The Crew (PS4, XBO, PC) - Ubisoft Reflections

[QualityChimp]

I'm really enjoying Driver: San Francisco at the moment and I wondered what Reflections were currently up to and it turns out they're working on a next-gen racing game with Ivory Tower called "The Crew".

The Crew is an open and persistent world for racing across the United States.^[1] It takes 90 minutes to drive from coast to coast in-game.^[1] Thesingle-player campaign is 20 hours long,^[2] and entails infiltrating criminal groups.^[1] Missions can be played alone, with friends, or with online co-op matchmaking.^[2] The multiplayer mode lets players create teams to compete online in races and other gametypes.^[2] There are no in-game loading screens or pauses.^[1] Players can also build cars with a tie-in app for iOS and Android.^[1]
The Crew creative director Julian Gerighty has called the game a role-playing game with large-scale multiplayer elements.^[2] The multiplayer is not separate from the single-player.^[2] Players can form "crews" to race together or against ghost records.^[1]

E3 Walkthrough video
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[Neon Ignition]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-08-the-crew-levels-up-the-carpg

New preview

[ETC]

Micro transaction laden = interest gone

[VR46]

Not read the Eurogamer article but sounds like it's really riddled with them too. Was really looking forward to this though.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/04/ps4_racer_the_crew_is_going_to_drive_away_with_your_wallet

[QualityChimp]

This is a real shame.

I've loved the Stuntman and Driver series, particularly Ignition and San Fran, respectively, but this approach is just a bit rude.
Like the friend who suggests you go to the cinema to see a film they want to see, but you don't, yet you still end up buying the tickets. Then the drinks. Plus Revels.

I think somewhere a baby unicorn died when they announced this was riddled microtransactions.

[Lebowski]

This is a real shame.

I've loved the Stuntman and Driver series, particularly Ignition and San Fran, respectively, but this approach is just a bit rude.
Like the friend who suggests you go to the cinema to see a film they want to see, but you don't, yet you still end up buying the tickets. Then the drinks. Plus Revels.

I think somewhere a baby unicorn died when they announced this was riddled microtransactions.

It seems it is the same as Forza's dual currency and is there for those who don't want to play though it normaly, it seems that as you play you level up naturally and unlock stuff through winning like a traditional racing game. If they get the balance right i really don't care as its no different to how say EA did the unlock packs last gen in there sports and racing games.

Where this gets fuzzy is when game designers put items in there games that can in theroy be bought with in game currency but would require hundreds of hours to get a Infinity Blade did this, and lot of IOS games are good at throwing up barriers letting you get so far then putting in pay walls, Im willing to give it a chance but if the reviews show any sort of unbalance towards the pay system like say you get to a point where you have to start redoing races over and over then I'm not going to support this game.

[QualityChimp]

That looks great, thanks for the video!

I love how these guys think outside the track and have these expansive courses.
In the first section, they leave the road, drive across some farmland and then end up jumping sand dunes with an ocean liner in the distance.

Where other games are limited to the same circuits (Yay, the N?rburgring... again) or over the top with weapons and gimmicks, I love how this is somewhere between the two.

I hope they don't clamp this with microtransactions before it has even left the garage.

[Neon Ignition]

I can't make my mind up with it, I love the idea and it sounds massive in scale but the actual racing looks dull in vids and despite having all the US the locales always look like bland nowheres. Hopefully we'll get more thorough previews soon

[Lebowski]

The thing that interested me the most about this was in the vid above the dev got four journos to all head to the next event but asked them to race to the event (which was a few city's away) using whatever method they wanted, rather than fast travel some stuck to the roads while others chose offroad vehicles and tried to get there via the most direct route possible, they said it was the most fun they had with the game and reminded them of the crazy challenge style events from Top Gear, and thats what interests me most about this being able to race like this against friends in such a freeform way sounds like great fun.

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-14-the-crew-wont-release-on-ps3-and-wii-u-due-to-different-technical-infrastructure

Ubisoft explains that the 360 is the only current gen version as the hardware of the PS3 and WiiU is toi different from next gen to get it done in time

[VR46]

Can register for the PS4 & Xbox One September beta now, no guarantees you'll get in of course

http://thecrew-game.ubi.com/portal/en-GB/beta/index.aspx

[BaronSqwelch]

http://thecrew-game.ubi.com/portal/en-GB/beta/index.aspx

Sign ups reopen for the beta...

[VR46]

Some people have emails today re the beta, nothing received here yet

[BIG EDD]

I had a code from VMC for closed beta last night

[VR46]

Any impressions to share people who got a beta code?