Review: The Crew 2 (PlayStation 4)

In The Crew 2, take on the American motorsports scene as you explore and dominate the land, air, and sea of the United States in one of the most exhilarating open worlds ever created. With a wide variety of exotic cars, bikes, boats, and planes to choose from, experience the unbridled thrill and adrenaline-pumping excitement of competing across the entire USA as you test your skills in a wide range of driving disciplines.

Pros:

• Gorgeous graphics.
• 27GB Download size.
• Options- Invert axis, Replay management, Subtitles, dead zone sliders, Sensitivity sliders and steering wheel setup and options.
• Ubisoft Club support.
• 16 character models to choose from both female and male avatars.
• In engine cutscenes.
• Can skip any cutscenes.
• Opening race with basic tutorial pop-ups.
• Platinum trophy.
• Four disciplines- Offroad, Street racing, Freestyle (Planes) and Pro racing (Boats)
• You get a free vehicle for each discipline.
• When selecting a new discipline you will do a test (tutorial) on the selected discipline to show you basic controls and get to play around before actual racing.
• Five driving views including in-car dash view.
• Open world.
• Racing gameplay.
• Play how you want and go where you want.
• World map will show activities/races/events. You can mark them and drive to them or fast travel.
• Live track- This allows you to see where you have been in the last 10 minutes, You can not only see it but also view it and take clips or pictures.
• Online leaderboards for all race types.
• Followers- the Main point of the game is to get as many followers as possible and rank up your social score. Working much like EXP, You can earn followers from driving, Doing stunts, Jumps and so much more.
• Photo mode with all the filters and settings.
• All racing events can be driven up to in the game world without the need to bring up the map and select.
• Quick vehicle swap. Set your favorite vehicle for each discipline, Press the right stick and select a vehicle and instantly change into it whether it be a boat on the highway or a plane in a car park.
• Can replay events and they have difficulty options.
• Upgrade car parts easily and quickly. Earn them in races and apply them through the menu.
• Fun special events unlock like MTX or Monster trucks and more.
• Every car has NOS as standard.
• Missions pop up as you drive past them and you can press a button to preview them then either accept or decline. This is especially helpful with photo opportunity events where you need to take a particular picture.
• Racing is most of the time a 2 lap affair with a percentage meter showing progress, You may have the chance to take alternate routes.
• Photo challenges- A fun side activity where you may need to take a picture of yourself speeding out of a tunnel with the sun beating down on you or maybe a picture of a wild animal like a Bear. They give basic rewards but are a fun distraction.
• Seamless transition from event end to freeride.
• Create your own crew.
• Fantastic world to explore taking in many areas of interest like New York to the snow-capped mountains and big forests. Every location feels different and unique.
• Can enlarge the minimap for easier reading.
• Loot boxes- Earned from racing and leveling up, They come in different colors (the rarity) and appear in front of you. Drive near them to pick them up and a pop up will show what you have collected.
• Manages to juggle many varieties of racing in one game and do it well.
• Other online players will be on the free ride with you and you can see them.
• Ghosts of player times can show in the game.
• Radio layer- Can change the song and do things like abort race or restart event.
• Many many cars and vehicles to unlock.
• Cash is earned from racing.
• Can rack up followers just by cruising around.

Cons:

• Long loading times when they happen.
• Not the best voice acting.
• Some bad character animations.
• Never sure the game has saved.
• Ghost outlines/Other players will glitch up on screen then disappear or do weird stuff like going through walls and the floor.
• Traffic will just appear or disappear.
• Hard to use GPS system as you have to analyze the minimap in order to understand it.
• Bad track layouts with a lot of opportunities for you to get your car stuck or bring it to a halt.
• Long way between checkpoints in races making it hard at time to know where you are going.
• Slow map menu.
• A lot of dead space around.
• Cheap AI.
• Cannot buy upgrades.
• Awkward radio control.
• Hitting walls in any way will instantly slow you down.
• Little guidance on how all the events, currencies and map works.
• Music is very much one of them and it is a short list really.