Review: Grid

[Kage]

Grid Requirements

Minimum Requirements
Processor: Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz or Athlon 64 3000+
Video Card: GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1300 or above
Memory 1GB RAM.
Hard Drive: 12.5 GB Hard Drive Space
OS: Windows XP/Vista. (If running Windows Vista, SP1 is recommended)

Recommended Requirements
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66Ghz or Athlon X2 3800+
Video Card: GeForce 8800 or Radeon X1950
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 12.5 GB Hard Drive Space
OS: Windows XP/Vista. (If running Windows Vista, SP1 is recommended)






Reasons for Buying

I have always been a fan of Racing games. Games like SSX, Need For Speed, Project Gotham, Burnout, and even Diddy Kong Racing. anything where you have to get from one place to another faster than someone else, i have probably either had my hands on or had an interest in. This game came highly recommended from a friend who was also a fan of being faster. So i looked around and found this game was on steam for cheap, and it looked pretty good.


Story

This game doesn't really have too much of a story, its your basic real life scenario where one person is hired to drive for a team, and try to be better than everyone while earning cash to buy cars. There is a lady who will talk to you throughout the game, and it is inferred that she is the team owner that hired you. There is also a Pit or Crew leader that will talk to you during the races, letting you know how you are doing, what your strategy should be, and how well your car is performing. The last character is your teammate, who only exists because you decided to hire one on your team.


Immersion

This game does a really good job of immersing you into the world. At the beginning of the game you input your name, country, and other such things that will show up throughout the game. And then you get to pick your audio name. Your audio name is basically what the characters will say whenever they are referring to you throughout the game. The game has about 50 of the most common Male and Female names on the list(at least for the English language), and another list of Nicknames. This is a really cool addition to the game, and it will freak out some of your relatives when they walk by and hear the game greeting you to another race, or congratulating you for a job well done. The Crew Leader is always talking to you in a race, and is always in line with how far away you are from a certain position, telling you about other racers crashing or gaining on you, what position your teammate is in, or what the condition of your vehicle is during the race. I have found myself multiple times wondering where the voice in my head is telling me about my car, when i am driving in real life. Over all, the game does a really good job of making you part of the experience. Along with that, the loading screen is always giving you stats on your character, from total cash gained to how many times you have crashed.



Physics

Much like other racing games, this game has its focus on the physics of four-wheeled vehicles who will have their wheels on the ground at multiple speeds above zero. So when you are driving down a race track at 160 mph, the control of the car and how quickly things can all go wrong feels realistic. Though i personally think that the turning in this game is a tiny bit exaggerated. its not too hard to take a 80 degree turn going 90 or even 170 mph and not lose control. The developers really tried to make sure that the game stays true to realistic driving but also make it so you really enjoy driving the cars they give you. the only thing i have noticed that is slightly faulty, is that whenever your car is airborne(in a bad way) it is very likely that you will end up back on all four wheels. It feels very awkward and not very well done, unless you see an opponents car flipping around, then it is totally F-ing Sweet.



Customization

There is a large amount of different racing Classes and Styles from Muscle cars to Japanese tuned cars to Speedsters like the Koenigsegg ccgt. There are only five different types of racing: Touge, Drift, Le mans, Derby, and just plain old start to finish. The game has a total of 42 cars from USA, Europe, and Japan. You can pick the name of your Character, who is on your team, what sponsors are on your car, change the name of your team, and customize your car. Customization of your car is simple, you get to pick the 3 main color schemes of your many different layouts that are pre-set, and then you can pick what number your car has on the side. The game doesnt put a focus on customizing your car primarily because you will have the whole thing stamped with Sponsor logos later on(name a company that has anything to do with cars, they have it in this game.) The option to choose a teammate is a very simple one, it is meant to earn you some extra cash along with the Sponsorships and Race winnings. Though you really dont spend too much time messing with who your teammate is. I first Chose the cheapest teammate just to make the team owner lady shut up, but then when i had enough money i hired one of the best racers availible. Now its always me in first, then him in second. In fact, my biggest rival is my teammate.



