The Crew Motorfest

The Crew Motorfest is the game that no one expected but has managed to exceed all expectations and criticisms that have been formed around it. With a huge amount of races and events to do, The Crew Motorfest races towards the best open world driving game in a map based in Hawaii that looks spectacular and contains a unique life in every corner.

The Crew Motorfest has its own share of issues, and is not as ambitious and innovative as the first two games in the series either, but it has matured enough to offer a complete driving experience and even surpass its mentor, the Horizon series, in some areas.

Motorfest is the most exhilarating, fun and satisfying the franchise has ever been, with improved handling, graphics, less cluttered progression and even a few smart tweaks to Horizon’s ideas.

Taking the history of the automobile at full speed, The Crew Motorfest is a must-have for any fan of arcade driving games.

One part MotorStorm, one part Forza Horizon, The Crew Motorfest is a hugely accomplished open world racing game that brings across the best of The Crew 2, while sprinkling in a few neat ideas of its own. Also, the returning on-the-fly car, plane, and boat switching is enormously welcome.

Beautiful, rich in content, varied in what it offers, The Crew Motorfest is a very good 100% arcade open world racing game. Riding on the heels of Forza Horizon, it is currently one of the most successful clones of the genre leader, even if this means that the French studio preferred to take the lead from its British competitor rather than plow its own furrow. The Ivory Tower software is more effective than surprising, but its qualities are numerous enough that we do not look at its predecessors, in retro, with regrets.

For me, The Crew Motorfest is clearly the best part of the series so far. This is not only due to the beautiful setting, but also the much improved handling of the cars, which keeps me much more glued to the screen than the two predecessors. It's not quite perfected yet, but with the more manageable setting this time around, the improved handling as well of the abundance of variety, Ubisoft Ivory Tower is on a very good path.

The Crew Motorfest has really surprised us. Not since the Test Drive Unlimited days have we had this much fun with an open world racer outside of the industry-leading Forza Horizon series, and that can only be good for competition going forward. The jury is still out on whether Motorfest, and any potential sequels, will have the stopping power that FH does, but Ubisoft's history with updating and adding to The Crew 2 bodes well for this title's future. Motorfest isn't fully refined just yet but the game feels like a hugely successful reset button for The Crew series, and we're now totally invested in where things go next.

The Crew Motorfest embodies the spirit of the Forza Horizon franchise in more ways than one, and though it doesn't ever quite touch the same heights, it does deliver what is easily the most enjoyable game in Ubisoft's open world racing franchise.

The Crew Motorsport separates itself from Forza Horizon. While Its simple nature may be a turn-off for some others may see it as a nice change of pace from the realism of racing. The open world of Hawaii does have a rather small map but with new content being added seasonally, The Crew Motorsport can keep gamers coming back for more.

If you want to test your skills against other players, you can do so with a couple of different modes. There is the "Grand Races," which are races with up to 28 players. These are in three separate sections and will take approximately ten minutes.

The Crew Motorfest is an excellent racing game, only hampered by its own big and empty open world. Unlike its rivals, the lack of missions and stuff to do in the open world really hold it back.

After a couple of unsuccessful outings, The Crew franchise finally finds itself on solid ground with Motorfest. It has to borrow a lot ideas to get there, and still has plenty of oil leaks to deal with, but at least there's finally some enjoyable arcade racing to be had.

Generous but simple, fun even if not perfect, The Crew Motorfest makes a step in the right direction but needs to take a few more.

The Crew Motorfest definitely brings the heat, but in the end, it’s sitting at a distant second until it learns what exactly it wants out of itself.

The Crew Motorfest very much wants to be the next Forza Horizon 5, but in forcing us to compare the two, the blemishes that hold this Hawaii-set racer back are made even more obvious. The Playlist system gives a sense of variety and scale that is exciting initially, with genuinely interesting romps through automotive history and a wide range of vehicles keeping things interesting. But the uninteresting open world that connects them all and limitations around how you unlock more of them could have you putting on the brakes sooner than you might expect. Even so, The Crew Motorfest is visually lovely and has an incredibly solid racing foundation, so it warrants a pit stop at the very least.

The Crew Motorfest manages to entertain with an incredible range of vehicles, beautiful scenery and a large number of races, but the sense of déjà vu compared to Forza Horizon 5 is constant and it should have dared more to escape from the shadow of Playground Games' title. Too bad, also, for some choices that undermine its essence, such as the inclusion of more simulative elements in a purely arcade context or the impossibility of using our own vehicles in playlist races.

It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. LEGO has Mega Bloks. E.T. has Mac and Me. Now Forza Horizon has The Crew Motorfest. To be fair, Motorfest is a robust racer with a confident sense of style, a quality arcade handling model, and a long list of generally well-planned events right out of the box. However, the shift to a smaller map has seen it lose a part of its old identity, boats and aircraft feel like they’ve been sidelined, and some of its event Playlists work a lot better than others. Ultimately, The Crew Motorfest is a little more Ice Ice Baby and a little less Under Pressure. It’s a catchy enough copy, but it ain’t exactly back with a brand new invention.