40 hours played
To put it simply, I both love and loathe the Crew. As addicting as it is to level up my cars the game is so broken it's hard to keep playing once you reach the level cap.
I've been playing the crew since it came out in early December (so nearly 2 months) and although I have enjoyed my time, it will need a lot of things to change before I jump back in.
The story in this game is just about sufficient enough to keep you interested. The twists are obvious, the conversations are cheesy and the characters are bland however I still wanted to see the story through. The story does allow for some great set piece races such as the 3 part races at the end of each faction area. Take down missions are really annoying because it is so difficult to catch up to the target.
There is a good selection of cars available. Sure there are only 30-40 cars available but the idea is you have a few amount of cars but upgrade them. Money to buy cars is earned through doing pretty much anything. If you want the real jackpots you need to play the faction missions which can be good. The endurance faction races can last hours but the reward is quite high. However, you only need to finish 3rd to get the money and you win the same amount even if you come 1st. The upgrade system works well until you learn how to exploit it. Completing skill missions earns different parts which get better depending on which medal you earn. There are not many different variations of tasks but they are enjoyable. However, you can never really feel the benefit of a part you have earned. The system works initially as the parts and levels vary so in order to level up all your parts you have to complete a variety of skill types. However this can be exploited when you reach level 50 as all you care about is getting platinum medals for parts between levels 40-50. Any mission can be used to earn these medals so in the end you just replay the easy ones and rinse and repeat for all your different cars. You cannot buy parts so money becomes pointless once you have all the cars you want. Therefore, the faction and PvP missions which only award money also become pointless. So basically for a Perf, Speed and Circuit car (I still have no idea of the differences between all 3) just keep completing in the easy escape and speed missions. For Raid and Dirt just use the hill climb skills. It's painfully repetitive, but it's the best way to get all the parts platinum. There is still a great sense of satisfaction when you obtain a difficult platinum medal but no actual advantage.
The map is incredibly huge. Sure there isn't a lot of detail but the sheer scale is impressive. It is a shrunken version of the US but most areas are there. The developers did claim there would be no fast travel loading screens which in reality isn't the case, but they are still quick. This is probably helped by it always being online. Racing from the palm trees in Miami to the snow peaks and Yellowstone provides a great contrast. To put the scale into perspective racing from Washinton D.C to Los Angeles is 72 miles. Sure that's nothing compared to the thousands of miles it actually is but it is still huge.
The Crew is an always online game because you are never meant to drive alone. This would make sense if it was actually true. So often, I will be driving around the world and there will be no one else in my world though I'm sure hundreds of people are playing this game. Even when there are online players in your world the chance of them playing missions which you is so low. Most of the missions can be played with other players but mostly I kept it on solo. Not because I wanted to but because it was a rarity for my invitation to be accepted. PvP is also a mess as it normally takes about 15 minutes before joining a match. Luckily you can still play the game whilst waiting but it's still ridiculous. There is no way of knowing which PvP areas are most popular so it's just luck on how long you'll wait. When you finally get to the PvP matches they are fun however it's a free for all so if you don't have a great car you will have no chance.
Not only is online broken but so are many other parts of the game. Statistics have been broken since launch and still are so I have no idea of my actual play time. Every time I play the game, it just resets all of the statistics. To make matters worse I played it today and my entire map had reset itself to being undiscovered so I can't fast travel anywhere. AI is stupidly over powerful no matter how much better your car is though this has been slightly improved since launch.
I realise it sounds like I'm being negative on this game. Understand that I really enjoyed my time playing it but it is still broken in so many ways. Customising and upgrading your cars feels great and the story is sufficient. Also, the map is just ridiculously large. However, the online issuses and game breaking bugs existing take away from the experience. You never really feel the upgrade from the different parts and the AI is unrealistic.
Final Score: 7.0 (20 point scale system)
P.S: I feel I should also make the point that I believe any game that is 'always online' should come with a free month of PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live. This doesn't have to be done with every game with a multiplayer element, but the Crew is unplayable without these services. It won't even let you get past the start screen.
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