RaceDriver: GRID (Xbox 360) Review

The latest driving simulator from the developers down at Codemasters, Racedriver: Grid, the replacement of the Colin McRae series. The links between this and the TOCA racing game series which has been around now for over a decade are very obvious throughout the game. Codemasters probably thought the series would need a re-branding to enter the massive next gen market and Pc gaming.

The story for GRID, if you call it a story, is actually really good, it offers a massive amount of variety and different locations to race in. It uses the same kind of triangular system that was used in DIRT, which works really well so I am glad they used this for the game. What happens is you start at the bottom working you up the triangle; getting harder and longer races the nearer you get to the top, but you do earn more money to spend on new cars. The races are in 3 different locations across the world including Europe, America and Japan/Asia. At these locations you will do different of racing including drifting, lap times, and ‘head head’s’. The single player in this game is huge, it’s not just that you get all the different modes and races but the extras, like ebay motors and sponsors. It really does work well.

This game really does shine on the consoles and computers, the graphics are bright and rich with detail. One of the coolest things I thought was the shadow technology because it has been done perfectly. The colors are vivid and powerful, so you can become fully Immersed into the game. The detail far surpasses nearly every other racer on the platform to date. The graphics truly are amazing, after every play it will leave you thinking that truly is a next generation game.

The AI of the opposition is quite a challenge, almost to the point where anything above normal is impossible. I don’t know if that is just me being rubbish or what, but I have spoken to some friends who played the demo and found it hard. Apart from the difficulty, the gameplay is fast and fluid, the control scheme is set out perfectly for this racer. One of the things I noticed about this game, is your car is not automatically faster than the rest of the racers even on the easiest difficulty. Which adds a new element of gameplay I think, because you have to actually think more about what you are doing, which is more than most other similar games. In essence this is just Colin McRae Dirt with an updated game engine and re-skinned for track racing, but it does work so why change it. I do like the way if you mess up on a corner, you have the option to reverse the last 10 seconds to redo the corner without starting the race again. This is a new feature which I hope stays for new versions.

The sound and audio was one the things which let it down in my books, I just didn’t think it was as good as it could be. The noise’s the cars make were good, but the background noise wasn’t very good. So I nearly always had music playing in the background to compensate, which along with the gameplay made the game a lot of fun. I know the sound is not what everyone looks for in a game, but I do think that it is important to an immersive game. It is worth though when playing to have the speakers up loud because the engine sounds are truly brilliant, revving the engine to start does make you anticipate the race more.

Apart from having a massive single player, GRID also comes with an expansive multiplayer. With the ability to pick what kind of race you would like to do and at what location, by the use of a voting system. In the multiplayer you can choose all the different race modes which you could in the single player, like drift or Le Mans 24. The multiplayer will keep you coming back to this game over and over; it does have massive replay value. Like trying to buy all of the cars and extras with the money you earn in game.

Overall this truly is a brilliant game not only as a racer but compared with all other types of games, with a wonderful single player and expansive multiplayer, it is the full package. It gets around the fact that this is just Colin McRae Dirt re-skinned by its fast gameplay and amazing graphics. This game is definitely worth a buy or rental.

RaceDriver: GRID (Xbox 360) Review, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

No related posts.