The Crew [PS4, XO]

[deathindustrial]

I should revise using the term "slow" and instead use the more apt description of "glacial". At this pace it is going to take at least a few more hours before the download / install is finished during which time I cannot exit the game (or presumably will have to start the install all over).

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I should revise using the term "slow" and instead use the more apt description of "glacial".

I think Ubisoft may be hosting the beta download. When my download was slow I tried to download the old FIFA demo and that downloaded full speed. Back to The Crew download and sloooooow. Got it eventually though.

 

[deathindustrial]

Finally finished installing and was able to go for a drive down to Miami. The games plays very similarly to TDU2 except with far better car physics. To be clear, I am just saying it is better than TDU2 in that department, not that it is super awesome. Turning is not responsive at which is very much unlike any modern car.

It is not a looker, mainly due to the lack of anti-aliasing and lowish frame rate. Pop-in can be very noticable and AI spawns while not as horrifcally lame as in NFS Rivals, still spawn / despawn within viewing distance at times.

That said, my initial impression is that they have at least stayed equivalent to or improved on TDU2.

Cheers

 

[DJ12]

Not noticed many drops in framerate myself, just a few in cut scenes really.

I am really enjoying the game though, all it needs is a marker to show you which roads you have already been down and we have the spiritual successor to tdu2, while potentially boring it does add life to the game. (It's got hidden wrecks already)

Only had one car and apparently a Nissan 370z is now 4 wheel drive, but other than that it's a good, solid game imo.

Much better than need for burnout has become.

 

[orangpelupa]

any of you on US PSN able to redeem the beta code?
for me it say invalid code.

there's a tweet from Ubi that they do have problem on US PSN but now it is resolved. unfortunately, not for me.

 

[deathindustrial]

Played some more this morning, finding the game a lot of fun. Voice chat seems to work flawlessly based on a random encounter with a friendly fellow from Denmark.

There does not appear to be a "save" function or an obvious way to quit the game politely.

 

[goonergaz]

have a spare PS4 code, pm me if interested

 

[deathindustrial]

Not noticed many drops in framerate myself, just a few in cut scenes really.

It happens mostly in the denser city areas. It doesn't turn into a slideshow but it does make things more tiring on the eyes in a game that already is a bit heavy on the eye strain.

I am really enjoying the game though, all it needs is a marker to show you which roads you have already been down and we have the spiritual successor to tdu2, while potentially boring it does add life to the game. (It's got hidden wrecks already)

My wife got that marker as close to 100% on TDU2 as could be done (there were some glitched roads she couldn't clear).

=)

Next time I play I'm gonna yank my ethernet cable and see what happens.

Cheers,

Ron

 

[deathindustrial]

All issues aside, this game is crazy fun. Was messing around in Seattle this morning driving like a maniac under the Alaskan Way viaduct, they got the atmosphere totally down for that area. I haven't even bothered with any more of the missions as I've been having too much fun exploring the map and looking for hidden car parts.

It's going to be painful waiting until the December release date.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I played the beta on PS4 for about an hour this morning. The graphics are inconsistent, I'm really don't like the driving mechanics/physics (didn't in WATCH_DOGS either and The Crew team helped on the driving in that game) and the UI is an abomination.

Apart from that... well at least it works!

 

[Deleted member 86764]

...at least it works!

Glowing recommendation!

 

[Deleted member 86764]

Glowing recommendation

 

[deathindustrial]

the UI is an abomination. [...] Apart from that... well at least it works!

Not sure I get your hatred of the UI, seems fairly standard for a contemporary game and except for status screens at the end of some events it generally stays out of your way. I do like how the session menu works on the bottom of the screen, usable while driving even.

The above the road GPS line is genius, I hope whomever thought of that got a raise.

Shrug, it plays like TDU2 but with an actual car model (unlike like the last iteration's choice of bar of soap on a wet flat surface model). Also, tweaking the controls via the options menu makes things more responsive - steering sensitivity to max, dead zone to zero and all is good. It also has some OK music suprisingly - hard not to love driving through the badlands at night while blasting some Power Glove.

I'm seeing The Crew as "Skyrim with cars" myself.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 11852]

except for status screens at the end of some events it generally stays out of your way.

This is the worst. You get a massive stat splash that massively obscures the road ahead. I crashed a fair few times because visibility vanished while I was over 120mph.

Obviously UI/HUD is subjective but I like my HUD to be as minimalist as possible whereas The Crew HUD is all over the place.

Oh and the loading! Loading.. A few seconds of cinematic. More loading. They really need to find a way to hide load times, or preferably have no load times at all.

Just not the game for me.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

hmm.....people who were pretty excited for it in my circle seem disappointing with it. Especiallt eh car handling and th egraphics too, having an uber cool CGI trailer didn't help I guess. But what friends are complaining about is the lack of fun. I would have tried it myself but have not time this weekend and other downloads are going on too. ALso, I am very skeptical that I will like this coming fresh from Driveclub. THat game's races play like a dream
I want an open world Burnout (played the hell out of NFSMW) but THe Crew somehow lacks that punch, visually and thrill-wise, from what I see and hear. B3D previews/reviews take precedence over all else for me, so keep the impressions coming. Videos and pics would be even more helpful.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Car handling is a real issue for me, the cars just feel wrong. Ironically GTA nails car handling for me, I liked both GTA IV and V because the cars felt like they had weight and some actual traction with the road or ground. I drove around a fair bit and it bugged me more far more than it thrilled me. But I'm very selective when it comes to car handling and driving games.

Of course, it's a beta so it could be this is an old build of the engine and environment and many of the rough edges have been taken off for retail.

 

[deathindustrial]

Here's some random shots from the game, poorly curated. Textures can look pretty bad close up but when playing the game, the space and scale makes that moot. My wife played the beta for probably 4 hours straight yesterday morning and if you like exploration it's fun. Driving grinds out in game cash for passing, drifiting, etc. so it is possible to do some progression without getting overly bogged down in the story missions. Which seem unbalanced right now.

For example, there is an early mission where you have to ram a dirt racer 3 times to take them out which with the floaty dirt car model, rough terrain and super-human AI it is ridiculously hard for an early mission. I saw an Aussie Gamespot (I think) guy play that same mission a few months ago on Twitch and it has not changed at all (he had the exact same experience).

I've played the demo a lot and have basically ignored the missions and just explored. They could drop the entire story out of the game and I still would consider it worth the entrance price.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Wow, some of the shots look pretty good !

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Wow, some of the shots look pretty good !

The Crew is like that. Sometimes it can look great othertimes terrible. Again, it's a beta. I feel unfair calling out the quality based on a limited beta which probably doesn't have all of the final assetts in. But it's hard to overlook!

 

[Karamazov]

i must have spent 3 hours in the beta just driving around and i have seen only 1/10th of the map.
the only big complaints i have about graphics are the distracting aliasing and popping.