Great racing game, albeit with deficits

I've played a few racing games. However, two of which must be emphasized. The first is Need For Speed ​​Underground 2, which could stand out his time by a gigantic tuning system. A tuning system, which has given me the freedom to make my car so and tune how I want it. The second racing game Test Drive Unlimited was. A great, open world which has given me more freedom than it hitherto been customary in racing games. Add to that the ability to play alone if I want to, or to plunge into multiplayer battles, if I prefer to.

There was certainly time to time games that have taken up this issue. But no game was in the tuning the trigger, resulting in Need For Speed ​​Underground 2 triggered in the tuning with me and no racer could trigger a feeling in the area of ​​the world, what I had of his time in Test Drive Unlimited.

With The Crew, the is about to change. Ivory Tower, a new development studio with employees who had previously worked on Need For Speed, Driver or indeed Test Drive Unlimited, has now published his first value. Can convince The Crew?

Annotate I want that I played all the beta phases and the release version that only slightly differs from the beta, have played since 1.12. For a final conclusion, it is too late, because possibly be unlocked additional content in the game. In these cases, I would adjust this review accordingly.
Nevertheless, I would like an idea of ​​the game give you with all the really great strengths, but also its existing deficits.

About the story:
When I heard that The Department has a story, I have beaten her hands over her head. I can think of no spontant a racing game where my story really liked. The Story of The Crew surpasses the stories of all the racers that I have played. It maintains quite. NOTING that the stories of the other racers but most were really banana, it's not hard to beat this. And in this context one has to say directly that the story of The crew of course deserve an Oscar. What we get served here is a simple popcorn story in the style of the first Fast & Furious movies.
The protagonist is Alex. His brother was the leader of a racing gear until he was killed by someone. Alex was suspected and imprisoned. Five years later he is released - on the condition that he infiltrated the gang and makes the killers identified. The result is a story in which we are active both for the police, as well as the transition. But that does not mean that we are allowed to play policeman literally. We are through and through one of the Racer ... we carry a few orders of law enforcement through. That's quite interesting, as we noticed from both sides slightly. The high work to become part of the program is quite interesting. But it all up just under a simple popcorn history. Compared to other racers me the story of The Crew convinced. But you should not expect a lot of depth.

Graphics:
Graphically The Department is also a double-edged sword. The cars look great, the lighting effects, especially the sunset, is great. The overall package is also very solid, but it looks like a game from the second third of the life cycle of the last generation of consoles. A Forza Horizon looks example, much better. Well, through the huge, open world, compromises have to be made. And no game world in a racing game was so great and free as that of The Department. That I have to live with some technical restrictions there is okay for me. Nevertheless, one should try to get more out of the specially developed engine. The Department does not look bad. The whole package is largely consistent. Especially the different biomes of the Map often see even from great. An off-road racing in the sunset at the beach on fields that saw overall quite chic. Some mud textures in cities cloud the overall picture yet again.
The Department is not ugly. But as a next-Gent game what The Department is fully according to all the comments of developers so, it does not look.

The World:
In the game world I would like to address separately in this game, because it has just earned. What we have here available is a direct reflection of the entire United States. And apart from the sea, the border south toward Mexico and deeper lakes, the entire world is passable at any point. Not matter whether their cities visited, the Route 66 exit, off the road through the middle of the Pampa ride or mountain climbing - in The Crew you can almost any spot of the USA traveled.
The map is really huge. A journey from east to west across the map takes about an hour. The surfaces when still factored the distance from north to south, are there not even included. The part is simply huge!
The USA are in so far as a playground, as they offer many different biomes. Snow and ice in the north, sunny beach in the southeast, forests in the Midwest, etc. Here you get offered a lot of variety. So that the world seems alive, she was neatly populated by humans and animals. Cars drive on the streets, passers-by (at the risk skillfully dodge the vehicle ... they must have somewhere made a Ninja training) and many animals can be found. When I went through a lot of fields, me a cow herd has suddenly welcomed. Found a deer ran across the street and turn somewhere else came sometimes a bear crept out of the woods.
In the sky can be zeppelins, find aircraft, hang gliders, hot air balloons and more. It is possible to find places where start the balloons, in some large field areas planes fly just above the player over the fields to fertilize and you find yourself at an airport in a flight path, flying probably know a huge airplane just over an over.
The cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Washington and much, have all the necessary landmarks. A 1: 1 mapping, we have not, but the cities were rebuilt in great detail.
Before the world of The Crew I just have to take my hat. The feeling that I then had to release in Test Drive Unlimited is achieved by The Crew again. No, it will not reach to be able to really navigate almost any spot in relation to the world and the freedom, the whole topt even. That's really great!