Crashing

The details and animation of your cars appearance is very detailed and very tight. Whenever you are watching your car crash in slow motion, every thing is scratched or bent where it should be. nothing is ever the same way after going through a bad crash or grinding with another car. This game rivals Burnout Paradise in the detail to crashing. This game is also more realistic, so not everything looks as good. The game also has a "Flashback" feature, that enables you to jump back to a limited point during the race where you can resume from. In case you destroy your car, you dont have to restart the entire race. The game will give you a limited amount of Flashbacks depending on difficulty, and you get a bonus amount of cash for not using some of your flashbacks in a race. The only disappointment i have is that you cant freely look at your car during the race. The camera angles are limited to what the Designers made. So when you have a really sweet crash happening right behind your car, there is a small chance that you will be able to see it in the Replay. I am not sure if this is limited to PC, but it frustrates me.




Graphics

It should go without saying that this game looks good. Its hard to find any game now that does not look any good. The way the light reflects off the cars is realistic, down to the detail of the crowd and other cars, though i will say that there are moments when the light is a little too bright, and all you see is White on the reflection. The detail of scratches or the environment is well done. While i did say that most of the game is meant to be realistic, it does also have the feeling that the developers removed some of the realism to add more fun to the game. Which is not so true of Crysis or Prostreet, where their entire focus was on realism, so driving the vehicles in both games fealt like crap. So anyways, this game looks very good, and it did not take the best hardware in the world to run it. I am running an average of 40 fps on Ultra High graphics at the highest resolution on my Ati 3870HD . No freezing, and the game has never crashed.(cept for the cars)




Multiplayer

The multiplayer is what you would expect from a racing game, you create your account, you go search for a party online, and you race against other people. thats the extent of it.



Overall

This is a very fun racing game. I love the attention to realism while still having the sense that the game is meant to be fun. Your ability to choose what the difficulty of the race is before each race really makes this feel like a casual game, there should never be a point where you are stuck. If you suck at Drifting, change the difficulty. The customization of vehicles is limited, but not a problem when you start earning cash from sponsors. Its not a killer on your PC, its cheap considering other games(about 40 bucks on steam), and overall it drags you into the experience. I have been playing this game for over a month now and i still havnt completed every single race. I would not recommend this game to people that are not fans of racing games. Multiple people i have talked to did not like the controls or how sensitive the cars were. BUT, everyone i have talked to, whether they are fans of racing or not, has said that this game is better than Prostreet and Forza combined. If that doesn't say something about how much better this game is, then i don't know what does.



I give Grid 8.5/10 D-Keys

[Craig]

ever since putting down Test Drive Unlimited I've been wanting to play a new driving game. Since I don't have a console right now other than the Wii this could be just what I need.

Great review!

[Kage]

I know you are a busy man Craig, so i really suggest this game cause it has that quality of not taking up your life. I play this on my off time, and i dont feel truly addicted to it. Its very fun, and it pulls me back every once in a while. While it may not be too much of a sim like Test Drive Unlimited, it does have its perks.

[No-Fear]

Nice ! I plan on buying this game as soon as I finish my other 9 360 games I haven't even opened....lol just don't have time to play...I work hard during the week and only get to game a few hours over the weekend and that time goes to playing TF2...

[CoffeeShark]

i love racing games too. Nice review!

[basso4735]

I played the demo of this, and borrowed my friends steering wheel. Wicked fun.

[mex1cola]

Have had this since it came out. Great game.

[DominiKing]

Pretty good review, only thing I wanna know is if it's still fun without a wheel or is it pointless?

[basso4735]

its like any racing game with a keyboard, i hate it.

[CoffeeShark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by basso4735

its like any racing game with a keyboard, i hate it.

your opinion has been noted and invalidated.


//burn notice rules