Fast cars. An exotic, tropical island paradise. The first videogame appearance of Lamborghini’s new supercar, the Lamborghini Revuelto! This is The Crew Motorfest, the third entry in Ubisoft’s open world, race just about anything with a motor, simulator. The Crew Motorfest follows in the footsteps of 2018’s The Crew 2. Like its predecessor, it brings a massive array of cars, motorcycles, boats, and airplanes to choose from for various types of races and wild stunts. Unlike past games, the action moves from a compressed version of the continental United States to a scaled-down map of Hawaii’s Big Island, Oahu.
In the previous game, players were able to complete a speedy Cannonball Run from the East Coast to the West Coast in under twenty minutes. While this may seem impressive at first glance, it is important to note that the current game’s map, which covers the entire island of Oahu, takes just as long to traverse from one end to the other. Despite the initial perception of a significant decrease in scale, players will still experience a vast and immersive environment in the current game.
Just burning rubber around the track.
The heart of The Crew Motorfest lies in a captivating collection of themed playlists that are thoughtfully designed to replace the four disciplines of The Crew 2. These playlists feature an array of handpicked races that revolve around specific themes such as off-road racing, Porsche cars, or motorcycles, providing a unique and exciting experience to players. In addition to the main races, each playlist offers a set of photo challenges and free-roam competitions, which add to the overall thrill and complexity of the gameplay. Once players complete the primary race series in a playlist, they can unlock a range of additional challenges that offer even more excitement and keep them engaged with the game for longer periods.
In this racing game, players can enjoy a variety of playlist races that can be replayed in different modes. For those who like to customize their experience, the Custom mode allows players to choose the vehicle type, time of day, and weather conditions for the race. Meanwhile, the Normal mode offers standard replays for those who want to stick to the basics. For the more adventurous players, the monthly challenge series provides a unique opportunity to race on the Main Stage, with a new theme introduced every month. Active players can earn special rewards and are encouraged to revisit past playlists to race with a carefully curated selection of cars.
One of the best things about playlist races is the loot they offer. These races generally award some of the best loot for the game’s vehicle upgrade system, making them a must-try for those who want to upgrade their cars and gain an edge over their opponents.
Playlists manage to be simultaneously one of Motorfest’s biggest strengths, but also one of it’s biggest weaknesses. Playlists don’t have vehicle requirements: every vehicle that the player races in normal playlist mode is supplied, rather than purchased. This massively lowers the bar to entry, but also removes much of the motivation to build a competitive car. Having trouble winning a specific race with the supplied vehicle? Tough, your choices are to either turn down some difficulty settings or get gud.
All of the vehicle upgrade mechanics still exist and are in use, but their application doesn’t extend much beyond free roam, Main Stage replays, and most weekly challenges. For fairness, the multiplayer modes use baseline versions of each vehicle with no tuning or upgrades available.
Custom liveries are possible and encouraged. Here a P-51 wears a close facsimile of the Voodoo race plane.
The Voodoo race plane is a significant vehicle in The Crew 2. However, the playlists in the game mostly neglect one of its most interesting features – the multi-discipline races. In these races, the player starts off with one type of vehicle and changes one, two, or even three times throughout the race. Although the multiplayer system still uses the basic structure of these races, they only appear in a couple of playlist races.
The multiplayer mode is where the multi-discipline races truly shine. Motorfest includes two major multiplayer modes, namely the Grand Tour race and the Demolition Derby. In the Grand Tour race, players drive three different classes of cars in a long road race. In the Demolition Derby, players choose special beat-up derby cars and engage in a power-up-filled automotive battle royale. In this mode, players also have the opportunity to temporarily exchange their car for a monster truck, which gives them a significant advantage while the power-up lasts. Further, playlists largely abandon one of The Crew 2’s most interesting aspects, the multi-discipline races that would start the player off in one type of vehicle, and change one, two, or even three times throughout the race. The bones of this system are still used in the multiplayer system but only show up on a couple of playlist races.
Oh, just chilling in my Mustang at a scenic point.
Boats and aircraft also comprise a much smaller percentage of Motorfest’s races this time around. Air competition events are compressed down to a single Red Bull Air Racing style timed pylon race. Boats are similarly all lumped into a single class, leading to some hilariously mismatched race possibilities. Or at least, it would, if the only available races weren’t restricted via the playlists.
With its emphasis on boost mechanics and player skills that effect driving dynamics, The Crew series has never pretended to be a serious driving simulator. However, vehicle handling is still a big factor in game enjoyment. To that end, all of the vehicles handle pretty well. There’s a noticeable difference between different vehicle types, but much less difference in handling feel between individual vehicles of the same time. The biggest issue is that most of the higher speed cars don’t seem to have enough downforce or tire grip. On any high-performance four-wheeled machine, grip seems to be almost a binary thing, it’s all there, right up until it’s gone and your car is slithering and spinning into the trees or off a cliff.
While your car plunges into the ocean, take a moment to appreciate the beautifully crafted scenery. You could even switch to photo mode and capture the perfect shot of your Ferrari’s silhouette against the stunning Hawaiian sunset. It’s undeniable that this game is absolutely stunning.
Drive an open-wheel race car through the mud, and you’ll see the tires gradually accumulate traction-killing coating. Although a majority of vehicles are ported over from The Crew 2, they don’t look last-gen. Everything has a functional cockpit with moving dials, and the scenery looks like it stepped out of a Hawaiian postcard.
Although all boats are compressed into one class, there’s still some exciting scenery that can only really be viewed from the water.
As a racing game, Motorfest takes advantage of the PlayStation 5’s unique features, including a trick for positional audio that immerses the player in the game. Unlike other racing games that use the PS5 controller’s speaker for minor sounds, Motorfest pushes most of the car’s sounds through the speaker, particularly if the player is not using stereo headphones. This means that every gear change, exhaust backfire, and tire screech is heard clearly and directly from the speaker located between the player’s thumbs, creating a more realistic driving experience. The game developers have thoughtfully utilized the PS5’s capabilities, and the overall sound design is equally impressive.
One of the notable features of the soundtrack is its diverse collection of tunes that cater to various music preferences. Despite the absence of recognizable tunes, the soundtrack manages to deliver a unique listening experience that is bound to please most individuals. For those who stream content, the soundtrack also comes equipped with a stream-safe mode, which serves as a protective measure against DMCA strikes.
The Crew Motorfest has an exciting feature where they run a new theme every month, with different sub-themes and challenges introduced each week. It takes a significant amount of time to complete the races in every playlist, and after that, there are still various challenges, as well as hundreds of collectible items scattered throughout the island. Additionally, there is a multiplayer option available. The Crew 2 continued to release new content updates for several years after its launch. If Motorfest follows the same trend, players can enjoy this game for many years to come with a plethora of new content to explore and enjoy.
Although the absence of stronger air and water options during the launch is regrettable, the vast selection of cars and motorcycles offered compensates for it. Whether it’s a customized street racer, a drift or track missile, a dirt rally machine, or even the newest electric cars, there’s something for everyone who appreciates the sight of a cool vehicle passing by.
A PS5 code was provided by Ubisoft for Review.
