The Crew 2 creates adrenaline-fueled experiences
This past weekend, Ubisoft held its highly anticipated closed beta for the upcoming game, The Crew 2. This beta, available to those that registered, gave us a chance to get behind the wheel before launch. Based on my time with the game, this new entry into the series seems to be better than its predecessor in every single way.
Let’s take a closer look at what The Crew 2 closed beta had to offer!
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Experience the thrill of the American motorsports spirit
The Crew 2 closed beta forgoes any type of engaging story and instead highlights the game’s racing and progression mechanics. You have a selection of various different characters to choose from, each with their own mini back story. Overall, the story takes a light hearted approach and encourages you to be the best you can be.
Upon making your character selection, you are immediately thrown into a race to learn all the logistics. After you finish your first race, the game’s map opens up and you able to travel to pretty much anywhere you want to. Just like the original, The Crew 2 spans the entire continental United States of America. However, this time around, The Crew 2’s world is much more full of life, colour, and detail than ever before.
Driving around, I was impressed with the amount of pedestrians and vehicles there was on the screen at times. The game’s cut-scenes were a little too cheesy for my liking. Moreover, the visuals in these cut-scenes were well below the game’s driving and racing sequences. Regardless, the sheer scale of The Crew 2’s open world, coupled with the many different environments more than makes up for any of the short comings.
Airplanes and boats oh my!
The Crew 2 introduces both airplanes and boats into the racing mix. Boats zip across the water at incredible speeds and look gorgeous while doing so. Airplanes allow you to soar in the air and feel natural to control. To be honest, flying was a lot more fun than I initially thought it would be.
Additionally, car physics have been noticeably improved and now have an arcade type feel to it. Off-road vehicles feel rugged and sports cars are incredibly responsive and snappy. One of my favourite gameplay aspects of The Crew 2 closed beta was the ability to switch between vehicles on-the-fly. This means you can be racing across the bridge and switch into a boat while making the jump into the water below. It’s truly and awesome experience!
Earn the respect of the streets and the crowd
I learned that if you want to make it big in The Crew 2, then you need to be popular with the crowd. The more popular you get; the more events you unlock and the more famous you become. Sadly, The Crew 2 closed beta locked progression to the first level of popularity, so it’s a bit difficult to tell how hard it might be to progress.
As expected, you earn money from events that you win. With this money you can buy new vehicles and upgrade the parts on the vehicles you have. From what I have seen so far, it seems like The Crew 2’s progression system is going to be one of my favourite elements of the game.
Final thoughts
The Crew 2 open beta gave me a lot more than I ever expected. Even in its limited scope, it far exceeded what the first game had to offer. While there is still a lot to uncover, based on what I have played so far, I’m confident that The Crew 2 is going to be one of my most played games this summer.
The Crew 2 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 29th, 2018. Stay tuned for a full review on the Best Buy blog!
Pre-order The Crew 2 now for PlayStation 4
Pre-order The Crew 2 now for Xbox One
Click here to see all editions of The Crew 2 that you can pre-order on Bestbuy.ca
