The Crew 2 release date, beta, gameplay and trailer news | Tech News

The Crew is an open-world racing game that came out in 2014. It really doesn’t feel like that long ago, but by the time the sequel appears it will be about four years old. Ubisoft announced The Crew 2 in its annual earnings call, along with Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and then showed the reveal trailer (above) at E3 2017.

A lot more is explained in the gameplay demo video below, including the location, size of the map and new features. We recently went hands-on with the game, and you can find out more about it in our The Crew 2 preview.

When will The Crew 2 be released?

While Ubisoft had originally planned a release date of 16 March 2018, in December 2017 the company announced a delay to “invest additional development time,” with the game now scheduled only for “the first half of Fiscal 2018-19” – which, given the dates of Ubisoft’s financial year, means anywhere between April and September 2018.

Thankfully it wasn’t delayed too far in the future, with Ubisoft confirming its release date in March: 29 June 2018. 

If you can’t wait that long and you haven’t played The Crew for a while, don’t forget that an expansion pack was released in November 2016. Calling All Units lets you play for the good guys, helping the FBI shut down a gang of illegal street racers, among other things.

You can pick up the DLC for £19.99 from Ubisoft’s store and it also includes the previous Wild Run expansion.

Also, there are incentives for continuing to play the original game with The Crew Rewards Program. Essentially, you can unlock up to 18 cars in The Crew 2 by completing “actions” before the new game is released. And just for playing the original game, you’ll get a Ferrari 458 in the new one.

If you don’t have the original game, you can get the Ultimate Edition which includes both expansion packs, plus a season pass for £39.99 from Ubisoft.

What platforms is it on?

The Crew 2 will be available on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

However, given that there’s at least one new platform – the Nintendo Switch – it’s possible that The Crew 2 will also come out for this too, though nothing is official.

Can I pre-order The Crew 2?

The good news is that pre-orders for The Crew 2 are now open, ahead of release later this month. Those interested in picking up a digital copy of the game to play at midnight on launch can do so from the PlayStation Store (£54.99), Microsoft Store (£54.99) or Steam. If you want a physical disc, you can head to the likes of GAME (£49.99) and Amazon (£48.99) in the UK, and Best Buy ($59.99) and Gamestop ($59.99) in the US. 

Dedicated fans can also splash out for the Gold Edition, available from GAME for £74.99. The Gold edition provides access to the game three days early, along with the season pass, the digital Deluxe pack and early access to a series of vehicles and outfits. 

How can I play the open beta?

Ubisoft is running an open beta for The Crew 2 this weekend ahead of release next week, and you can join in right now.

The open beta is available for gamers on PS4, Xbox One and PC, and offers a slightly different experience to the closed beta earlier in the month. Open beta gamers will be able to experience eight of the various disciplines available in a variety of vehicles. You’ll also be able to explore the open world with a buddy, as you can also give the game’s co-op mode a go during the open beta. 

If you haven’t already downloaded the open beta, you can access it via the official The Crew 2 website. The beta began this morning, 21 June 2018, at 9am BST and is set to run through the weekend until 24 June 218 at 9am BST. 

It’s probably worth pointing out that, like with most betas, your progress won’t be carried over into the full game released later this month. 

What can I expect from gameplay?

Although The Crew didn’t get the greatest of reviews, it still has around 5 million players and the open-world nature of it makes it great fun.

In fact, the huge map which recreated pretty much the whole of the US (albeit scaled right down) was – and still is – the game’s highlight.

In real terms, there’s 5000 square kilometres to explore, and driving from coast to coast (from Miami to LA) takes about 45 minutes, it’s that big.

Anyone hoping for a brand new map and location will be disappointed, as it appears that Ivory Tower has stuck with the original US map and added bits here and there and – oddly – called it MotorNation. Here’s the gameplay trailer for lots more detail:

Sea and sky races

The main new feature, then, is the addition of boats and planes, so you can now race on the water and in the sky as well as on- and off-road.

A new control mechanism lets you switch between three types of vehicle during races so you could fly for a while, jump into a speedboat and then finish in a car. This applies to ‘Freestyle’ races.

There’s no offline mode in The Crew and it’s fair to say the game has had more than its fair share of technical problems and glitches. From what Ubisoft has announced, it appears that the sequel will be the same: this is an online racer with the same always-on internet requirement for both story mode and multiplayer racing.

Street racing

Street racing is still core to the game and tweaks include things like ramps to jump onto rooftops for a different perspective during races.

Here’s a screengrab of one of the menus which shows how race types are divided up:

Harley Davidson

Thanks to a new partnership with the motorbike manufacturer, The Crew 2 will include Harley Davidson motorcycles – starting with the Iron 883 below.

We’ll be following the game’s development closely and updating this article as soon as we have more details, so be sure to bookmark the page.