GRID – First Impressions
Last week, Codemasters slipped out a demo to their newest racing franchise, GRID. Marketed as an “exciting” alternative to more stagnant racers like Gran Turismo and Forza, GRID is meant to make racing games “fun” again. Judging from the trailers, GRID certainly looked exciting. The graphics looked better than Gran Turismo, the physics looked more… physical than Forza. The trailers made the game look like it would have the realism of the sim racers, with the excitement of the arcade racers. Did Codemasters pull that off and make the perfect Frankenstein racer? Not quite…
This game was made with the same graphics engine as the company’s previous racer, DIRT. From the outset, the graphics are very reminiscent of that game. This game is prettier, and there’s a lot more cars on the track at once than what DIRT could handle (without any dips in framerate, amazingly). The framerate never hits 60fps, but it runs at a rock solid 30fps. In addition to the nice visuals and art design, the game, like DIRT, provides plenty of nice amenities, like cockpit view, vehicle damage, and force feedback steering wheel support. Technically, the game is very solid.
Where it falls apart for me is in the actual gameplay. This game is very definitely not a simulation, despite the visuals which try to indicate otherwise. GRID is akin to ye old school of racing games. It has much more in common with Ridge Racer and the PGR games than the simulation style racers. Typical races start out with 20 cars, yours in last place, naturally. You have X number of laps to get from last to first. The other cars are incredibly slow compared to yours. They’re not there to compete with you, they only exist as a moving obstacle between you and the finish line. With all of the default driving assists and difficulty settings, the game is a breeze. Despite multiple crashes, of which there are many (crashes are “exciting!”), I managed to get 2nd place on my first race.
All in all, it’s not a terrible game, it’s just not terribly interesting to me now. Maybe when I was 16, this game would have been more to my liking. To be fair, it definitely nails the “excitement” vibe in a way no other racer has managed to pull off. The replays in particular are very interesting to watch. Much emphasis was put on the most optimal camera angles for maximum excitement-ness. The music, likewise, is very fast and heart-rate pumping during the replays. It’s just sad to me when the replay is far more fun to watch than the game actually is to play. I would recommend buying it to people who only like Need for Speed games, as it easily bests the latest in that franchise. For everyone else, just rent it or stick with the demo.
