The Crew Motorfest

The Crew is a series I’m very familiar with; since its inception back in 2014 I’ve spent countless hours driving across the scaled down versions of mainland America. For the third entry into Ubisoft’s open-world racer series, The Crew Motorfest takes players to Hawaii, focusing instead on a much denser, detailed environment rather than the scaled down ‘Murica. Whilst not as drastic a tonal shift as The Crew 2 was from its predecessor, can Motorfest provide an enjoyable cruise through one of the world's most beautiful locations?

- Mike Crewe

It’s inevitable that Motorfest will draw comparisons to the Forza Horizon series; after all, they’re both festivals centred around vehicles racing through stunning, serene locations (Horizon 4 even managed to make the UK look half-decent) awash with colour and featuring more blaring tunes than an Ibiza rave. However, I shall do my best not to compare the two!

Visually, The Crew Motorfest looks fantastic on current gen hardware. Cars are incredibly modelled both externally and internally, and the island of Hawaii is far more fleshed out than the often barren stretches of land found in the previous games. It’s not hyperrealistic, nor is it overly stylised like Need for Speed Unbound, everything has a fine level of detail touched up with an impressive lighting system.

Although you won’t find me shouting from the rooftops about how great the included music is, I have to admit that the drum and bass/techno-heavy soundtrack is very fitting for the theme of the game. And from quad bikes to tuners, every vehicle sounds authentic and powerful, making the overall presentation very aesthetically pleasing. If you’re a PlayStation 5 player, though, turn off the controller audio. That constant metallic rattling sound is insanely irritating.