The Crew Review: Life In The Not so Fast Lane

The Crew is Ubisoft’s newest franchise, and it’s been touting it hard as being the ultimate racer. As it puts gamers squarely in the driver’s seat with a license to go fast either solo or with friends, we have some questions: Does it have what it takes to overtake the competition? Or does it use too much NOS and burn itself out?

Who hasn’t played a racing game at one time or another? I’m sure most gamers have; yes, even Mario Kart at a cousin’s birthday party counts. Indeed, the majority of recent racing games have been of this type on almost every platform.

Recently, there has been a minor resurgence of arcade-style racing games, with Ubisoft’s The Crew being among them. This is a brand-new franchise, from a brand-new developer called Ivory Tower. While the developer name is new, it does consist of a few veterans of this genre; some in the group were previously responsible for Eden Games’ Test Drive Unlimited series.

In The Crew, the player takes on the role of Alex Taylor, the brother and leader of the 510 street racing crew. Alex’s story isn’t a complicated one; sadly, it is one that feels all-too-familiar. We’ve seen it often in games (and movies) that revolve around street racing: Alex gets framed for his brother’s murder by another member of the 510 who has FBI connections. Our hero goes to jail, and then gets an opportunity from another FBI agent to get out so that he can take his brother’s killer and all other accomplices down.

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