‘The Crew’ Launch Trailer Highlights Open World Racing

This year has featured many highly anticipated games, some of which came from Ubisoft. After a strong start to the year, Ubisoft caught a lot of heat for the problems that came with the Assassin’s Creed Unity launch last month. After a better showing with Far Cry 4’s launch, and numerous updates and fixes to Unity, it looks like Ubisoft may be back in the good graces of gamers. And just in time too, since The Crew gets its release this week.

In preparation for the launch of The Crew, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the game that shows off some of the excitement and locations players can expect while playing.

The trailer opens with a Ford Mustang GT rising out of the desert and driving full-bore across the sand. A city rises up from the ground, encasing the Mustang GT in an urban cage. The artistic change from sand to asphalt signifies the game’s ability to provide almost any type of terrain possible to players in a seamless, open-world environment.

In The Crew, players will face off against each other as they race through city streets, back-country dirt roads, highways and open fields. Many of the major cities in the United States, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City have been recreated for gamers to enjoy and explore. Players will have access to dozens of vehicles, which they can upgrade and tune to their heart’s desire.

Over the last couple weeks, gamers have had the opportunity to participate in closed and open betas of The Crew. While players were fairly limited on what they could do in the betas, they were treated to a few different types of races, as well as the full open world. Many gamers took the opportunity to drive from one end of the map to the other to test the size of the world and were pleased with the 1900 square miles of drivable area.

After having been postponed not once but twice, gamers have high hopes for The Crew. Ubisoft has promised players that the game is ready to go and won’t be like the launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity. With the holiday buying season in full force, there’s no doubt the team at Ubisoft is working tirelessly to make sure they make good on that promise.

The Crew will be available on December 2, 2014 for PC, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

‘The Crew’ Launch Trailer Highlights Open World Racing

‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ Review

These days, it isn’t enough to be the biggest, the boldest, or even the most badass when it comes to AAA gaming: first and foremost, the game has to work to win approval. The past few weeks have shown that not only is universal acclaim hard to come by, but the more established the franchise, the more divisive changes (or a jump to next-gen) prove to be. So it’s a particularly pleasant surprise to see Dragon Age: Inquisition succeed in nearly every respect.

Boasting an open world that could only have been possible with brand new hardware (and years of work) and a story that illustrates the strengths and eccentricities BioWare has made their trademark, Inquisition is not only the most cohesive expression of the Dragon Age series to date, but without question one of the best games of this year, and one of (if not the) best open world RPGs in years.

The game and its developers didn’t come by that achievement easily, having attempted many changes with the previous game in the series that failed to go over well with critics or existing fans of the studio’s past RPG titles. Their next-gen successor seems to be a rare case where both BioWare and EA took their lumps, went back to the drawing board, and set out to address nearly every criticism directly. The result comes closer to being ‘the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins that fans dreamed of’ than even those fans dared to expect.

It isn’t just the existing fans of the series that needed to be pleased, however. The developers themselves acknowledged that the overwhelming mainstream success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim didn’t just raise the bar for seamless game worlds and random encounters, but meant supporting and engaging all new types of players. It’s hard to know how well they’ve succeeded in the latter (since the mystery of Skyrim‘s success still persists), but BioWare has managed to craft a similar experience without compromising their own values or design philosophies.

Though the varied and highly-detailed game world is an accomplishment for the series (given Dragon Age II‘s segmented environment), it’s not the star of the game in the way that Skyrim was to even casual players. There are moments, to be sure – when a rocky tunnel gives way to a coastline vista, or the perpetually sunny snows of the Frostback Mountains – that will show just what’s possible on this generation of consoles; but before long, awe gives way to familiarity.

That might be a criticism for some games, but as we mentioned before, Inquisition doesn’t exist to simply stun with visuals. As the leader of the titular Inquisition, players are sent on a mission that puts every one of the game’s locations in peril. The world is still staggeringly beautiful at times, but it merely works to immerse players in the story (and experience) BioWare has crafted, not overshadow it.

Spending hours acquiring and completing quests is still possible, but even if the scripted narrative fails to grab players, the variety of gameplay and mechanics that form its overall structure serve to break up the monotony in ways that Skyrim never attempted. Spending a day in the wild might be tempting, but for the Inquisitor, there’s always a pressing matter at hand.

The most frequent change of pace comes in the game’s combat, adhering to the typical level design of the past, while adding re-spawning encounters in many of Inquisition‘s larger environments. The tactical approach to combat detailed in several gameplay walkthroughs works just as promised, letting players tackle combat up close and personal, swapping between party members, or removed, executing commands and passing time as quickly or slowly as desired. The controls fall short of elegant or intuitive, but there’s no question that fans got the added level of control they demanded (for better or worse).

We could speak for hours about the many thrills and satisfaction that comes through crafting armor and weapons, or the mix of awe, terror and humor that rose when stumbling across a dragon embroiled in battle with a giant, but it wasn’t combat, or even the Inquisitor’s mission to save Thedas from the mysterious Breach spewing forth demonic forces that BioWare had in mind when promising to give players more power than ever before.

Combat encounters might be gruelling, but it’s the decisions made in the Inqusitor’s war room, and among his top advisors that will have players setting controllers down while they weigh their options. From small to world-altering, the choices never stop coming; Templars or Mages? Diplomacy, or righteous action? The issue of whether choices ‘matter’ if they don’t greatly affect the outcome (they do) is still debated, but be warned: the buck stops with the Inquisitor, and every decision comes with consequences.

Those consequences may be limited to the relationships between the players and their followers. The writers were aiming for organic relationships, and the story and context do much to achieve them; there are no easy answers, but players will be less likely than ever to reload saves in an attempt to ‘game the system’ and avoid the disapproval of some party members.

