If we no longer count the games canceled (Ghost Recon: Frontline, Splinter Cell VR among others) or postponed (Skull and Bones) by Ubisoft, the fact remains that the French publisher still has a few cartridges to brighten up its second semester. We obviously think of Assassin’s Creed Mirage (October 12), but also of The Crew: Motorfest which will land on September 14. Rather discreet since its formalization last January, the title of Ivory Tower let itself be approached for an hour during an online event organized before the Ubisoft Forward a few days ago. The opportunity to discover a tiny part of the content that we are told is rich.
Unless you’ve lived reclusively in a cave for the past few months, you must know that the Hawaiian island of O’ahu is the playground that the developers of Ivory Tower have chosen for The Crew: Motorfest. A far from trivial choice since some members of the Lyon studio worked on Test Drive Unlimited, the racing game from Eden Games which already took us to explore the same heavenly setting in 2006. There will be a way to circulate in the streets of the capital Honolulu, to flirt with the volcanoes, to trace through the tropical forest, or simply to roll on the beach with his friends. “, explained Stéphane Beley, the creative director of the series. We haven’t had the opportunity to snoop around The Crew: Motorfest open-world, but it’s already clear that the map wasn’t designed on a 1:1 scale. Logically, Ivory Tower preferred to concentrate activities and ecoregions rather than multiplying large desert expanses, the goal being to make free roaming as interesting as shopping. In any case, the possibility of switching gear (car, boat, plane) at any time to explore a place that tickles our curiosity is always part of the program.
UNDER THE TROPICAL SUNLIGHT
This first contact allowed us to get to know Malu, the press officer in charge of promoting Motorfest (cf. Forza Horizon 2). The moment chosen by the developers to introduce Playlists, a term behind which hides the desire to pay homage to automotive culture through different themes. In “Made in Japan”, we mainly take part in illegal races: the Wangan when it takes place on the main Japanese axes, or the Touge when it comes to controlling the steering wheel in the mountains. For its part, “Off-Roading Addict” offers more freedom between two checkpoints since you can cut across fields, while “Motorsports” gives pride of place to simulation. Fans of old-fashioned bodywork can indulge themselves with “Vintage Garage”. Since the cover car should probably be Lamborghini’s Revuelto, the Italian manufacturer is also entitled to its own Playlist which, we imagine, will return to the most significant models in its history. This appetizer is reminiscent of what Playground Games has been offering since Forza Horizon 4, minus the style, it must be admitted.
The moment chosen by the developers to introduce Playlists, a term behind which hides the desire to pay homage to automotive culture through different themes.
But the message that Ivory Tower wants above all to convey is that the behavior of the vehicles will vary from one Playlist to another. Given the lag, it would be risky to embark on a detailed analysis of the gameplay. Nevertheless, we noted a few points. When you are at the controls of a Formula 1 car, you have to deal with a tire wear gauge which requires you to stop in the pits when the rubber is dead. If the pit-stop was scripted in the demo, we were assured that we would have the hand to better control its course. From what we understood, we should not expect something as advanced as in the simulations of Codemasters in terms of strategy. Devoid of current technologies, the “Vintage Garage” cars seemed to us to be more rigid and required skill. Finally, we noticed the return of the boost bar for the other three Playlists (“Made in Japan”, “Off-Roading Addict”, “Lamborghini”), which can be useful on the straights or when exiting of turn. Anyway, even if we screw up, the rewind is there to correct our trajectory.
LOVE IS TOLD IN MUSIC
Regarding the weather, at first glance, the developers have kept the same approach as for The Crew 2, namely a fixed weather during the races, and climatic variations when you squat the open-world. To confirm. As for the visual quality, here too, it is difficult to draw any conclusion from a trial version streamed in 1080p and not spared from bugs. Ubisoft did send us our capture looking cleaner, but the final rendering should be even cleaner; at least, we suppose. Anyway, Ivory Tower clearly puts the package on the effects, especially during the night events. Some coarse textures had hit five years ago, and we do not hide the fact that there still seems to be work in this area. Same: the faces of the characters are really lambda, a constant unfortunately at Ubisoft. Speaking of the protagonists, they chatter a lot during the races to slip a few anecdotes about their mounts, or troll gently. For example, Toji took the time to explain that Toyota’s Supra A80 was designed to compete with the RX-7 (Mazda), Skyline (Nissan) and NSX (Honda). There is no doubt that The Crew: Motorfest contains other similar stories likely to appeal to purists.
Among the other information that we were able to scratch during this online presentation, there is the radio which, in addition to integrating a whole bunch of licensed tracks, will also include royalty-free music. Concretely, the “streamer” mode will allow the game to be broadcast on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube without fear of being struck.
Among the other information that we were able to scratch during this online presentation, there is the radio which, in addition to integrating a whole bunch of licensed tracks, will also include royalty-free music. Concretely, the “streamer” mode will allow the game to be broadcast on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube without fear of being struck. Another interesting fact: followers of The Crew 2 will be able to import their vehicles (including custom ones) for free into The Crew: Motorfest, and this day one. ” It’s a way to reward player loyalty “Said Stéphane Beley. Well seen. Finally, even if we couldn’t take them in hand, powerboats and planes will indeed be there.