(I haven't played any of the previous entries in the series, so I can't say how this one compares)
In the debate about whether games are entertainment or art, The Crew Motorfest falls squarely on the entertainment side.
It's an open-world racing game in the same genre as Forza Horizon. The main features are - an expansive world with varied terrain and geography, hundreds of cars of all types - hypercars, F1 cars, all-terrain vehicles, dragsters and others, even planes and boats and of course multiplayer to play with friends or competitively. Unlike its predecessors, It doesn't feature the entire USA, focusing solely on Hawaii. Even with one of its main selling points lost, the game still holds up and provides what it intends to - entertainment. It has no intention to be anything else. It is simply a checklist of challenges to be done by the player, interspersed with cool cars.
If that is what you are looking for, then The Crew Motorfest is right up your alley. Going into it, you shouldnโt expect a good storyline or anything deeper. For me, it was more of a time killer than anything else. I played it because I was bored and had nothing else to do.
๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
The Motorfest is a festival in Hawaii commemoratingโฆ everything, by inviting every maniac who wants to do 10X the speed limit and blow through every school zone while going at their supercar's top speed.
As you can guess, the story isn't the focus. The main challenges are structured in "playlist" type events based on various themes. While they serve their gameplay purpose fairly well, engaging with the speakers in a deeper way did not happen during my playthrough.
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ
As this is a racing game, most of the time that's what you will be doing. The main campaign is those playlists I described above. They are fairly creative and there is some fun to be had with them. Like one dedicated to classic cars, makes you drive without assists, or forcing you to drive full throttle while avoiding obstacles. So, it's not all just - beat the 8 other cars.
Once one of them is beaten, extra challenges are unlocked. They consist of: do X activity X number of times or collectibles. I would say that they just serve the purpose of padding out the run time, but the entirety of Motorfest feels like that, so it isn't that different.
At the time I was playing, there were 3 multiplayer events. I never even tried the battle royal, so I won't comment on it. The grand race is a 28-player race that involves multiple categories and is quite long. It is fun, but it's also the only kind of PVP racing, which is weird. You can't just pick a circuit and race there against other players or friends. The last event is a week-long activity where you try to get as many points as possible to be able to earn exclusive rewards. Points are earned by completing challenges as best you can, and only 10 thousand players can qualify for the top rewards. There is one big issue with this event, it's very grind to win, i.e., if you have the optimal parts your chances of winning increase drastically.
Cars are the big selling point - fast, slow, big, small, you name it they (might) have it. The car list isn't as expansive as some of the competition, like Forza, but it's still in the hundreds and has plenty of surprises. Much attention has been given to the customization as well. It is somewhat inconsistent, sometimes all that can be changed is the colour, other times I was shocked to see what the manufacturer let them do. Like a widebody on a 1 out of 1 concept hypercar. One of the last things that kept me playing by the end was to just buy and customize more cars.
On the other hand, the upgrade system has been described as atrocious and deal-breaking by some. I somewhat agree, but I can see why it was made this way. There are no set upgrades purchasable immediately for any car, instead after every race you are given multiple parts that you can equip. Every vehicle of the same class accepts the same parts and thus can be upgraded to the same level. There is also a rarity system, which can give you a massive advantage with the correct setup. If this wasn't in the game, my playtime would have been halved, as that's about how much I spent grinding for parts. (I was bored, okay)
Handling is good for an arcade-style racing game, in my opinion at least. I mean, I've never driven an actual car, so I can't say whether it's realistic, but at least it's fun.
๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐๐ฌ/๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐
The graphics are at that level that if someone were to tell me that we are never getting better graphics than this, I wouldn't be complaining. Everything looks pretty good and has enough details. Every vehicle has a fully modelled interior and their sounds are superb, some of the best in the industry, behind Gran Turismo.
My only problem is that the art direction feels quite bland. It looks good, but it also looks like every other open-world racing game.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐/๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
I see the festive/party they were going for, but it really, really doesnโt hit. I attribute it to the bland visuals and the lack of focus on the narrative aspect.
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ค
Motorfest has either none or a very small amount of music made for the game itself. Most of the time, you will be listening to the radio, which has exclusively music made by a variety of artists. The quality of the radio is okay, but after a while, it does get repetitive. Besides, why not just listen to your radio that has music you know you will enjoy? That's what I did.
For that reason, I donโt have a favourite part of the OST.
๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ
It's ironic, I have the same amount of memories for games Iโve played for 100+ hours and for games Iโve played for less than 10.
