As much fun as I had playing The Crew, two issues that left a real thorn in my side. The first is the need for a constant internet connection. I reviewed Need for Speed Rivals and came close to eating my controller in frustration at constant reboots and loading screens thanks to host migrations and kickbacks its infrastructure caused. The Crew looks like it will offer a similar, controller-chewing experience. Ubisoft’s creative director Julian Gerighty told me that, should players lose their internet connection, they will be booted back to the title screen[link to forthcoming news article in this sentence]. Despite Gerighty’s insistence that the online requirement won’t affect players enjoying The Crew on their lonesome, the fact that any progress made in a mission will be lost at the point of the internet going down is clearly not an adequate solution. As somebody who has a sporadic internet connection at best, I know this will prove a major stumbling block when I play at home.
The second issue is its approach to monetisation. The Crew has microtransactions built into its ecosystem, coupled with an in-game currency. I was assured that players can get through the whole game without spending any additional money at the expense of time. But the trouble is, everything in the game has a price. You even have to pay to fast travel: the further you go, the higher the price, although you can save a little cash by using public transport positioned at certain parts throughout the map.
The presentation of car parts unlocked through races made it seem as though they too could also be bought with real cash, lessening the grind of earning sufficient in-game money to improve your cars. I couldn’t be completely certain this was the case, and Ubisoft failed to confirm this in a follow-up email, but did say that car parts can be unlocked through progression as well as microtransactions.
This is countered somewhat by the fact that only parts ranked equal or below that of the player’s rank can be applied. For instance, a level 30 player cannot apply a level 33 exhaust, but a bronze level 33 exhaust may not be as effective as a lower ranked gold part. It’s a complex and often confusing system, and the brief time I got to spend with the game was definitely not enough to develop a full understanding.
The exact cost of each in-game item and fast-travel was not implemented at the time of preview, so it’s hard to judge how much of an impact it will have. Perhaps it will be countered by the fact that players earn money through every action in the game. You’ll earn cash out of missions through near-misses, good overtakes or simple destruction of public property, but this felt like petty cash compared to what you need to buy the best rides.
If Ubisoft and Ivory Tower can ease fears of these two major issues and address the game's identity crisis (The Crew is, frankly, a rubbish name for a racer, connoting a gang-led beat-em-up more than anything, plus Ivory Tower seem to add a new genre every five minutes), then the team could be on to something special. I had great fun in my few hours with the game, wanting only more time to explore this huge environment to see everything it had to offer. The variety of handling of each car type was enough to keep me invested alone, and this is one of the few games that would give me the desire to play online.