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GRID
For the second time, Codemasters proves that racing is just a four-letter word.
June 9, 2008 | 7:30 PM PSTKombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Just as the Colin McRae franchise was rebranded as DiRT, Codemasters' TOCA Pro Race Driver series has given way GRID. Like its equally monosyllabic cousin, GRID straddles the line between hardcore simulation and balls out arcade fun, combining real-world cars and tracks with a more forgiving, exaggerated physics engine. Diehard fans of the Pro Racing circuit aren't going to be any happier with GRID than diehard Rally fans were with DiRT, but GRID's stylish presentation and accessible feature set make it the perfect gateway drug into the simulation racing genre for anyone that may be intimidated by the likes of Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo.
What's Hot
GRID delivers in a big way on the track, with great physics, tight controls and some of the most competitive racing we've ever played. The opponent AI is skilled and aggressive, more than capable of guarding their lead, more than willing to take risks to advance past the competition, and downright eager to throw their weight around if you invade their personal space. Different teams, identifiable through color schemes that are constant from race to race, can be seen favoring certain strategies, and we could swear at least one driver developed a powerful grudge against us over the course of the campaign. Moreover, the AI is convincing in its imperfections, as players will frequently see their competitors take corners at bad angles or even lose control and slam into a wall. Jockeying for position with these opponents is enthralling, and thanks to the fact that they react to how you drive and tend to screw up in different ways, all of the races feel unique. The game has a bit of a learning curve regardless of which direction you approach it – if you're from the simulation side of the fence, you'll have to train yourself not to expect the real-world vehicles to perform exactly as they would in reality, and if you're from the arcade world then you're going to have to slow down just a tad heading into those corners. Thankfully, Codemasters has devised an ingenious mechanic to ease players into the experience.
The Flashback system is essentially the racing-game equivalent of the Sands of Time, allowing players to rewind the race for a few seconds to retry a particular section of the track. The system isn't exploitable enough to be a crutch since you're only allowed to use the flashback power so many times over the course of one race, depending on what difficulty setting you're playing on. Playing the most difficult Pro mode disables the function entirely, but then what else would you expect from a mode with that name? Hell, you can't even restart the race in that mode. Speaking of which, one of the reasons we love the flashback system is that it provides different benefits to different types of players. Those who are totally new to the simulation racing scene can play on an easier difficulty with more flashbacks, and use the mechanic to learn how to take turns. Slam into a wall at high speed? Try the corner again now, while the last run is fresh in your mind, and alter your approach accordingly. As you get better at the game and increase the difficulty, you'll have to start strategizing. Do you use a flashback now to get back those seconds you lost on a sloppy turn, or do you hold onto it on the chance that you might completely trash your car later on? Finally, you might get to the point we are, perfectionists that use the few flashbacks we have to perfect our laps rather than having to restart. Or you might go right past us and opt not to use them at all, your call. If that's the case, you'll be right at home on Xbox Live, as flashbacks are completely out of the equation when you're racing up to 11 other people online.
Slam into a wall without a flashback or the willingness to use one and you'll be treated to the game's physics engine at work, as chunks of debris dynamically bend and break off your car. Collisions can leave effects ranging anywhere from shattered windshields to caved-in-chasses, but the effect never comes off as a cheap exchange of game resources. There's no obvious repetition of the different damage effects, no split-second change where the clean textures and geometry are swapped for premade damaged resources – the destruction looks completely natural as the force of impact ravages your car. However, Natural does not equate to realistic; the damage dealt to the cars and their reactions to impact are typically more dramatic than they would be in reality. It doesn't hurt the game at all though, in fact it actually makes it a tad more fun since the frustration of screwing up is off-set by the pleasure of watching the destruction you've wrought. Most of the damage is purely cosmetic to boot, only the roughest crashes will impact the way your car actually handles.