In the debate about whether games are entertainment or art, The Crew Motorfest falls squarely on the entertainment side.
It's an open-world racing game in the same genre as Forza Horizon. The main features are - an expansive world with varied terrain and geography, hundreds of cars of all types - hypercars, F1 cars, all-terrain vehicles, dragsters and others, even planes and boats and of course multiplayer to play with friends or competitively. Unlike its predecessors, It doesn't feature the entire USA, focusing solely on Hawaii. Even with one of its main selling points lost, the game still holds up and provides what it intends to - entertainment. It has no intention to be anything else. It is simply a checklist of challenges to be done by the player, interspersed with cool cars.
If that is what you are looking for, then The Crew Motorfest is right up your alley. Going into it, you shouldnโt expect a good storyline or anything deeper. For me, it was more of a time killer than anything else. I played it because I was bored and had nothing else to do.
๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
The Motorfest is a festival in Hawaii commemoratingโฆ everything, by inviting every maniac who wants to do 10X the speed limit and blow through every school zone while going at their supercar's top speed.
As you can guess, the story isn't the focus. The main challenges are structured in "playlist" type events based on various themes. While they serve their gameplay purpose fairly well, engaging with the speakers in a deeper way did not happen during my playthrough.
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ
As this is a racing game, most of the time that's what you will be doing. The main campaign is those playlists I described above. They are fairly creative and there is some fun to be had with them. Like one dedicated to classic cars, makes you drive without assists, or forcing you to drive full throttle while avoiding obstacles. So, it's not all just - beat the 8 other cars.
Once one of them is beaten, extra challenges are unlocked. They consist of: do X activity X number of times or collectibles. I would say that they just serve the purpose of padding out the run time, but the entirety of Motorfest feels like that, so it isn't that different.
At the time I was playing, there were 3 multiplayer events. I never even tried the battle royal, so I won't comment on it. The grand race is a 28-player race that involves multiple categories and is quite long. It is fun, but it's also the only kind of PVP racing, which is weird. You can't just pick a circuit and race there against other players or friends. The last event is a week-long activity where you try to get as many points as possible to be able to earn exclusive rewards. Points are earned by completing challenges as best you can, and only 10 thousand players can qualify for the top rewards. There is one big issue with this event, it's very grind to win, i.e., if you have the optimal parts your chances of winning increase drastically.
Cars are the big selling point - fast, slow, big, small, you name it they (might) have it. The car list isn't as expansive as some of the competition, like Forza, but it's still in the hundreds and has plenty of surprises. Much attention has been given to the customization as well. It is somewhat inconsistent, sometimes all that can be changed is the colour, other times I was shocked to see what the manufacturer let them do. Like a widebody on a 1 out of 1 concept hypercar. One of the last things that kept me playing by the end was to just buy and customize more cars.
On the other hand, the upgrade system has been described as atrocious and deal-breaking by some. I somewhat agree, but I can see why it was made this way. There are no set upgrades purchasable immediately for any car, instead after every race you are given multiple parts that you can equip. Every vehicle of the same class accepts the same parts and thus can be upgraded to the same level. There is also a rarity system, which can give you a massive advantage with the correct setup. If this wasn't in the game, my playtime would have been halved, as that's about how much I spent grinding for parts. (I was bored, okay)
Handling is good for an arcade-style racing game, in my opinion at least. I mean, I've never driven an actual car, so I can't say whether it's realistic, but at least it's fun.
๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐๐ฌ/๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐
The graphics are at that level that if someone were to tell me that we are never getting better graphics than this, I wouldn't be complaining. Everything looks pretty good and has enough details. Every vehicle has a fully modelled interior and their sounds are superb, some of the best in the industry, behind Gran Turismo.
My only problem is that the art direction feels quite bland. It looks good, but it also looks like every other open-world racing game.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐/๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
I see the festive/party they were going for, but it really, really doesnโt hit. I attribute it to the bland visuals and the lack of focus on the narrative aspect.
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ค
Motorfest has either none or a very small amount of music made for the game itself. Most of the time, you will be listening to the radio, which has exclusively music made by a variety of artists. The quality of the radio is okay, but after a while, it does get repetitive. Besides, why not just listen to your radio that has music you know you will enjoy? That's what I did.
For that reason, I donโt have a favourite part of the OST.
๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ
It's ironic, I have the same amount of memories for games Iโve played for 100+ hours and for games Iโve played for less than 10.