Today, Ubisoft announced that the Closed Beta for The Crew® 2 take place from May 31 at 8 a.m. UTC to June 4 at 8 a.m. UTC on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices and Windows PC. During the Closed Beta, drivers will explore America and compete to become the greatest motorsports champion by collecting a wide variety of exotic cars, bikes, boats and planes, and dominating the motorsports scene on the land, on the water and in the air. Also, players will experience the first level of the progression system as they compete in races across all first four disciplines – Street Race, Rally Raid, Powerboat and Aerobatics – against the backdrop of a fully redesigned U.S.A via land, water and air.
In the game’s world, a fictional camera company named LIVE organise triathlon-like multi-discipline events, pitting amateurs against professionals in the hope of finding the next big motorsports star. Perform well enough and you’ll attract the attention of the game’s four Families, each of whom celebrate motorsports in their own particular way: the Street Racers host Street Races, Drift contests, Drag Races and Hyper Car events. The Freestylers present you with Aerobatics, Jetsprint boats and Monster Trucks. The Pro Racing family bring Power Boat races, Touring Car, Alpha GP and Air Races. Finally, the Off-Roaders offer Rally Raid, Rally Cross and Motorcross.
The game’s depth of design really shines in the variety and structure of these disciplines. Take water-craft, for example: try tackling one of the Freestyle family’s Jetsprint races in the same way as you’d approach a Pro-Racing Powerboat event and you won’t get far. The shallow-water Jetsprint events focus on tight turns and tactical use of boost to power out of corners and scrape across dry land, while the open-water Powerboat races are all about your line, maintaining speed and staying out of the wake of other competitors.
The 130+ events in the games main path allow you to build up your social media follower count – the game’s equivalent of XP. The more followers you have, the more you level up and the more races and disciplines you unlock. Over 140 smaller skill challenges dotted around the map (slaloms, speed cameras, escapes, and so on) also give you a chance to increase your social media following.
You can also add to your follower count as you roam the open world: when exploring by plane, for example, you can gain followers by performing social media-friendly tricks like flying under bridges, near misses, loops, rolls, inverts, low flying and so on. Events and skill challenges also earn you loot (parts to improve the performance of your vehicles) and money to buy more planes, boats, cars, trucks and bikes from the games licensed roster of over 200. These include the usual favourites, along with a few classic surprises – all lovingly re-created inside and out, and all fully explorable in your virtual “home” space.
