GRID – PS3 – Review

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: you’re in
a muscle car, just seconds away from the finish line, when an angry opponent
slams you into a wall and steals your victory. This is one of the most common
challenges of racing games, a genre that doesn’t give many second chances.

That would make GRID the defiant racer. You
race on closed courses but crash as often as a driver in Burnout. When a crash
occurs that’s just too severe to bear, players can hit the replay button,
rewind the tape, and re-start before the accident even happened. Now you can
take that corner less sharply, slow down before that wall thrashed your
engine, and be prepared for opponents looking to push you out of the way.

This amazing play mechanic is big enough to
lure racing fans, just as those intense collisions lured us to Burnout. But as
you’ll soon discover, it is merely icing on a game that’s layered with depth
and excitement.

The New Arcade

Designed with every racing fan in mind, GRID is
an arcade racer, partial simulator, destruction derby and drift expedition all
rolled into one. What you see is not what you get. The screens – which show
off the gorgeous gameplay as well as the cinematic replay camera – are barely
representative of the entire experience.

Concept and muscle cars, customized sports cars
and super-fast racecars are just a few of the vehicle types GRID offers. Each
has a specific purpose: formula 1 racers are used for the open,
sound-barrier-breaking challenges. Roadsters are driven through the
corner-heavy city courses. The concept vehicles (such as the new Dodge
Challenger, which only recently made it to showrooms) are raced alongside
other classics, primarily from the more revered generations of automobiles and
the era when muscle cars ruled the day.

GRID isn’t brilliant for its inclusion of
multiple vehicle types. It isn’t fun because you get to drive one of the
Mustang concepts – a beautiful vehicle, to be certain. But in the grand scheme
of things, it’s just another vehicle. GRID makes their inclusion relevant by
following in the tire tracks of its off-road predecessor: DiRT. That game
worked on two principles: keep the player hooked with great racing mechanics
and reduce repetition through variety. GRID has those same principles, plus
another you might not expect – it provides a new definition for quality racing
physics.

From the moment you begin playing, the controls
are noticeably tight yet dangerously unstable. One wrong turn can lead to
total disaster. Push the analog stick too harshly or even too lightly and your
vehicle could spin out. While turning, there are dozens of ways to screw up.
Almost all of them have to do with the walls, tires and other road barriers.
If you tap them from the wrong angle, even at slow speeds, it’s race over.
Your vehicle is likely to latch on, crash into something sturdy and become
another heap for the junkyard.

But that’s only part of the equation. In spite
of their ability to crash easily and ruin your day (after playing for a while,
my TV interrupted my screaming to inform me that its name is not “No!” or” Oh,
crap!”), these vehicles have a lighter feel than most racers. It’s distinctly
different from Burnout, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft
Auto, or any other racing/driving game you could name.

When they crash or spinout, you’ll notice a
difference in the way the vehicles move compared with a straight simulator
like NASCAR 09. In trying to recover from these mistakes, the player must
learn a new set of subtle reactions. This isn’t the anti-racer by any means.
But it’s a different take on a gameplay style that’s typically bombarded with
more of the same.

Burn Baby Burn

Paying homage to the Burnout series, GRID
unofficially encourages the destruction of your opponents. Don’t expect a cash
prize or speed boost for your trouble. But you will have the benefit of
watching your opponent spinout, hit a wall, or crash into other vehicles. Once
out of commission, that’s one less driver fighting for the top spot.

Much like the driving physics, the crash
physics are also unique to GRID. Body damage is extreme and a little
over-the-top. Taillights break and bumpers fall off as expected. Paint is torn
off whenever the car rubs up against something, leaving scrapes and scratches
that would be emotionally damaging to any car guy if these automobiles were
real. The body crumpling, however, is a bit fictitious – you’ll see metal
bend, dent and twist in ways that don’t quite register as being real. They
still look good but may surprise gamers who are blown away by every other
visual aspect.

GRID is not as fast as Burnout 3: Takedown. Its
course designs are far too narrow for the game to reach that level of speed
(as a sensation, not necessarily the mile per hour rating) for the player to
keep up. Regardless, you will be on the edge of your seat for every second of
every race. The frame rate is top-notch – no matter how many cars pile up in a
crash, the game stays silky smooth.

As you are well aware, GRID allows you to erase
a bad move with its wonderful replay system. The difficulty setting determines
the number of times this can be done per race, and just like DiRT, you can
change the setting before every competition. But before resetting a
devastating spinout, take a moment to look around. Replays can be played at
slow, normal, or double the speed. If you’ve just had a major crash (with a
flip in the air or two), switch to the in-the-car view, resume playback and
double the speed. The experience is over in a couple of seconds but will leave
you breathless.

The only area where GRID falters has already
been touched on, albeit very briefly. The challenge is excessive and somewhat
unique. Nine times out of 10, you’ll feel like you’re racing against the
course and not the 10+ other drivers flooding the track. It’s a strange way to
design a game, and if it weren’t for everything else, it couldn’t have worked.
But Codemasters has a knack for unearthing enjoyment in places you least
expected, especially in the racing genre. Though you will scream, pound on
things and wonder why this game is so excruciating, there’s no question that
the developers got it right. Because it doesn’t really matter how many times
you lose – at the end of the day, you’ll be back for another race.

Review Scoring Details for GRID