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- From sophisticated F1 cars to exotic Japanese imports, American muscle to off road 4x4’s, the world of video driving games has never been better.
Ask 100 people which games console is king of the road when it comes to the best for driving based games and the split will be pretty close between the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
We take a look at what these colossus giants have to offer when it comes to 4 wheels and although not as sophisticated as the big two we also take a look at what the Nintendo Wii has to throw into the ring.
Pit Stops
Review Based On PS3 Version
This arcade racer has some hardcore appeal, but casual gamers will fall in love instantly with it. While many other racing games focus on buying new cars, customizing cars and climbing event ladders, that can be a bit intimidating (not to mention frustrating) and some gamers just don’t enjoy focusing on those aspects. They want to sit down and drive, and that’s what GRID offers. You can choose to race muscle cars through city streets in the US, touring cars on racetracks in Europe, or head to Japan for some drifting action in souped-up Suburus and the like.
GRID still has a system where you earn money, buy new vehicles and move up a hierarchy of events, but it doesn’t feel like it because the moment you start to feel muscle cars or urban environments becoming tedious you can head over to Europe and it’s like a whole new game. If something is getting old or simply frustrating, there are always two completely different things you can be doing. There are also no vehicle upgrades. You just sell your old one and buy something better. For hardcore gamers that might be a check in the minus column but for casual players it’s one less level of unnecessary complication standing between them and their next race.
The control scheme is also very accessible, which won’t give racing sim aficionados anything to cheer about but again is a feature that makes the game very accessible to less experienced racers. You’ll also see some sophisticated damage modeling and cars will begin to have performance quirks and problems as they take more and more damage to specific areas of the vehicle. Minor damage won’t affect driveability at all but a heavily damaged car can be virtually impossible to get across the finish line.
There is also a flashback feature that allow you to jump back in time to replay a portion of track where things went seriously wrong for you. This is not just helpful for when you accidentally drive straight into a wall, but also for when you’re thrown into one. Yes, the game’s AI opponents are extremely aggressive. This adds another level of excitement and challenge to the game, but because of the flashback option it’s unlikely to frustrate even the greenest driver too much.
Purists are still rewarded though, your prize money at the end of each race is determined in part by what difficulty level you raced at (which in turn controls how many flashbacks you can use) and is reduced somewhat every time you use the flashback feature. In this way the game remains accessible but the hardcore faithful will get better pay, and therefore better cars earlier in the game.
GRID’s graphics are smart and really add to the feel of the game. The AI opponents drive in a challenging, but realistic manner. You can also play online with up to 11 other players, and you can use any of the tracks or vehicles from the single player game during multiplayer as well. This game isn’t all things to all players but it doesn’t try to be. What it is, is just plain fun.
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