On l'avait découvert à l'occasion de l'E3 2013. The Crew est la toute nouvelle licence signée Ubisoft. Une surprise mais aussi une grosse attente tant les promesses étaient alléchantes. T he Crew promettait en effet un jeu de course automobile dans un monde ouvert à l'échelle des Etats-Unis.

Monde ouvert de la taille des Etats-Unis; Diversité des paysages; Présence d'un scénario; Contenu très étoff

Le jeu pousse souvent au solo; Certains graphismes en-deç; Composante MMO perfectible; 37 voitures seulement

The Crew is, ironically, a game held back by its own ambition. It wants to be an MMO where everybody is permanently locked inside their cars which, while somewhat odd, is an interesting idea.

Take away its vast environment and The Crew is decidedly mediocre. But the enjoyable story and great sense of actually driving, whether alone or solo, means there's plenty of fun to be had all the same.

Absolutely massive game world; rich with variety and things to do; Always the option to play solo or in co-op; Lovely sensation of being on the open road; especially at night

No offline play, which means you'll get booted for dropouts, America's city streets are practically empty; Where are the pedestrians, GTA 5 does pretty much everything better, plus much, much more

It's hard not to be impressed by the sheer scale. The Crew might have miniaturised the USA, shrinking states and cities so that they're boiled down to an essence, making Chicago to New York a fifteen-minute drive, but this is still the most expansive open world of any racing game.

Vast open-world to explore; Packed with events and challenges; Enjoyable off-road missions; Fun with other players

Missions can be exasperating; Handling lacks grip; Struggles to bring players together

The Crew is a vast, expansive driving game that packs a solid story mode and tons of things to do. However, much of its endgame content feels like repetitive filler. 3.5 /5

The Crew's massive world is well worth exploring for any petrolhead, it's just a shame it can't deliver on any of its other promises. The concept of playing as a "crew" is crippled by one major flaw, and that's a lack of people to play with, drawn from a disinterested community.

+ Massive world is impressive in scope; + Fun PvP modes

- Terrible story; bland missions; - Sluggish handling; - Cash-grab microtransactions; - Doesn't look that good; - This is a last-gen game

A good game and storyline, but the only thing is that it has to have better graphics, because I was shocked with the ones I found, I expected it to be like forza horizon graphics but it was not, also I would say the cars are still too expensive

The Crew is one of the most infuriating games I've ever played. Not because it's bad, but because it should have been a masterpiece. Make no mistake: The Crew is built on an absolutely astonishing feat of development.

Enormous; varied and amazing playground to explore with friends; Car customisation is a blast; levelling and progression can be compelling; Many impressively epic multiplayer races to partake in

Shockingly awful storyline and characters destroys personality; kills fun and restricts progress; Inconsistently enjoyable and unforgiving events; spongy offroad handling; infuriating UI and AI; Invasive and unwelcome dual currency inflates the economy; Always-online: all the issues of MMOs with...

The Crew presents an ambitious vision of an online racing ‘CaRPG’, but is severely let down by its other design decisions, writes James Cullinane.

A beautiful world; Endgame isn't without its joys

Grinding; Microtransactions; Traffic AI is appalling

The Digital Fix just passed its driving test and is now off to America for a digital road trip across the country in the form of The Crew, a new driving game from developers Ivory Tower.