Shut up, it can be done! I was kindly invited to Birmingham's Omega Sector this past Friday to indulge in an afternoon of GRiD, the latest racing game from Codemasters. The only catch is, it was review code and we were under embargo until Monday morning. These were the problems I was faced with --
- With only a scant few hours to actually play the game, I was not comfortable with doing a full review.
- Because the game was based on full review code, I could not do a preview of GRiD before the embargo lifted.
- By the time the embargo lifted, it would be stupidly late to do a preview when other sites had their reviews up.
Determined not to waste your or Codemasters' time, I chose to soldier on with a review based upon the brief amount of play I was able to have with it. I generally won't review a game until I've had at least three days with it, preferably a week, but let's see if we can make this work. Due to the circumstances and the fact that racing games are not my thing at all, this review will be ungraded. Hit the jump for the full story.
GRiD is a racing game. You can tell this because it has many vehicles, known as "cars," which move really fast on wheels with the aim to be better at being fast than other cars. I was able to ascertain this quite swiftly from the outset of the game.
The main aim of GRiD is to crash into lots of walls and pop your tire so you spend the rest of the race holding down the analog stick to avoid driving in circles. This can happen very early on in the game and the race will become practically impossible. However, the game has an innovative feature known as the "pause" feature, which offers the option to "restart" the race. I found I was the best person out of everybody there at restarting races. I was able to do it more than anyone.
If you are a traditionalist, you may want to actually try and win races. If you do this, be prepared to not crash into walls or accidentally drive onto grass and spin around in circles. When trying to win a race, I found it quite frustrating because I was so good at the wall crashing, grass driving stuff. The trouble is, it's so easy for the car to become uncontrollable, especially as GRiD is part of the new "let's make our cars skid around a lot and call it realism" fad that seems to be gripping driving simulations.
Frustration can be tempered with what I call the "Prince of Persia in a car trick," a feature that allows you to rewind time if you completely ruin your vehicle. You can do this without wrecking your car, but only for a ridiculously brief amount of time compared to the amount of leeway you have if you're totally wrecked. This means that if you spin out one too many times or pop a tire, you might as well restart.
Unfortunately, GRiD does not come packaged with your very own Wardrox, as watching Wardrox's little Northern face as he played the game and crashed into things was one of the most entertaining facets.
There are many species of car in GRiD, and they all have a very different feel, be it the one car that I don't know (because I don't know cars) that was good and the other car that I don't know that was not as good as the car that was good. This review is better than IGN's.
We got to play a multiplayer match over LAN, and I heroically came in last place on one race because I did not understand what was happening. There is a really neat GPS-style map in place, but I did not pay attention to it so I could lose the game (I did this on purpose to test out the "lose physics"). I was winning in the first race, but then crashing happened and I lost. Wardrox may tell you he won the second race and got a free GRiD T-shirt. Wardrox is a liar.
One of the game's biggest selling points is the way it looks, and it certainly looks sexy. So sexy, in fact, that one eager reviewer actually attempted coitus with the game, a sickening farce that ended up with him being escorted from the Omega Sector, shamefaced and with trousers around his ankles. Another of the attendees, wearing a Gametrailers shirt, was taking pictures of the PlayStation 3 version of the game, marking the most dynamic crashes as Xbox 360 shots and twirling a villainous mustache, proving that there is indeed a worldwide conspiracy against the PS3. CONFIRMED!
GRiD is a solid arcade racing game that should please fans of the genre while not making many new converts. There's a lot of content there, and the different selection of cars and race types should keep people playing. I especially liked how you get at least a small reward simply for completing the race, relieving the pressure to constantly be first. There are bonus goals within each race too, for those looking to score big money. Overall, GRiD is something I'd recommend to hardcore racing fans. I am not a hardcore racing fan though. I do not recommend this game to myself, and instead recommend porn.
Dirty, squalid pornography.
Contest:
4:02 AM on 05.26.2008
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But the demo of Grid had me feeling the same, could be fun if it's your thing but i just found the controls made me spin out constantly (yes, it was the controls and not my lack of driving skills)
Then quickly quit 3mins in once the race cam auto switched to an un-drivavable position CONSTANTLY.
Why would you gimp your game with extremely lame auto-cam switches that make no sense?
DON'T CHANGE THE CAM WITHOUT WARNING OR CHOICE.
Regardless, I found this to be a fair and unbiased review indeed. Well done good sir.
I cant disagree with it either. Its a good racing arculation (its between arcade like nfs and simulation like gt or forza) and thats all it is. I enjoyed the demo, although it took a bit of practice, i normally play racers that reward crashing :P.
