Grid (PC)
For sometime now many have been looking forward to playing this game. I’ve been waiting for it ever since saw a preview on YouTube not too long ago. Grid is an intense professional racing game, think Need For Speed: ProStreet for grown ups. Grid is currently on three of the major systems, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. I will be reviewing the PC version.
Installation:
Installing the game was fairly simple, although I was surprised by the game not prompting me for a CD key. It took roughly 7-10minutes to install.
Minimum PC Specs are as follows:
- Windows XP/Vista. (if running Windows Vista SP1 is recommended)
- DirectX 9.0c
- Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz or Athlon 64 CPU
- 1GB RAM.
- Graphics Card: GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1300 or above
- DirectX Compatible Sound Card
-*Dual Layer Compatible*DVD-ROM Drive
- 12.5 GB Hard Drive Space
First Impressions:
Upon starting the game I was greeted by a very nice intro. I liked it so much that I watched it a second time before attempting to play. The start up screen requires you to create a profile, as do most games. So I enter in my name and then I have to select an alias or something like that. I went with "Goose." Top Gun anyone?
Once that was done I was ready to race, only problem is the game would not get past the loading screen. Crap, it froze. I rebooted the game several times and finally had to checkout the Grid forums. Turns out SkullTrail system have some problems with Grid. Fine, I edited a few game files that would "fix" the problem. I start up the game and this time I am able to race, or so I thought.
The game was getting, no word of a lie, about 1frame every 5 seconds. What the frick! Once again I find myself on the Grid forums looking for a fix. I find out that Vista SP1 is recommend. Let me just say this, SP1 is REQUIRED to run Grid. So I spend some more time installing SP1. After about 5 hours of trying to get the game to run I am finally able to play.
I start up my first race, graphics look sick and the sounds are awesome. I get a good start off the line and hit my first corner, literally. I plowed face first into several cars and then spinning into the wall, totaling my car. I couldn't figure out what happened, maybe I hit the breaks too late or something, so I try again. Nope same thing, only this time I noticed the problem. To turn the car you BARELY touch the analog stick on the 360 controller. I think this is what then mean by a learning curve.
As far as first impressions go, I was pissed. Bugs, glitches and cars that like to spin, way to go Grid.
Graphics:
Oh hell yeah! The graphics are extremely good. It has to be one of the better looking games currently out. The cars, tracks, people, and everything look spot on. Bump into the wall or another car and your paint becomes scuffed or hit something hard enough and watch fenders, hoods and wheels fly off only to end up bouncing down the track.
Some tracks have night modes which adds a whole new level of difficulty as you can not see far ahead of you. There is a problem with night races that I have noticed. It seems that frame rates drop a fair bit during them. I'm not sure why this is but it is rather annoying.
Sounds:
The car sounds are great, however the music isn't the best. Once in awhile it will switch music to make the race more dramatic, like at the last three hours of the Le Mans race.
Your spotter calls out events on the track for you such as upcoming spin outs, where you are in the race and so on. The idea of a spotter is great, if he wasn't so useless. Half the time he calls out a spin out that you passed 20seconds ago, or he will say you have some damage to your car "but it is nothing serious" even though you have totaled it. The idea is great however it needs a lot of work to improve it to the point of being semi-useful.
Controls and Game play:
I think this game hates me. First it didn't like my dual processor system, then it didn't like my OS version and now it makes me feel like a horrid driver. Never have I been so hard pressed to finish a racing game. The controls will send you spinning at the slightest mistake and the AI hates you with a passion, it loves to bump you causing your car to skid into a wall. To turn most corners you barely move the 360's analog stick. There is no way to change the sensitivity either, meaning you either get use to it or get out.
I figured since this game's cars are so touchy maybe a proper control system is in order. So I pop on down to the local computer store and pick myself up a Logitech G25 racing wheel set, at a rather pricey $300. If there is one thing that will give me a chance at avoiding the walls it is an over priced controller. I was shocked to find out it really did help, a lot! For once having a racing wheel paid off over the 360 controller.
Once you get the controls down you are really able to enjoy the game. The first few races are for other teams until you make enough money to start your own. Once you start your own team the money begins to roll in. After awhile you are able to hire a team mate and increase your chances of winning a race.
After winning races you are offered deals from sponsors which include bonuses isf you finish a race, and higher bonuses is you get first place.
There are several different disciplines of driving ranging from stock cars to GT1. My favorite so far seems to be the pro muscle with GT1 in a close second. Each discipline has different cars, tracks and so on. Grid only has three race modes, your standard race, drift racing and everyones favorite demolition derby!
Upon completing races and winning them you gain reputation. This reputation goes towards unlocking new licenses in America, Europe and Japan. Unlocking licenses allows you to enter more races, and make more money. Once you unlock enough licenses and 1 million reputation points a global league will open up that is much more challenging than the ones before.
One feature that I really like is the flashback. If you wreak your car you can use the instant replay to go back in time a few seconds and avoid wreaking. I found it to be very useful in the early races when I was still getting used to the controls and wreaking a fair bit.
Customization:
Other than being able to choose between a few patterns and paint colors there is not a lot of customizing you can do with you car, but if you have the PC version it is a different story. You can edit the textures of Grid fairly easily allowing you to create new paint jobs for your car. The only down side is you need Photoshop, a dds editor and some time. Other than cars you are able to change a few things with your team such as name, your team mate and sponsors. After that there is nothing you can do out side of heavy modifications to the game like editing the HUD, light effects and so on.
Replay Value:
If you are able to get use to the controls then the replay value could be very high for Grid. The single player is a lot of fun. Winning all the events could take some time to do and could prove to be quite the challenge to complete them all on the hardest setting.
Multiplayer:
In this day and age multiplayer is very important for a game to have. Grid allows you to play online against others as expected as well as download other peoples times. the multiplayer seems to be decent aside from the few glitches expect for one thing that made me question the developers.
While troubleshooting Grid on the forums I came across a topic that said that people could pirate any version of Grid and play online because it does not use CD keys. I didn't really believe it and I decided to check it out. I downloaded Grid (not going to say where I got it from) and installed it on a second computer. Turns out it is true. Those who mod their Xbox360 or PS3 or download grid illegally can play the game online.
With no sort of security or validation to keep pirated copies of the game offline, I feel ripped off. I spent my money on a game only to have some kid download it for free and race beside me online. Not cool at all.
Review continued in next post.