Aloha

The holy marriage of music and motoring is nothing less than a match made in heaven.

Ever since Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series smartly juxtaposed festival fever with an arcade racing experience, many games have tried to chase that high…with varying degrees of success.

With The Crew: Motorfest, Ubisoft and developer Ivory Tower take the party to Hawaii, with a pulse-pounding premium ode to car culture that wows from the outset.

Offering hundreds of luxury vehicles, the chance to both take to the skies and ride the waves in addition to tearing up asphalt and production values delivering a gaming experience that must be played to be believed at times, Motorfest may well be the spark this franchise needs to take pole position.

Is it worth buying, however? Check out our full review of The Crew: Motorfest to find out!

 

Story

The Crew Motorfest unashamedly apes the festival atmosphere of Forza Horizon, shifting the series from its coast-to-coast USA street racing roots to an altogether more sedate locale of the island of O’ahu.

With this move to sunnier climes comes a concerted effort to address the longstanding complaint levelled at many a racing game – the lack of a true sense of progression.

To that end, Motorfest crafts an elaborate campaign from multiple ‘playlists’, a series of carefully curated races tightly woven around a particular theme – a Hawaiian Scenic Tour allows for a series of drives to familiarise yourself with your new surroundings, whilst the Made in Japan tour is pure tuner culture with a bevvy of iconic vehicles and drifting at its heart.

Each of these playlists is drenched in elaborate introductory live-action videos which seamlessly dovetail into the races themselves, as well as come with a narrative twist via charismatic voiceover work.

The American Muscle playlist is hosted by a grizzled rockstar, for example, purring over his musical choices as well as his car collection that you’ve been lucky enough to borrow for the eight or so races that constitute each mini-campaign.

 

 

They’re an interesting element to proceedings – pointing out areas of interest on tracks, offering colour commentary to races or just fun facts about the car currently being driven to within an inch of its warranty.

These characters could be divisive but lend some welcome levity, continuing that throughline of unadulterated fun and entertainment as you churn up the sun-dappled (or stormy, thanks to day/night cycles as well as dynamic weather) streets of Hawaii.

Even more impressive is the litany of real-world celebrity events within the game.

Everyone from iconic car connoisseur Supercar Blondie to enthusiasts Donut Media and even legendary Japanese tuning house Liberty Walk all have custom campaigns, with all of the pomp and glamour you’d associate with each.

Ubisoft has certainly spared little expense in expanding the world of The Crew, and it makes the experience all the richer and more immersive for it.

Plonking players back into the main open world is somewhat jarring after every race, sending you on a mini-drive to the next location…although that’s likely one of the few places that you get to drive your own vehicles due to a strange gating system which requires you to purchase specific cars to progress with the playlists…naturally introducing you to some of the microtransactional laden segments of the game.

Cars can indeed be purchased with in-game currency, but it’s not long before the playlist loop steers you in the direction of time-limited bundles and cosmetic upgrades.

 

 

Gameplay

A fitting time to talk about the actual driving experience – it’s certainly a refinement and evolution of the divisive, tail-happy model of earlier entrants in the series.

This is an experience firmly in the arcade-y camp when it comes to driving models, cars are largely compliant, drifts are a tap of the handbrake button away and all manner of driving lines and assists make the standard difficulty a breeze in all but the most decrepit of vehicles, very few of which you’ll find here.

The card-based system from previous entries is also present, essentially a points-based levelling mechanic which is grouped to each class of car, enabling a sense of progression and your stable being souped up, but still inherently quite random due to being gifted cards of a varying rarity for mission or open world side quest completion.

A few frustrations can set in with elements like the slightly floaty handling, grindy progression, or the (once-again) always online requirement meaning Quick Resume is pointless as you’ll be booted if you dare to step away for more than a fleeting moment, but these bugbears melt away as you deftly drift around the wide and inviting roads of the island.

 

There does end up being a little bit of repetition in terms of optimal routes, as the island is bisected by a couple of central roads which you end up frequenting down to reach new mission markers or destinations.

So whilst O’ahu does feel sizeable to traverse, as the hours fall away you feel equal parts familiarity and a sense of it just being well-trodden as you pass similar wind turbines or cool graffiti on the side of a building.

A quick tap of a button does also see you jump into an aeroplane or boat – a carryover from the clever iterations introduced in The Crew 2 – but they never seem to feel like the optimal way to experience the island.

The planes are decidedly chilled and responsive, enabling the impressive visuals – 60fps on the Series X’s performance mode – and expansive draw distances to sing. The boats? Well, they’re certainly back, and the less said about them, the better…

The XP and kudos for cool driving bonuses and secret presents and speed traps and photo missions and side quests and AI-powered GPS Cara chirping frequently everything else are not shy about introducing themselves on multiple occasions, and can feel as overwhelming as it reads when you just want to have a quick pootle around a beach in a VW Bug…so taking a moment to perhaps pare back the HUD to your liking should be a consideration.

 

Online

The Crew shines when you have one (a crew, that is), and it’s been relatively simple since launch to gather a bunch of like-minded folks and drive around as a unit.

There’s a wealth of online activities, from 30-player races to destruction derby-inspired bouts as well as the obligatory PUBG-inspired Battle Royale.

Unsure as to whether these modes will be seeing lobbies bursting at the seams for years to come, but the combination of financial and XP-led incentives as well as cross-play between consoles and PC available at launch should keep budding online racers engaged for the foreseeable.

The races we partook in were suitably challenging, as levelled-up cars dominate as one would expect, and few margins for error with some competitors more than willing to trade paint to get to the podium…perhaps investing in a spare controller or two might be wise if looking to take up playing Motorfest online for a protracted period!

Online has its own tribute to custom car culture, with frequent competitions of the coolest liveries and unique creations, another element breathing life and interest into what could otherwise be quite an anodyne gaming experience in a lesser effort – so kudos to Motorfest here.

 

 

Verdict

Motorfest is fun with a capital F.

With great touches like rewarding long-time players with the ability to import their cars from the previous entry, a fantastic and eclectic soundtrack which still feels cohesive within the genre and overall theme, gorgeous graphics and a dizzying array of content available at launch, Ubisoft has delivered a phenomenal racing effort with both legs and heart.

The Crew has seemed to struggle a little in finding its voice historically, and in taking what could have been seen as a karaoke rendition of Forza Horizon through a cynical lens, delivers a tighter single-player campaign than Microsoft’s flagship, often serves up more fun and varied races, as well as a game which rivals that seminal effort visually in its high points with a tune all of its own.

The Crew: Motorfest is an incredible entry to the franchise, infused with positive vibes, a fantastic selection of rides and a soundtrack that’ll keep you driving – and raving – until six in the morning.