I literally LOLed.
xujianhuan: fascinating
way better
I am not even the slightest bit interested in ANY racing games, but I still read this review simply as it was very amusing and lulz was had.
TOP NOTCH REVIEW, I give it 10/10 (the review that is).
This reviews is definitely better than IGNs.
"this Rolex Replica nothing but an Replica Rolex adventure that continues the story of ‘Warcraft III"
This guy knows his games, never forget the power of a Rolex.
I liked Grid (demo), it was actually fun, anyone remember that feeling, no crucifying tech car bollocks. This youtube video has been posted before but although hardly fair it raises point I agree with.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cP1Q6sxNJoY
Best review ever though, nonetheless.
Someone is obviously paying you off, this review was clearly 11/10.
Case in point: just read the Ninja Gaiden 2 review on IGN, mentions framerates a couple of times and how there is some very noticable slow down, then gives it an arbitrary, meaningless 9 for graphics.
Of course I spend most of my time playing 'crash into the wall' too, but my friends suck even more usually so at least I get to laugh at them being in last place while I drive over sand at 10mph.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not.
Oh, and funny words by the way.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
It is.
I instantly thought of FlatOut for PSP. It seems that's really all I did (other than run into buildings) when I wasn't doing the "stunts." After chuckling a few times at the game, I took it back and put Ridge Racer in and sighed with relief.
Great review.
I want you to do more 1 hour reviews, seems like a good new feature to the site.
Also, porn.
If I want to play an arcade game I'll stick with the Burnout series, and for my simulators I'll go with Forza or Gran Turismo.
I agree with tgammet; more 1 hour reviews!
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't.
Grid is a racing simulation which focuses on the player as the “race car driver” instead of a nameless driver who collects expensive cars. It’s not midnight club, its aiming to compete with the Forza and GT lines, and from what I played of the demo I think it does a damn good job of it.
Whoever complained about the camera angles is stupid, because the camera is controlled by the press of the LBumper (on the 360 of course). The dynamic camera angles that change at different sections of the course are meant for the replays, which turn any race into an epic looking battle.
Having to restart the game every time you wreck is no longer a factor thanks to the “prince of Persia with cars effect” which lets you rewind time about 20 secs before you wrecked, so instead of when you mess up on the last turn of the last lap and have you cuss and restart the whole race, you can just rewind, and slow down a little on that turn and finish the race in 1st place.
The cars are a little difficult to handle at first because they feel so much faster than your car does in either Forza or GT, but after 2 races I haven’t lost yet to the hardest difficulty on the demo. If you can’t handle the cars, then you probably aren’t good at Forza or GT either so why even complain?
The game looks great and if you enjoy racing then you will enjoy this game, unless you think that Mario kart is the end all be all of racing sims, then you may not enjoy it.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't."
Yes it is.
BytheBy thanks for infrming me of the omegasektor. Im a gaming pro living in Birmingham, and i had never heard of it. Ill be up there tomorrow and ill try to steal you a t-shirt.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
You my good sir, are inaccurate.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
You my good sir, are inaccurate."
If my claim was wrong, it wouldn't be in the review.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
You my good sir, are inaccurate."
"If my claim was wrong, it wouldn't be in the review."
Oh but it is in fact wrong. The below is from our good buddy wiki.
Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire them.
Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes, steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance, automatic gearbox, etc. This softens the learning curve for the difficult handling characteristics of most racing cars.
Arcade style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete through odd ways. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point, with one or multiple paths (sometimes with checkpoints), or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping or testing driving skills. Popular arcade racers are the Daytona USA series, the Rush series, the Cruis'n Series and the classic Out Run.
Over the last three years there has been a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the Need for Speed: Underground series, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, Street Racing Syndicate, Burnout and Juiced.
There. That needed to be said. Why does everyone keep insisting it is? Cause it's not."
"It is."
No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
You my good sir, are inaccurate."
"If my claim was wrong, it wouldn't be in the review."
Oh but it is in fact wrong. The below is from our good buddy wiki.
Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire them.
Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes, steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance, automatic gearbox, etc. This softens the learning curve for the difficult handling characteristics of most racing cars.
Arcade style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete through odd ways. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point, with one or multiple paths (sometimes with checkpoints), or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping or testing driving skills. Popular arcade racers are the Daytona USA series, the Rush series, the Cruis'n Series and the classic Out Run.
Over the last three years there has been a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the Need for Speed: Underground series, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, Street Racing Syndicate, Burnout and Juiced."
I am more reliable than Wikipedia.