Amazon.com: GRID: Xbox 360: Video Games

30 Reviews

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

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3.8 out of 5 stars (30 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All drivers to your cars..., July 16, 2008

By	Strategos "The Guardian of Time" (In Space above Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

There are racing simulators, and then there are racing GAMES. I read a preview and an interview in two issues of Edge magazine discussing the new direction Codemasters was taking in this game, and by the time I finished the preview I was so exited I knew I had to preorder the game and make the first full-price purchase I've ever made of a 360 game. The reason is simple. As one of the game's creators said, the racing genre has become a collect-a-thon with very little to do with the joy of racing. We've come to invest massive amounts of time into things like Forza and Gran Turismo without actually enjoying the races, just trying to win enough money to buy that next car or rank high enough to unlock that next track. The Race Driver series, like the Colin McRae Rally series, has been trying to gain a foothold in the west for some time. Personally I have no problem with TOCA or Rally (I love every Colin McRae game I've played except, strangely, Dirt), but everyone else seems to need some convincing. Codemasters have been trying to do this for years by throwing all kinds of crazy modes at you in the Race Driver series. With Grid maybe they'll finally get your attention.

The first thing you will probably notice is the graphics engine that powers this game (the same one from Dirt). These are next next NEXT generation graphics. Flags wave in the breeze, crowds cheer and jump up and down, and huge clouds of smoke shoot from your tires when you spin your tires. At the starting line, there is a fog of exhaust from the idling cars. But when you start racing, you realize that everything is also faster than greased lightning, giving you that sense of speed previously only seen in the movies.

When I first played the demo, the impression I got was that the developers watched The Fast and the Furious, Gone in 60 Seconds, and bunch more like them, and said "We need our game to look, move, and feel like THAT." Just before the race starts the camera does a lightning-fast zoom to the cars from an overhead view. On the replays, the camera shakes and rattles like it's a helicopter shot tracking your car, and your car is itself has the shake and blur of an object rocketing along at incredible speed. Nothing like the Sunday driver replays we've all become accustomed to. The sense of speed is really fantastic, and the game's controls will at first take some getting used to, because the cars are far more controllable than you are probably used to (resulting in a lot of spin-outs and wall-slams because you aren't expecting to turn so sharp). What this translates to is that when you get used the feel of this game it's a non-stop thrill ride as your car flies around corners and takes off from a stop like something out of a forth of July blockbuster.

And let's not forget about the car deformation and physics engine. While I don't think it's possible to land upside down, I have wedged my car on top of wals, flipped end over end, spun my car 360 degrees in the air, and smashed my car till all that remained of the front was the engine (and I can't count the times I've seen my wheels fly off). Yes, this game has damage, and it's way better than the damage in any other game I know of. It's not realistic, but it is TOUGH. If you have a head-on collision at top speed, that's it. Your car is wrecked. Fortunately the new Rewind feature makes it possible to stop time and rewind to before the crash (ala Prince of Persia's innovative time-control system). Is it a cheap gimmick? No. It's a really cool feature and an absolute lifesaver. But of course, it also demishes your score, can only be used a certain number of times, and in higher difficulty settings and record score making can't be used at all. Think of it like the ideal line in Forza. It may be cheating, but it's a game, not real life. And there's no point in playing a game if you can't have fun. And a whole lot of fun Grid is.

The A.I. in the game is also quite good, and not just because cars keep slamming into you and trying to force you off the road (in a couple of races one or two of the leaders kept trying to block the road to keep me from passing and when I got ahead harassed me continually from behind). The other drivers will actually fight each other, spin out, and crash all on their own. This makes everything enormously exciting because it stops feeling like you're racing a computer that never makes mistakes and instead feels like you're racing a wild pack of drivers jockeying for position (thankfully more Speed Racer and Nascar). Realism freaks will cry foul, but people like me who are TIRED of realism getting in the way of having fun will love the atmosphere of the races, where you feel rivalry and desperation in every race, and know that you could go from last to first or vice versa at any time (making every race feel like one of the greastest you've ever seen on TV, because crazy comebacks and smash-ups at the finish line do ocassionally happen in real-life).

