This is the
second in a series of posts that will happen in rapid succession before i
settle back in to a more regular posting pattern. I hope you enjoy.
Today we
will talk about a subject near and dear to me, namely the Crew. Back in
November the game got it´s first major content injections with the Wild Run
expansion. With this came three so called extreme specs in the form of Drag,
Drift and Monster truck. It also featured a new event called the Summit. This
is a set of PvP and PvE challenges themed around things such as a place on the
map, a car brand or a nationality. The idea is to compete on a server wide
leaderboard and win parts, extreme car kits crew credits or exclusive cars. It
is set up in such a way that there are a series of qualifying events throughout
the month leading up to each summit. Score at least an overall bronze medal in
three qualifiers and you get to enter the summit. This is not hard any anyone
one want to can get their medals.
The event
has a set list of game modes but the tracks change from event to event. But
there will always be one event each for the new extreme specs and two time attack
races. One is open to any car of the
corresponding spec and the other is locked to a specific brand of car or bike.
Yes bikes have come to the Crew and they use the regular specs such a street or
dirt. Each event also have a crew and a regular PvP event. And don´t worry if
you do not have a garage rivaling Jay Leno, the game lends you a car for any
event that you lack a car for and the PvP event put all players in equally good
cars to make things even.
So all in all
the Wild Run have given the Crew players something to do once they reach max
level. It is still the same game but now at least there is that element of
competition that the old PvP system did not deliver. They have also made it easier
to connect to a PvP game, something I complained about in my original review.
But all is
not sunshine and puppies, a fair number of players who bought the gold edition
or the season pass felt that the Wild Run expansion should have been included
in the season pass and that the fact that there is now content locked behind a
paywall is something unsightly in this day and age. There has also been
complaints that the bikes and the drag spec make the game pay to win since a good
player can use these to gain an advantage in some races(bikes) and decimate
some skills challenges (drag and bike). While this does have merit there is no
actual reward beyond recognition topping these things. The final thing that get
under peoples skin is the ever current presence of cheaters, previously easy to
avoid and with very little impact in the game at large. The new addition of a competitive
leaderboard in combination with actual prices for to top players have had them coming
out of the woodwork. Ubisoft claims to be working on the issue but only time
will tell. For most people the impact is minimal and only the very top percent
will ever really run the risk of losing anything from these “players”.
So to cap
things off the Wild Run have injected a much needed purpose in to the Crew and
with the promise of more varied qualifier tracks and challenges in combination
with the continued effort to introduce more cars and ways to customize them the
future looks really bright for this game.
