Co-op niet verplicht in The Crew

Ontwikkelaar Ivory Tower van The Crew bevestigt dat hoewel het wel wordt aangemoedigd, co-op niet verplicht zal zijn. Alle missies uit de campaign zullen ook zelfstandig te voltooien zijn.

Creative director Julian Gerighty legt uit dat spelers de online wereld volledig achter zich kunnen laten. Hoewel co-op wel wordt aangemoedigd, zal het dus ook mogelijk zijn om de volledige campaign solo te spelen: “Our experience is enhanced when gamers connect online, as they can then be a part of a fully living, breathing world filled with other players to challenge or crew up with. However, if some players are more of the solo type, they can play the full campaign SP, they are never constrained to play cooperatively with friends. And if they change their mind at some point, they always have the opportunity to team up with friends on-the-go, without having to go through intimidating lobbies.

“The Crew takes a very modern approach to multiplayer, in the sense that it is extremely adaptable. Just like in real life, some days you may want to be by yourself, others you’re eager to share new experiences with friends. In The Crew, all the missions can be played solo or with your crew and when playing with your crew, you’re enticed to play for yourself, in some way since the scoring system is rewarding individuals and not teams.

“All challenges can be played in the instant or asynchronously, and at the end of the day the player can always blacklist someone to remove him from surrounding traffic. In The Crew we blur the lines between solo and cooperative play, we found that sweet spot between the full online experience and a game that is enjoyable as a single player.”

Gerighty vertelt ook dat de game 10.000 km aan wegen en 1.000 echte 'landmarks' zal bevatten. In het Amerika van The Crew kun je verder door gevarieerde gebieden scheuren, van de canyons van Nevada tot de drukke straten van New York.

De creative director legt uit wat je mogelijkheden zijn als je wél met andere mensen wilt racen: “In The Crew, you are part of an online world, with other drivers around you. The choice is yours to play on your own in this living world, or to team up on the go with friends whether this is to cooperate or to compete."

“We built a social interface that facilitates communication between players and makes it extremely easy to engage with others. You can crew up with other fellow drivers on your way to your next objective. It’s all seamlessly integrated and does not require you to stop driving."

“When playing with other crew members you can choose to jump into any campaign missions together but you could also set up your own race and give it a go. That’s the core of what we want: a living world constantly evolving around with people you can challenge or race with.”

Het team bij Ivory Tower dat The Crew ontwikkelt zijn overigens dezelfde mensen die Test Drive Unlimited hebben gemaakt. Ook dat was een racegame met een grote open wereld. Gerighty keek terug op deze titel: “when it was released in 2007 [it] had a living world around the player and it was ahead of its time in terms of online features. It was not perfect.

“That vision of a connected world and a shared world between car enthusiasts, this is something that we are continuing to improve upon. So imagine five more years of iteration on this very idea. That is what we are bringing with The Crew.”

The Crew moet begin 2014 in de winkels liggen voor pc, PlayStation 4 en Xbox One.