What's Not
Codemasters is selling GRID as all about the race, which is actually pretty honest underneath the PR-savvy language. GRID is a highly focused affair; it drops players onto the track almost immediately and doesn't offer much to do when they're not traveling at 150mph. The Career mode provides context and not much else, putting players into the role of a freelance driver working their way through the circuit to build up enough reputation and finances to start their own team, which they quickly do, but everything is accomplished by winning races and nothing else, so it's not as though you ever feel like anything more than a driver despite being called an owner. The garage is also an issue since there aren't really that many cars to choose from in the game, and none of them are tunable. If the car you're using just isn't working for you in a particular style of event, there's no option but to sell it and buy something else. If the car you're using just isn't working for you in a particular style of event, there's no option but to sell it and buy something else. The lack of even the most basic tuning or upgrade options does feel a little limiting – even the Need for Speed titles had upgrade packages.
The audio is an unfortunate weak point for the game, since it's the only piece of the equation preventing GRID from perfectly recreating the sense of being on a race-track. The engine sounds and positional audio aren't particularly impressive, all of the cars sound pretty much the same, and none of them sound as powerful as they should. Coming up behind, racing past, and leaving another car behind isn't complemented by the increasing and decreasing clarity of their engine noise around you, at least not to any great extent. Worst of all, the sounds of metal bending, grinding and hitting the pavement during the crash sequences are disappointingly muted. If you're going to go over-the-top in the visual presentation, you may as well take the Burnout route and ensure we can hear every piece of glass sprinkling the ground as well. To their credit, Codemasters did try to get a little creative with the audio component, asking players to enter their name from a preselected list or pick a nickname so that their AI crewmates could work on a first name basis, dolling out praise for flourishes of skill and letting a players know when they screw up. Unfortunately, they only have so many ways of expressing their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the player, so there's an irritating amount of sound clip repetition. After a few hours, we had to turn the bastards off in the options menu for the sake of our sanity.
Final Word
GRID does a brilliant job of balancing the depth of simulation racing with the pure fun of arcade racing, and the result is as intense as it is accessible. There are a few small problems that will hopefully be worked out in the future, but nothing even remotely serious enough to warrant a moment's pause from racing fans. If you've never played a racing game before, this is a good place to start, and if you have, there's going to be something here that you'll enjoy. Codemasters is two for two with its racing game rebranding strategy, and we can't wait to see what they do with the newly acquired F1 license.
What the Game's About
Just as the Colin McRae franchise was rebranded as DiRT, Codemasters' TOCA Pro Race Driver series has given way GRID. Like its equally monosyllabic cousin, GRID straddles the line between hardcore simulation and balls out arcade fun, combining real-world cars and tracks with a more forgiving, exaggerated physics engine. Diehard fans of the Pro Racing circuit aren't going to be any happier with GRID than diehard Rally fans were with DiRT, but GRID's stylish presentation and accessible feature set make it the perfect gateway drug into the simulation racing genre for anyone that may be intimidated by the likes of Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo.
What's Hot
GRID delivers in a big way on the track, with great physics, tight controls and some of the most competitive racing we've ever played. The opponent AI is skilled and aggressive, more than capable of guarding their lead, more than willing to take risks to advance past the competition, and downright eager to throw their weight around if you invade their personal space. Different teams, identifiable through color schemes that are constant from race to race, can be seen favoring certain strategies, and we could swear at least one driver developed a powerful grudge against us over the course of the campaign. Moreover, the AI is convincing in its imperfections, as players will frequently see their competitors take corners at bad angles or even lose control and slam into a wall. Jockeying for position with these opponents is enthralling, and thanks to the fact that they react to how you drive and tend to screw up in different ways, all of the races feel unique. The game has a bit of a learning curve regardless of which direction you approach it – if you're from the simulation side of the fence, you'll have to train yourself not to expect the real-world vehicles to perform exactly as they would in reality, and if you're from the arcade world then you're going to have to slow down just a tad heading into those corners. Thankfully, Codemasters has devised an ingenious mechanic to ease players into the experience.