The supporting cast is rendered with enough texture (and flaws) that even the right decision – in the player’s mind – will be questioned by a trusted follower. Whether due to the nuanced political situations at play, or the power granted to the player from nearly the outset, they too might buy into the belief that their decisions aren’t to be questioned by those serving them; and maybe – just maybe – think less of those characters who do.

That that’s even possible speaks to the efforts of the writers to humanize (for lack of a better term) nearly every character encountered. Fictional multi-faction politics aren’t the stuff of thrilling intrigue (look to Star Wars: The Old Republic for evidence), but enough faces are given to the plot to allow players a way in, assuming they’re interested. The plot won’t be flawlessly-paced for everyone, but the writers’ subtle hand pays dividends.

There are few studios as committed to representing their entire fan base as accurately as possible as BioWare, and Inquisition stands as a triumph in that regard as well. This is a game where a majority of the player’s advisors are women; where the sexuality of some – not all – is pivotal to their identity and story; and where the gender of others is left entirely ambiguous. Knowing when to comment on those decisions – and when to make no comment whatsoever – leaves soap boxes out of the equation, replacing them with compelling characters from a variety of walks of life.

With a critical path story line alone that takes up to 50 hours to complete, BioWare has gone above and beyond the demands and expectations placed upon them (while charting a course that we hope Mass Effect will also follow). We’ve yet to play through everything the game has to offer, but the level of polish and nuance in what might amount to half of the overall experience is enough to drive the point home.

After dozens of hours of Inquisition under our belt, it’s safe to say that players won’t need to explore every corner of the game to make the experience worthwhile  – they’ll simply want to.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Our Rating:

4.5 out of 5

‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ Review

‘Far Cry 4′ First Impressions: It’s Just Like ‘Far Cry 3′

Lock and load, gamers. There’s a psychopath running things in Kyrat and it’s time to go insane and kill everyone associated with him. If you loved the beautiful open-world vistas of Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3 and the fun-focused, action-packed gameplay it offered, then you’ll totally dig Far Cry 4.

Coming a quick two years after the release of Far Cry 3, the fourth core franchise installment puts players in the boots of Ajay Ghale as he visits his native homeland of the fictional Himalayan region of Kyrat to spread his mother’s ashes. From there, it takes just a few seconds before meeting the game’s antagonist, the dictator Pagan Min.

After putting about 10 hours into Far Cry 4 and testing it on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we can happily say that the game runs silky smooth and is surprisingly polished (outside of a few instances of the sound dropping) given the complex nature of open-world titles – especially given the performance issues Ubisoft’s other flagship release, Assassin’s Creed Unity, has endured since release.

The environments are large, gorgeous, full of life and… death. As you’ll learn very quickly from the opening and first few story missions of Far Cry 4, Ajay’s parents were leaders of a rebel movement dubbed “The Golden Path” against Pagan Min. These are your allies in Far Cry 4 and just like the game’s predecessor, drive different colored trucks and wear different colored clothing than the red-clothed enemies. According to notes I read in the game, wearing the colors of The Golden Path will get you shot.

The similarities don’t even begin to stop there. Every facet of the game so far is nearly identical to Far Cry 3, from the tower-climbing, outpost-liberating geographic progression and crafting systems, to the gunplay, hunting, use of syringes and camera-enemy-tagging. It feels like I’m playing Far Cry 3 from the beginning again, learning the same skills and hunting similar animals as I fight the same enemies in the same outposts but in a different environment.

There’s a tad more polish and a few more details to the fundamental game mechanics, such as throwing flesh to serve as bait for predators who can distract and attack enemies (a feature first introduced in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon). New this time around, players can also kick boxes and explosive barrels, shoot while driving and flying, grapple hook up and down predefined climbing spots, and yes, ride elephants. It’s surface level stuff but it does flesh out the gameplay a little bit and builds on the successful formula.

Liberating outposts to reclaim enemy territory is still the highlight of the game, and this time around, Ubisoft built the co-op into the open-world game. Now, other players can join you exploring the world, helping out on outposts and taking on the larger and more dangerous fortresses (which the game recommends to play cooperatively). Each time you complete an outpost, a few little side quests open up that ask players to rescue hostages, escort or locate supplies, or assassinate bad guys, etc.

The strategy remains the same. Suppressed weapons and the bow and arrow are your best friends. Throwing rocks to lure enemies or throwing meat to call in predators to attack and distract. Crouching and moving slowly through bushes and tall grass -and burning or blowing stuff up – has never looked so good in Far Cry which makes it an easy recommendation for fans.

Be warned though, where Far Cry 3 really put the theme of insanity on the forefront, and offered legitimate motivational factors to what you’re doing (escaping, drugs and rescuing friends), Far Cry 4 – at least, so far – doesn’t deliver when it comes to Ajay Ghale. Far Cry 3 even worked in the progress to a tattoo which marked your character but its successor abandons that. Without that needed context, without actually seeing your character and who he was/is, or his relationship to his parents, most of the interactions with other characters may fly over your head, or at the very least, aren’t very meaningful. Hopefully, that picks up later in the game.

That being said, the core gameplay is there and the shooter aspects are amazing. The little details of seemingly moving, traversing obstacles, swimming, diving, hopping into vehicles, laying traps, shooting over cover, violently taking down enemies up close and chaining kills together is all wonderful. Far Cry 4 is nailing it on the combat and traversal mechanics.

Our own Hannah Shaw-Williams is much deeper into the game so stay tuned for her full review.

Far Cry 4 is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

TAGS: Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, PC, PS3, PS4, Ubisoft, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Far Cry 4′ First Impressions: It’s Just Like ‘Far Cry 3′