I don’t think 2014 is going to go down as the finest year for racing games. Sure, we’ve had the sublime Forza Horizon 2 and the delightful Mario Kart 8, but we’ve also had the hobbled DriveClub, a game which was saddled with launch day issues. There’s one other game in the genre on the way, that has plenty of hype and cash behind it: Ubisoft’s The Crew. And according to its developer, it’s a game that won’t be driving into a launch day wall after having one drink too many.
And that’s thanks to a rather lengthy beta period, which lead game designer Serkan Hasan believes has prepared the game for a proper day one launch. “For The Crew, we’ve reaped the benefits of a long term beta program, designed specifically to push our infrastructure as far as possible in real world situations, with thousands of players from all over the world playing the game at the same time,” Hasan told The Metropolist.
The launch of any online game these days has potential issues but I hope that players will be encouraged by our open approach. If you had any doubts that we could pull this off, I hope that the betas proved our credentials and the game’s stability.
Hasan may be right. The Crew worked remarkably well during the beta phase, and if they take that infrastructure and multiply it, launch day will be golden. I played the game during this testing period, and it ran just fine for me, with many an annoying person messaging me to join them constantly and race around Detroit. Damn socialism.
But the game is going to need more than that to succeed. The Crew isn’t a bad game, as I gathered from the beta. It just doesn’t feel all that special, and is arriving far too late this year. The visuals feel sub standard, the RPG mechanic feels weird and the story is ripped straight out of a cheese factory.
Still, if it manages to be working from day one, it’ll be one of the few games that has managed to live up to its own hype this year. And that’s something that I’d like to see happen.
Last Updated: December 1, 2014
MakeItLegal
December 1, 2014 at 07:56
if….
Hammersteyn
December 1, 2014 at 07:59
And if it doesn’t work on launch day they can always patch it.
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 08:02
LOL
Skyblue
December 1, 2014 at 07:59
So if it isn’t broken it lives up to it’s “hype” but the visuals are sub-standard? Yeah, I’ll pass.
LOL’ed at “story is ripped straight out of a cheese factory”
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 08:02
Well, at least Ubisoft trusts Ubisoft.
Hammersteyn
December 1, 2014 at 08:05
I think it’s adorable that they think people believe a word they say
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 08:15
If this were a year ago I probably would have considered getting The Crew on release. It looks like a great concept. But after all that’s happened I don’t see how I can buy another Ubisoft game again at all.
CAE9872
December 1, 2014 at 08:59
I am very distrustful of Ubi at the moment – I know I should cut them some slack but then I am generally distrustful of the whole lot of them at the moment.
I am very angry that the publishers are just milking us all now and they know and they know they can get away with it. It is dishonest! And I despise them for that.
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 09:03
I agree man. You try something like this in another industry and you pay dearly for it, but in the gaming industry they can easily get away with it.
JustAnotherGamer
December 1, 2014 at 09:31
UbiLIES
DBL_ZA
December 1, 2014 at 08:27
I think I’ll hold off for an actual racing game thanks. Yeah Project CARS, I’m looking at you.
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 08:35
Same here. That one is looking really good. Plus it’s on pc
FoxOneZA
December 1, 2014 at 08:49
I have a sneaky suspicion with Windows 10 and DX12 we might see Forza on PC.
Spaffy
December 1, 2014 at 08:50
That I’d buy
Captain JJ the fair
December 1, 2014 at 08:51
Dude. Don’t tease me. I will pre-order Forza the hour it becomes available for PC.
Spaffy
December 1, 2014 at 08:50
Yea, the handling in this looks atrocious. Not just arcade like, just terrible
FoxOneZA
December 1, 2014 at 08:50
#DOWNGRADEGATE
CAE9872
December 1, 2014 at 09:02
I actually poured quite a few hours into Driveclub this weekend. Set up my club and all and I must say the core fundamentals are there – I am really enjoying it. I love the handling model which is certainly not sim-like.
BUT they still haven’t sorted out their net code – challenges still do not appear for me to issue/take part in; server disconnects at random and is bloody annoying for a club as you lose your progress in that series of races!!!
So great game; pity about the social side…
Spaffy
December 1, 2014 at 09:22
So what’s the handling really like? I saw IGN Plays the Crew and it looked bad, really bad
CAE9872
December 1, 2014 at 09:53
I was saying about Driveclub – haven’t given the Crew a whirl yet. Driveclub handling is very much arcade based – reminds me of GRID1 and Project Gotham Racing handling. It is definitely not Forza or GT.
Spaffy
December 1, 2014 at 09:56
Oh snap, I just noticed now. :-/
GTVDAD
December 1, 2014 at 09:24
There was already a update that came with the beta
CypherGate
December 1, 2014 at 14:46
Nowadays in general when a major game releases ill never buy on day one. Will just wait like a month or two until the game is running 99%!
TehBrad
December 2, 2014 at 11:56
Has anybody heard anything on this launch? I’ve tried to find info but found nothing. I’m very interested if they managed to pull it together for the launch.