Grid Review

BY Rabie Hassoun | POSTED: 04 July 2008

Yet another racing masterpiece by Codemasters!



Each and every major developer on the market has their own niche. This specialty comes from experience, sometimes from heavy advertising and surely from a load of satisfied fans. Codemasters for years now have been producing some of the best racing games around. The games they delighted us with over the years include the Colin McRae series, TOCA Racer and last summer’s hit DIRT. Grid borrows elements from each game mentioned and mixes them in a way that satisfies fans of racing games to the extreme. Some nagging issues however, mainly the lack of detailed options; limit the game from being THE perfect racing simulator out there.

In DIRT we got used to calling cars by their numbers. The game made sure we ever got attached to any name or human but rather to cars and the numbers assigned to them. GRID this time around makes sure you know your opponents very well. Each opponent will have their own full name and will be challenging you for the top spot in the career mode. The one thing we enjoyed most about GRID is how each racer in the game acts differently. Most racing simulators we tested before have the AI acting the same no matter what is going on in the game. In such games you can take advantage of the AI every single time, not with GRID though. The drivers in GRID will be acting and thinking differently depending on the situation, creating a unique environment in every race you play. Each rival of yours will be a challenge with his own set of attributes, strengths and weaknesses.

A standard in today’s racing games and certainly a glowing feature in GRID is the availability of a wide range of modes. You have destruction races were the goal is to take down others or straight out street races, the list goes on. Each mode offers a challenge that you will have to take in order to finish and win anything in this game.  You will be racing for pride in Japan, USA and Europe. We appreciate how each geographical location in the game has its own attributes and racing style. The Japanese have intense underground races going on that you will participate in; the Americans concentrate more on straight speed racing while Europe takes care of long laps and mountain based tracks. The diverse, yet attractive, set of modes on hand make this game a fixture in your daily gaming diet this summer.

The career mode Grid offers is interesting. Similar to the way DIRT handled the mode, Grid will throw you in a race against time and some tough competitions to beat and earn reputation on the way. The more you win the more money and reputation you will get resulting in faster cars and hotter girls. Sorry to disappoint you but virtual hotties did not make the cut, everything else I mentioned did however. You will be buying and selling cars like a dealer in order to make sure the right car is available for the right track. Just like DIRT, picking the right car in Grid is crucial to your success. Do not expect to randomly pick a car and win straight out. Luck might help you every now and then, but the car has to match the track’s physics for you to have any chance of winning.

The lack of detailed options is one of the few things that make Grid less than a perfect experience. You will not be able to switch weather conditions for single races for example. That right there is a simple, yet frustrating bug in the game. Once you buy a car you will not be given any detailed options to upgrade or enhance that car. You will be left with a few Yes or No questions, a level of detail that falls way short of what other racing games have offered over the past few years. Games such as Forza 2 have added a ton of details and options for every car you purchase and use.  This brings us to the fact that Grid is more of an arcade game than a true driving simulation game

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