The Flashback system is essentially the racing-game equivalent of the Sands of Time, allowing players to rewind the race for a few seconds to retry a particular section of the track. The system isn't exploitable enough to be a crutch since you're only allowed to use the flashback power so many times over the course of one race, depending on what difficulty setting you're playing on. Playing the most difficult Pro mode disables the function entirely, but then what else would you expect from a mode with that name? Hell, you can't even restart the race in that mode. Speaking of which, one of the reasons we love the flashback system is that it provides different benefits to different types of players. Those who are totally new to the simulation racing scene can play on an easier difficulty with more flashbacks, and use the mechanic to learn how to take turns. Slam into a wall at high speed? Try the corner again now, while the last run is fresh in your mind, and alter your approach accordingly. As you get better at the game and increase the difficulty, you'll have to start strategizing. Do you use a flashback now to get back those seconds you lost on a sloppy turn, or do you hold onto it on the chance that you might completely trash your car later on? Finally, you might get to the point we are, perfectionists that use the few flashbacks we have to perfect our laps rather than having to restart. Or you might go right past us and opt not to use them at all, your call. If that's the case, you'll be right at home on Xbox Live, as flashbacks are completely out of the equation when you're racing up to 11 other people online.
Slam into a wall without a flashback or the willingness to use one and you'll be treated to the game's physics engine at work, as chunks of debris dynamically bend and break off your car. Collisions can leave effects ranging anywhere from shattered windshields to caved-in-chasses, but the effect never comes off as a cheap exchange of game resources. There's no obvious repetition of the different damage effects, no split-second change where the clean textures and geometry are swapped for premade damaged resources – the destruction looks completely natural as the force of impact ravages your car. However, Natural does not equate to realistic; the damage dealt to the cars and their reactions to impact are typically more dramatic than they would be in reality. It doesn't hurt the game at all though, in fact it actually makes it a tad more fun since the frustration of screwing up is off-set by the pleasure of watching the destruction you've wrought. Most of the damage is purely cosmetic to boot, only the roughest crashes will impact the way your car actually handles.
What's Not
Codemasters is selling GRID as all about the race, which is actually pretty honest underneath the PR-savvy language. GRID is a highly focused affair; it drops players onto the track almost immediately and doesn't offer much to do when they're not traveling at 150mph. The Career mode provides context and not much else, putting players into the role of a freelance driver working their way through the circuit to build up enough reputation and finances to start their own team, which they quickly do, but everything is accomplished by winning races and nothing else, so it's not as though you ever feel like anything more than a driver despite being called an owner. The garage is also an issue since there aren't really that many cars to choose from in the game, and none of them are tunable. If the car you're using just isn't working for you in a particular style of event, there's no option but to sell it and buy something else. If the car you're using just isn't working for you in a particular style of event, there's no option but to sell it and buy something else. The lack of even the most basic tuning or upgrade options does feel a little limiting – even the Need for Speed titles had upgrade packages.
The audio is an unfortunate weak point for the game, since it's the only piece of the equation preventing GRID from perfectly recreating the sense of being on a race-track. The engine sounds and positional audio aren't particularly impressive, all of the cars sound pretty much the same, and none of them sound as powerful as they should. Coming up behind, racing past, and leaving another car behind isn't complemented by the increasing and decreasing clarity of their engine noise around you, at least not to any great extent. Worst of all, the sounds of metal bending, grinding and hitting the pavement during the crash sequences are disappointingly muted. If you're going to go over-the-top in the visual presentation, you may as well take the Burnout route and ensure we can hear every piece of glass sprinkling the ground as well. To their credit, Codemasters did try to get a little creative with the audio component, asking players to enter their name from a preselected list or pick a nickname so that their AI crewmates could work on a first name basis, dolling out praise for flourishes of skill and letting a players know when they screw up. Unfortunately, they only have so many ways of expressing their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the player, so there's an irritating amount of sound clip repetition. After a few hours, we had to turn the bastards off in the options menu for the sake of our sanity.
Final Word
GRID does a brilliant job of balancing the depth of simulation racing with the pure fun of arcade racing, and the result is as intense as it is accessible. There are a few small problems that will hopefully be worked out in the future, but nothing even remotely serious enough to warrant a moment's pause from racing fans. If you've never played a racing game before, this is a good place to start, and if you have, there's going to be something here that you'll enjoy. Codemasters is two for two with its racing game rebranding strategy, and we can't wait to see what they do with the newly acquired F1 license.
February 8, 2010
