Preview The Crew Motorfest: Forza Horizon better watch out! Our opinion on Ubisoft’s open-world racing game after several hours of play

2023-07-19 16:00:03

Preview The Crew Motorfest: Forza Horizon better watch out! Our opinion on Ubisoft’s open-world racing game following several hours of play

Published on 07/19/2023 at 18:00

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It was at the very beginning of 2023 that the French team Ubisoft lifted the veil on its next car from the The Crew range. Called Motorfest, it has an engine and bodywork reminiscent of a certain Forza Horizon from the British Playground Games, but it intends to charge ahead of the pack thanks to its nitro. We rode flat out on the twisty Hawaiian trails with him, and here are our impressions.

Preview Terms

We played for 3 hours at The Crew Motorfest with a representative from Ubisoft. The test was done remotely on a PC via an application allowing it to be played in remote play. This caused various framerate drops during our test.

roll over the horizon

The sun is shining, the birds are whistling and the engines are roaring. On the radio, a woman named Malu praises the merits of Motorfest, a festival where car enthusiasts meet to celebrate automotive culture. Within minutes, the player is thrust into the cockpit of a Toyota Supra in the middle of a nighttime urban race, then teleported into a Jeep under the dazzling sun of the island of Oahu. In the space of 10 minutes, 5 cars in as many different atmospheres are available to the driver. If this reminds you of the boosted introductions of the last Forza Horizons, it might not be more normal!

Hair in the wind, loud music and nitro on, it’s time to squeal the tires! The Crew Motorfest fully embraces the philosophy of Playground Games titles, even more than its eldest released in 2018. We find the same relaxed atmosphere, fireworks, smoke bombs and cool characters who invite themselves to the radio to play tourist guides. Here, participating is more important than winning, and the varied events grow on the map like daisies in spring. Whether in its atmosphere, its customization elements (avatar, cars, difficulty) and even its overall mechanics (alternation of main races and events, authorized rewind, open world with multiple destructible elements), the title of Ubisoft is very close to a Forza Horizon.

The Supreme Mix

In terms of its structure, this episode of The Crew moves away from its original model to embrace a more condensed experience articulated around the immediate sensation and the fun posted at every corner.. It is the island of Oahu that serves as a great playground with its heavenly beaches, lush vegetation and bustling cities. History to adapt to the desires of the player, Motorfest adopts a system of playlists, namely campaigns composed of a few events / races (which appear in the open world) designed to make the pilot live adventures as diverse as varied. These events allow you to win XP, improvements to make the cars more powerful (with epic, rare, common materials, etc.), a little money to have fun in the garage and sometimes new vehicles. It should be noted that to avoid displaying a map overloaded with points of interest, the selected playlist only displays the missions that are specific to it. Even if Ivory Tower tries to bring its own signature, Motorfest seems for the moment to aim for efficiency rather than originality..

Designed to diversify the experience, the playlists are divided into themes. For example, there is “Made in Japan“to drive with Japanese cars in illuminated cities,”Lamborghini cars“to race behind the wheel of power monsters,”Vintage Garage“to visit the island of Oahu in an atmosphere”so 50s“, or “Electric Odyssey” to drive electric cars in stormy circuits where the nitro is recharged by passing over special surfaces. Additional challenges are also part of the game, with speed cameras, slalom, escape, chests to find as well Ubisoft also informs us that 15 playlists will be available when the game is released. can be imported free of charge via a transfer function. At this point, The Crew Motorfest is sure to keep the motor racing hungry for hours to drink..

Keep the safe distance

After three hours of gameplay, we came away delighted with our time spent on Motorfest. The title of Ivory Tower has many arguments to have a good time for players who love arcade-style races in a world where challenges are constantly renewed. Although we were able to access the Main Stage for a short time, a community space where many new advanced objectives are offered, we know that we still have a lot to discover.

We still have some doubts on various points. Starting with the lesser importance of boats and planes. If the different types of vehicles are available at all times during the freeride exploration phases, the events dedicated to floating and flying cars seem rather rare for the moment. It will obviously be necessary to see if the final version has any good surprises in store on this side. It would be a shame for The Crew to erase part of its identity to better resemble what already exists on the market..

Besides, even if it means taking inspiration from what the competition is doing, we would have liked to see missions that are a little more out of the ordinary in the streets of the island of Oahu. Sure, we did a bit of sightseeing in a Cadillac, but we didn’t see races once morest unlikely vehicles or missions packed with scripted events that throw it off. On these aspects, Forza Horizon 5 still remains the undisputed master, at least for the moment. Regarding the graphics, we prefer to wait before deciding. The test of the game in remote play did not allow us to really judge what the general technique was worth because of the quality drops caused by the technology.

Nos impressions

Our few laps under the party favors of the Motorfest festival show that the Lyon developer Ivory Tower has put the turbo to take the aspiration of the current leader, Forza Horizon. On the Hawaiian archipelago, races and challenges follow each other in joy and good humor, with enough variety to punctuate a progression of which the player is the master. We hope that elements of The Crew’s identity will come through in the final product, otherwise Ubisoft’s car will have to settle for bronze or silver. The game will be released for PS5, Xbox Series, PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 14, 2023.

Editorial review

Promising

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