The Crew 2

The Crew 2 is a fun arcade racer, but it covers too much, lacking quality in some aspects related to gameplay and variety.

The Crew 2 did a good job on improving the original game. It's a little bit more of everything, and the new road/sea/air feature offers a lot of fun and variety. Some new race categories are much better than others however (the bike races are particularly bad), and the driving controls are still basic compared to what we can expect from a 2018 racing game.

The racing on offer in The Crew 2 is fun and there are a wide variety of different events and vehicles that will keep you entertained. For some genre fans, that may be enough, but sadly, it’s a game that feels like a jack of all trades and a master of none. Throw in some odd design choices, a dull story, and lukewarm presentation and The Crew 2 is an ambitious game that doesn’t achieve its potential, nor does it approach the standard of some other open-world racers available today.

The Crew 2 is an ambitious undertaking that puts over-the-top arcade racing front and center. Though it makes large strides in the right direction over its predecessor, it suffers from odd game design choices, a lack of PvP, and a lackluster presentation that puts it squarely in the rearview mirror of its competition.

Ubisoft should be rewarded for its ambition, but ultimately ambition has translated into an overly busy experience that's got a little too much going on.

The Crew 2 is big, confident, and stuffed with arcade racing action – land, sea, and air. There’s undoubtedly something still charming about a racing game that lets us drive an F1 car across the Golden Gate bridge, fly a Spitfire through the Grand Canyon, and crash a monster truck through Central Park, but its uneven presentation, lack of events that use its best features, and absent PvP is a bummer.

In a way The Crew 2 is a better game from the old, but in another way, it is also very much the same flawed racer. There is a lot of good here: open world, four racing types, huge customization, and tons of races. However, as a racing game, you’d do better with Mario Kart.

The Crew 2 has a lot of potential, but its great graphics and sound design don’t make up for its lack of content, lack of online multiplayer and weak AI. Maybe it’ll get better via monthly updates as the previous version did, but at the moment, The Crew 2 is not so superior to its predecessor.

The Crew 2 feels like a missed opportunity for Ubisoft after what was a decent start for the franchise in 2014. It’s a racing game with some interesting ideas, but the new main additions frankly aren’t entertaining enough and there’s too much of a focus on quantity over quality.

A slightly above average arcade racer with a giant map that unfortunately brings more trouble than benefits. Dynamic switching of vehicles is funny, but it is unable to cover up the unfinished work. [Issue#288]

I rarely had fun playing The Crew 2 and usually after 20 minutes tops my mind was drifting away towards anything more enjoyable (e.g. Forza Horizon 3, which is a better game in every way possible). Once again the developers bit more than they could chew, putting quantity above quality. Yes, there are 250 licensed machines and you can switch between them instantly, but there’s no joy in driving or flying them in the huge but empty and boring world. Plus the AI is very poor and the career mode did little to keep me playing. [09/2018, p.52]

An ambitious but watered-down racing experience that rarely satisfies. [Sept 2018, p.92]

The Crew 2 lacks its own purpose and identity, as though it’s magpie’d many excellent features but stitched them together in a way that doesn’t yet make sense...Despite the bolstered vehicular options and the novelty of beaching a boat in Central Park, sadly there’s just not enough here to keep you on the starting grid.

Other than brief moments, no part of The Crew 2 is captivating enough, including the rubberband-based gameplay, the events themselves, and the overall setup of the open world.

I found myself struggling to “get” it, worried I was some degree of incompetent or something. But the more I thought about it, the more I feel like The Crew 2 doesn’t get itself, either. It wants so desperately to be an open world experience that can seamlessly become race-like events in a games as service-like multiplayer setting. But we just aren’t there yet, so the races exist in pocket universes where you and some friends can battle the computer or you can go it alone. Either way, you’re just grinding for the sake of it.

Jack of all trades, master of none. The Crew 2 is ultimately a more enjoyable experience than the first game, but one that also buckles under its own ambition.

The Crew 2 offers a wealth of varied content to undertake in a huge open world, but the entire experience is shackled by too many gameplay and design annoyances, with hastily borrowed mechanics that never really come together.

Even though it makes some steps forward, The Crew 2 doesn’t offer much beyond wandering aimlessly and stumbling across landmarks. The variety of vehicle types removes any barriers on where you can go, and the creative racing scenarios keep things somewhat interesting. However, these strengths are overpowered by the annoying dialogue, pointless features, and considerable lack of challenge. Stats are king of the road in The Crew 2. Racing skill is supplanted by thoughtless RPG mechanics, and before long, it all just feels like going through the motions.

Is The Crew 2 an improvement on the original? Without a doubt, yes. Should Forza Horizon be worried? Nope. The improvements made to this sequel and its unique take on racing are let down by lack of improvements where it counts, and some design choices that left me scratching my head. Thankfully, Ubisoft have really set their stall out when it comes to supporting their games over long periods of time, so there may still be some hope. If you are looking for something to tide you over while you wait for Forza Horizon 4, sure you do worse than pick this game up. But I would recommend waiting on a price cut first.