GRIP: Combat Racing Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: GRIP: Combat Racing
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:

Those of you that grew up in the early 90s or 2000s will have remembered the demolition racing game Rollcage and its sequel.
Well, a spiritual successor for that game has come into the spotlight, and it promises to amp everything up using the latest state-of-the-art graphics.

Racing games have been with us since the earliest consoles, and aside from the graphics, little has changed within the genre. However, some titles try and push the boundaries of what it means to race, adding more elements to make everything more exciting (as if going 500 miles per hour isn't exciting enough).

If you're a fan of exotic real-life cars and enjoy viewing them as they pass realistic countryside simulations, then this game is NOT for you. However, if you enjoy high-octane adrenaline-filled thrill rides where destruction, speed, and gravity-defying moves are all in a day's work, then Grip is the title for you.

Of course, there are a few things you'd expect from a racing game that you'll find in here too, such as extensive vehicle customization, with some elements only being made available once the player reaches a certain level of progress within the game.

My inner fashion diva was excited when I saw the sheer amount of customization I could bring to the vehicles, both in term of models and paint jobs, and I felt a little bad playing later when I realized that the whole car would occasionally be blown to bits and all that beautiful paint will amount to nothing.

Although the overall atmosphere may make you think that Grip is somewhat chaotic, that isn't the case. You'll need quick reaction times if you ever hope on making any sense of whatever is going in a race from start to finish. The faster you go, the more blurry the environment looks like as it passes you, and this goes on to the point where you may be afraid to go any faster, even if in reality you're safely sitting in your chair at your computer desk. In fact, there were many matches when I realized just how tense my body was and how zoned out my mind was only after I crossed the finish line, relaxed, and took a breather.

If graphics and physics aren't enough for you to feel immersed in this world of speed, then the OST will be the finishing touch. The game currently comprises 24 tracks provided by a variety of artists whom fans of the drum and bass probably know already (e.g., Makoto, Full Kontakt or Krakota).

Judicious timing of when, where and whom you should use your weapons on, and when to activate speed boosts can make you go from tenth to first place within a few seconds.  Unfortunately, bad timing in doing all of the above will get you the exact opposite result.

Game matches don't last too long, up to 10 minutes at best, but the sheer amount of decisions you have to make in that brief window of time will make them the longest and most intense 10 minutes of your life.

Since Grip seems like the spiritual successor to a few games from the 90s, it comes as no surprise that Grip tugs on your nostalgia heartstrings by bringing us split-screen multiplayer gameplay, so multiplayer is no longer just you against someone over the Internet.

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I will admit that it felt good sharing the same big screen with someone else, especially since given the pace of the game, any hope of peeking at what my opponent was looking at would be disastrous since I would most likely be hitting a rock, a wall or end up blown to smithereens by whoever may be behind me.

Unfortunately, playing in split-screen mode requires you to use controllers, which leads us to the only major problem of this game. Using controllers to play the PC version of Grip feels rather unresponsive, which can be quite critical when you are discussing a game where the car you are driving reaches 500 MPH and needs to make a sharp turn.

While this is not a game breaking issue, you'll see a great difference in scores when switching between keyboard and controller.


The Good

  • Great graphics
  • Short but intense matches
  • Split-screen support
  • Multi-controller support

The Bad

  • Clunky controller commands
  • Most customization features need to be unlocked

Conclusion

Sequels to a game series that are released after a very long time can usually go one of three ways; they are either a huge success, they are hated because they never attained the feel of the original, or they are ignored so hard you only ever hear about them when browsing the series' Wikipedia page.

GRIP: Combat Racing promises to fall into the first category, bringing justice to an old series of games that have become cult classics themselves. The graphics and physics engine aren't just there just to give the series a facelift, they take what it advertised as its strong point, speed and death-defying acrobatics, and crank them up to eleven!

story 0
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 9
audio 9
multiplayer 8
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 

Photo Gallery (16 Images)

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