While most racing games stick with one mode, Grid has you doing all kind of crazy races, from destruction derby to drift challenges, to one-on-one mountain racing. You'll drive Formula 3, Super cars, and muscle cars. You'll drive everywhere from Long Beach to Le Mans. While I wish there were more tracks (I loved the destruction derby and wish there were a few more of my favorite European tracks), the limited car selection doesn't bother me at all, because all the cars are fast and fun and very usable. Similarly I'm GLAD there's no car tweaking and tuning because in the end it just distracts from RACING. Leave that adjustment stuff to my mechanic, thank you very much.

The sound in this game is roaring, from tire screeches to the turbine-engine whine of your formula 3 at high rpms. The crashes and crunches come perfectly and the music is upbeat and heart-racing. There's also a manager and Crew Chief who talk to you through the game offering advice, and even address you by name (when you create your profile, you select what they should call you from a list).

The only real snag I've hit so far is the unbalanced difficultly in the events. I can pretty much always hit a podium finished in the United States races, but the European track courses are REALLY hard, as is getting anything other than last place in Le Mans 24 hour (which in a really cool move is 24 minutes long). If playing on Easy meant I could always get at least 10th place I would have no complaints.

There you have it. This is the game everyone's been waiting for. There's fast and furious racing action with the best replays in history. Glorious graphics at lightning speed, roaring sound with good music (for the first time in a racing game since I can remember), cool commentary as you race that addresses you by name (how cool is that!?), awesome physics and A.I. that results in cars trying to push you off the road and crazy smash-up crashes, and fun, fun, FUN racing events with lots of variety. If you love racing games you need to buy this one.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just have fun, July 15, 2008

By	J. A. Ruth "jerry20874" (Germantown, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

I have had this game now for about 3 weeks. I am a casual player and don't play everyday. I have played PGR 3 and 4 and Codemasters Dirt title.

This is a fun game. It takes a little while to master the controls (Hint, ease up on the throttle Mario, you'll do better). This is a game that's part game and part sim. The physics are as real as a game can get and still be playable. Otherwise most players would never finish the first lap. That being said, the game has some quirks that made me nearly throw it in the garbage till I learned how to work with them, not get around them.

You have to drive in this game. Unlike other race games you can't just stick your hood in there and push cars out of the way (except the demo derby). Same thing with following in a pack of racers. When you know a turn is coming up you have to slooow down or you will impact the car in front of you and you will take damage. Which will affect your ability to score high or even finish. The graphics are great and yes, the Voice Over can get really annoying. Repeating the same thing over and over. Unlike Dirt, it really doesn't offer a lot of useful information. You can derive your positioning from the HUD.

I saw a lot of complaints about car setups, or the lack there of. Fine with me, I don't have a lot of time to fiddle with this and that and just want to get right in and play without tweaking my gear ratios or my suspension preloads and so forth. I just want to get in and drive and race. Took me a while to get used to drifting, something I have never done, but once you get the hang of it it's fun.

Big con for me is it seems that it's all to easy to be spun out. Now, I know that's realistic on the track and all, but it only seems to take a tap and you're in a 360 and the guy that tapped you is on his merry way. I have yet to tap anyone out like that. Only seems to happens to you.

It's a fun game though as long as you realize it's for fun.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haven't blinked in three hours!!, July 7, 2008

By	Y. Muthafar "Bo DANA" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

This game is so incredible, absolutely the best arcade style racing game since underground 2, I just can't stop playing.

It's not so easy to play, other games are easier compared to this one just try to take it easy and remember it's just a game and you'll be having loads of fun.

Basically you have three regions to race in, the US, Europe, and the best Japan, each time you win an event in a certain region your reputation builds up leading to the next licence which will increase the amount of money you get.

I personally think that the drift races are the best, you also have time trials, speed trials, and your regular races plus a few more.

The cars are already customised according to the teams they belong to, once you get your team going you can then choose a color,some vinyls, a number,and some sponsor decals that will be placed on the cars.

once you have chosen your team colors every car that you bought or will buy is gonna have the same, when you reach the second license you can start hiring a driver ( you can also fire him )that will race with you each time you enter an event, you can also take the driving offers by teams that will hire you and give you a huge bonus if you achieve what they want ( finish ahead of this or that team, win the event, finish no lower than 3rd...)

At the end of each season you will have a chance to race in Lemans, it's really hard but the good thing is that you can skip it and jump to the next season.

Ok now the damage part, most of us don't like it but you can use the flashback feature that will rewind your crash so that you can avoid it, sometimes the car won't even go straight! I just restart the race when that happens!

I really enjoyed DIRT and now CODEMASTERS gives us this which is even better, cant wait for their next game.