be.
There’s more to explore on the island than just the playlists. The open world is filled with extra challenges that will keep you entertained for months to come. Classic speed traps and drifting challenges are all there but you can also drive off the main roads in search of hidden treasures or unique locations. The game wants you to explore and wants you to put your driving skills to the test. If you want the full experience, you’ll have to invest a lot of your time.
If you think you have the skills, you can compete online against others. This is also part of the experience with a couple of PvP and PvE events. From racing to demolishing your opponent, the online segment is pretty deep and of course, you can start your crew with a couple of friends!
It’s all about having fun
Where The Crew 2 was a rather safe sequel, I love this new direction of The Crew Motorfest which embraces the festival approach and sees the car and location as the perfect celebration. As far as the map, Hawaii is without a doubt the best location in the franchise, bringing dense forest and volcanic terrains while still delivering vibrant cities and main roads as well. There’s something to do and explore everywhere you go as the map is packed with objectives, something other open-world racing games don’t always offer. But what about the cars?
With over 600 vehicles and 10 different vehicle types, this is the most impressive and complete entry in the franchise to date. Keep in mind that it’s an arcade racer and no deep simulation, the vehicles handle pretty well but don’t offer the same depth of upgrades compared to the realistic simulators but that doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade your ride. By completing races and challenges, you’ll unlock parts, ranging from common to legendary parts. Through the menu, you can easily upgrade your car and see and feel the difference immediately. It’s all very accessible and easy to do, you won’t waste a lot of time in virtual garages or complex menus. It’s all about having fun and enjoying the ride, which delivers a tremendous gaming experience.
Everything about this game is created around the having fun mantra and I appreciate this a lot. Sure, there are different camera perspectives and you can upgrade your cars to have tactical advantages in races but let’s be real here, this is not why you’re buying this game. You buy Motorfest to escape reality and enjoy the virtual playground that makes your car lover’s heart skip a beat. Motorfest has a great location, amazing cars, and an immersive arcade-style gameplay to have fun with.
Not perfect
There’s no doubt about it, The Crew Motorfest is a fun game and by far the best entry in the series. I do compare it to Forza Horizon but that also has something to do with the level of quality. Motorfest can compete with the Horizon franchise because it delivers the same type of fun, although it’s a bit more rough around the edges. Since the game was released on the previous generation as well, it feels like the developers weren’t able to go all out in the next-gen versions. Some textures on both the cars and environments aren’t really on the same level as the higher-end current-gen racing games and you’ll see a bit more visual bugs than you would hope for. There’s room for improvement on the visual and performance level, especially the crash models that need an update but seeing the track record of support, I think Ubisoft will polish the experience along the way for sure.
Conclusion:
The Crew Motorfest is the best entry in the franchise and offers the perfect racing game for die-hard fans and casual arcade fans. The open world, the music, and the cars are all of the highest level and give you a tremendous amount of variation in gameplay. It’s a bit rough around the edges visually speaking but it’s one of the best open-world racing games of the last years, be sure to check it out!