Gameplay:
In the area of ​​gameplay The Department also has some tricks. Stands out the most comprehensive tuning system that ever existed in the history of racing game. Here, Ivory Tower oriented to online RPGs. The components that we get hold of corresponding quasi the equipment that we collect in an online RPG. We can earn countless parts and installing them in our vehicle. This proper Sogspirale is built. "Even just this event and the component pick up ... ah, here is one more thing that we make even fast ... Hui, in the event but I can get really horny n part, I do that too." So I have often caught myself while playing. It's also great that the vehicle feels strongly the influence of tuning. Initially, the vehicle control system is very imprecise and vague. That has put me off very beginning. But now my vehicle controls properly pleasant and I have not yet reached the end of tuning flagpole. Suddenly curves can go much cleaner, the steering is much more accurate, and even very clean drifts are possible. All the things I could not guess at the beginning, because the Prolog vehicle really controls extremely vague. It was fortunate that the tuning system is so extensive and actually works. Ivory Tower always wanted your car just is not just a vehicle, as in other racers. You should identify yourself with your vehicle, it is virtually correspond to the character of an online role-playing game. And the system goes on.
In addition to tuning come different vehicle Specs who want to be leveled and tuned separately for each vehicle. Here the individual vehicles are different specs available. Even some all. Specs for is variations of the vehicle with different statistics. There are six in number Specs. Series is the standard equipment of the vehicle without any modification of the statistics. Street does best on the road, but to look at compared to the other specs primarily as an allrounder. Terrain suitable for racing on off-road terrain. Hunter is best to really achieve the most abstruse places in the world and is due to its armor for Crash missions. Power corresponds to the vehicles, which we know from Fast & Furious and is primarily for this race. Route, however modified your car so that it resembles a race car. It's also great that per vehicle the visual style adapts strong. While the Chevrolet Camaro looks relatively normal in the streets-spec, it is modified in off spec to a rally car and the Hunter Spec even an armored, small truck. That looks really cool!
The Specs itself also go extremely different. An off-road spec drives off the road really felt better than a road Spec.
The system as all get out of his vehicle motivated immensely. Good Job! It is this system ensures that me The crew so incredibly fun.
When you deal too much rampage, the law enforcement attention to you. And going quite aggressive before, so that the player is actually required in order to escape them. This is really fun. In addition, they also have a good pain limit, until they pay attention to you, so it is not annoying, because you already have by small mistakes the police at the neck.

It should be noted you should remember that The Crew is an arcade racer and is not designed for realism. This is about fleet racing and not a realistic driving simulation.

Multiplayer:
Here was advertised size. A real racer MMORPG should be The crew members. And that is not so in the form. While you play with all the players on a server, but similar to Destiny are always only a few players in their own environment. Up to 7 players can be. Thus that other players are at almost any time around you on the road, is a really cool feature. And that always are only 7 players in the area, is basically no problem. Otherwise it would probably in certain situations lead to great chaos. The problem however, is that the matchmaking of missions (it can be played any story mission in coop) only player draws in their own instance into consideration. That means there are thousands of players despite only a maximum of 7 to choose from. The matchmaking must be definitely adjusted, so that a wider range of players for multiplayer action is addressed. Also I'm missing a little something to make the possibility of players off my friends list. I can, when they are around me, playing primarily the story in the Coop with them. Much more is not there, even if it's really cool to have nearly ever players in this great world around him.
Later fractions frigeschaltet, where you can join. This open fraction missions and PvP. The latter I could not retest because not enough players were found. Whether it is on matchmaking, or simply still all once their vehicles leveling (release finally until today), I can not judge. By PvP and missions but faction points can be collected. The winning faction is chosen once a month and then player of this faction get access to special missions with special ern tuning parts.

However, I would like to see more can be interacted with random players. What would work with eg random, public events that move the players with no effort? What if I like in Need For Speed ​​Rivals can simply start with a player next to me a neck-and-neck race? What if I can build routes as in Test Drive Unlimited 2 was possible?
Fractions can certainly provide a lot of long-term motivation. But to go through as a real MMO since have come more social gameplay elements. May be during the game but other elements, such as fractions unlocked who take on exactly these points. Should I stand out as something I will adjust the review accordingly. At present, I have no such features but.
However, one must also emphasize that Ivor Tower will Support the game long with patches. And be able to install a great basis for such features, they have created.
As MMO, as Ubisoft and Ivory Tower would like, is The Crew at the moment for me not yet. Rather than big racing game with a highly integrated co-op mode.

All in all, in my opinion, has become a great game, whose core elements operate earn freedom in the open world and further development of the vehicle tuning and components The crew members. It takes after the prologue start some time before these systems really develop their wake, until you see that the control is not as spongy as soon as the tuning have taken sufficient influence. But after me has packed the game. And true!
For 5 star but it is not enough. But the graphics are not enough and the next gen multiplayer mode needs to be further expanded. But most of all by expanding the multiplayer part, The Crew could relatively easily reach the fifth star for me. At present, it is enough then but only for 4 stars.
You ought to establish the game, if you get along with a perfectly coherent, but rather solid graphics, but a huge degree want a freedom in a great world in a racing game and a huge component and system tuning will. If that meets your taste, then you should definitely set The crew members. A genre revolution that makes everything perfect, The Department is not.