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Once every blue moon a game comes along that redefines its genre. Grid is not that game, but it comes an inch within winning the award. For anyone who’s played Codemasters’ previous racing title, Dirt (which is sadly the last game in the Colin McRae series due to his untimely passing), they will be right at home. The presentation, shiny icons, rich 5.1 surround sound and graphics engine is a damning likeness. We’re not talking the same game but one which when picked up is obviously from the same developers. The team have managed to improve the game in nearly respect and it’s a wonderful example of what concentrated developement can produce. You know from the opening paragraph alone that Grid is verging on the sublime, but the key question is why.
The answer is pretty simple; focus. With so many developers presuming that ‘next-gen’ means larger scale, levels and set peices, the resultant increase in scope is dangerous. Not only does it mean longer development cycles, larger budgets and vast teams, but the game itself is going to suffer. The possibilty of something going wrong, whether it is game crippling bugs or a boring game mechanic, is lowered to odds of near 1.1. Too many cooks spoil the broth comes to mind. In Grid’s case, none of those problems arise due to the fact that the developers have focused on several things; a small (but no means tiny) selection of cars which suit the tracks selected. There’s not 700 hot rods on offer and netiher can you race every track in the world. The game’s main campaign mode (which has taken its tier inspiration from Dirt) splits the world into three distinct regions. Once you’ve done a few introductory races, you’ll have enough cash to set up your team. You give it the customary quirky name and start at the bottom, devoid of any reputation or cash. You can then enter races in Europe, the US and Japan. Europe has the professional race tracks, while the US focuses on muscle cars and urban racing. Japan has high powered hot rods with an emphasis on drifting. There’s something for everyone in Grid and it’s all easy to get at. Driving and more importantly, winning will earn you cash. It’s a pretty bog standard affair which has been seen a thousand times before. Grid attempts to mix it up by adding a parrallel earnable, reputation. By winning races, your reputation as a driver, (as well as your team) will slowly increase. Gain more reputation and you’ll unlock advanced races in the higher tiers. The developers have tied reputation in with the game’s diffculty allowing for an organic system. You can adjust your difficulty to produce a challenge, which in turn increases the amount of reputation that you can earn. Locking the viewpoint in cockpit bumps up the possible payout, as does turning on the pro mode, setting the amounts of flashbacks available to zero.  And thus we arrive to Grid’s most valuable asset; the flashback system. The harder you make the game’s difficulty, the lower the amount of flashbacks you’ll have to use. Flashbacks are exactly what they say on the tin. If you find yourself rolling your car, getting too upclose and personal with a barrier or developing a tirewall fetish then you’ll most likely break your car beyond repair. Usually this would mean a race restart, but if you’ve got flashbacks available you can start up the instant replay system, rewind and then go from a point you choose. It’s impossible to get wrong and suprisingly not game breaking. Obvisously you can still restart the race and we often found ourselves doing that anyway, but if you screwed up the last corner of Le Mans then it doesn’t reflect your overall performance. Using a flashback will cut the cash you get from its bonus, but its risk-reward is a no brainer. You’ll find yourselves looking at other racers and crying out for it to be added. It places the game above the competition with ease and is one of the most innuitive, yet simple features to grace our gaming careers. You’re most likely crying out with “I won’t need it anyway, I’m a good driver,” which is false as Grid is mean. Its AI is constantly looking for fresh meat. The AI is Grid’s other selling point; it’s tour de force. We’ve never met such aggressive, ruthless or realistic AI ever. You’ll most likely forget that you’re playing against the computer and not online. They hold no qualms ramming you, using you as a barrier or simply leaving you in the dust. They’re close to human. They’ll crash and spin out without any input from you. It’s great applying pressure to the leader for them to only spin out on the last corner gifting you the victory. It’s lead to some spectacular crashes, which is helped by the damage mechanics. Grid may lack Burnout’s over the top smashes, but it’s no Gran Turismo. It’s got a fully fledged damage system where the cars crumple accordingly, lose panels and fall to bits. Scrapes are simply aesthetic, but meatier impacts cause performance impacts. Your steering may become jammed or the engine may lose its top speed. It’s another box ticked, bumping up Grid’s score. Online, Grid offers the same frantic racing as off. Add in human controlled cars and you’re unlikely going to reach the end of the race. The server browser could use a bit of work, but it does the job. It rounds off a near perfect package. There’s not much to gripe about when you seriously examine Grid. It brings the old with a new twist. It’s hampered by the drifting which is difficult to get hold of without a wheel. Minus that, it fully deserves the nine it gets. Score: 9/10 Be sure to patch up to version 1.1.
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