While The Crew 2 is very similar to The Crew (1), the second version has shifted more towards the dirrection of arcade racers and now is more like Forza Horizon 3 than the first Crew. The Crew 2 is a mixed bag. It improved in as many ways as it was made worse from The Crew 1.

The graphics were improved over the first game which looked very good for 2014, but now some textures and shadows look worse.. WTF? THis is a big game and I mean big . It almost seems unfair to compare this to FH4 when the map of the US is about 25 times larger than the map used of Scotland for driving area and 30 times larger if you include the ocean for boats and planes. But did they honestly think people wouldn't notice in an MMO where you drive around an open world that the textures look like something made for a phone? Not to mention the world no longer looks a detailed when the developers reusing the same models across the US rather than the diversity the first game had for different states/regions. There is also a lot of pop in in this game...

The map is almost identical despite them re-doing it to accomidate flying and water sports which are a welcome edition to the game but why not add to areas left open that just felt unfinished/incomplete. This is mainly noticable on the West Coast. Where are the fall looking trees of the New England states? Why does it seem like all I see are pines? Driving through the zones in both games, it is clear where short cuts where taken that hurt the overall immersion and presentation.The world no longer looks as detailed as it did when using different trees for different regions.

The Crew (1) did a fatastic job rewarding exploration by giving XP for site seeing historic locations across the US as well as finding hidden car pices to put a car together, one for each zone. The Crew 2 fails to do any of this and exploration doesn't feel rewarded at all. For a game that trys to be a MMO, they sure fall short this time around. You would think that after 4 years with the first game, they would have had a better plan to address the short comings this time around rather than adding to them.

The physics are a step in the wrong dirrection. While the vehicles handle and sound better in this game, gone is the customization and TUNING you found in The Crew (1). Now cars are set up according to what they are intended to be used as rather than the parts equipped. Oh and did I mention the thing I hate the most, the damage models are gone. This may not bother some as you no longer have to pay for repairs, like the Forza Horizon model, but I liked seeing the damage you had in The Crew (1) when you hit something, even if you didn't feel the effects in handling.

You will find almost everything you had in The Crew (1) such as Drag Racing, Monster Trucks, Drift Racing, Performance Racing, Street Racing, Circuit Racing, Dirt Racing, Motorcross Racing, Rally Raid Racing, abd Rally Corss which is like motorcross but with a dirt vehicle. It should also be mentioned that the events for each of these disciplines feel more complete and specific than The Crew (1) did. The only thing missing so far is playing as cops which was fun and now sadly is gone. But you also get planes and boats which now can be used in racing and freestyle events. They are fun and not overly hard to control.

The Story feels rushed and uninteresting. Unlike in The Crew (1) which had a solid story, this feels more like a swift intro to each discipline and its over. I do like how you can walk around in your homes/hideouts, however, why would you make it a free camera rather than a third-person view so you could see your avatar?

How do you release a title advertised as an MMO where the Co-Op has issues connecting to firends and you aren't done with the PvP aspect of the game. It is obvious this game was rushed and Unisoft forced the release. This game should've had another six months or longer to get it right.

The Crew 2 is a new game designed to be more arcade in almost every way. While there are improvements, some things you may have loved from The Crew have been changed or taken out, while other things like textures are worse. I enjoy playing this but not as much as I did the first game because of the lack of story, downgrade visually in some areas, and lack of damage physics and tuning. I still recommend it because I have fun playing it, but it isn't The Crew I fell in love with.