GRID 2 is the sequel to the street racing game GRID which was released back in 2008, and in my opinion, way overdue. GRID came on the scene around the same time that the Need for Speed series was on the decline, and it was quite the breath of fresh air. I had hoped that Codemasters would continue the series, but it looks like they had more faith in the DiRT games since we have seen two of those games since GRID has been released. I’m not complaining, though; I loved DiRT 2, and even though I had my gripes about how the DLC was distributed for DiRT 3, I can’t argue that it wasn’t a solid game. However, when I heard the news about GRID 2 nothing could stop the huge cheese smile that took over my face.
From the single player perspective, GRID 2 gets you right in the action. As soon as you start the game you will find yourself racing around the city streets of Chicago. Winning this race will put you in the sights of someone who wants to start a racing league to determine the best driver in the world. He needs you to help convince other drivers to join the league, and since we are talking about a video game here, you know that convincing doesn’t consist of thought-provoking conversation. You will need to beat racing clubs at their best events to convince them to come on board. While you’re doing this you will attract fans, and you will need these fans to justify unlocking new events and seasons of World Series Racing. Each season has two parts if you ask me: the preseason where you attract racing clubs and then the WSR series proper.
The preseason gives you a taste of what is to come in the upcoming WSR season, and there are quite a few types of racing events so players shouldn’t get bored of doing the same old thing. Of course you have your standard racing which comes in both lap and point-to-point variety. Other popular racing modes are available such as Time Attack where you need to get the fastest lap out of all racers, Elimination where the racer in last place is retired every 20 seconds until only one remains, and even Drifting where you’re judged on how well you drift around corners; making sure you keep your speed while cutting corners close.
Faceoff races are one-on-one and are round based. Each round losers are dropped until the final two racers are left standing to duke it out. Touge is a race mode that you don’t see in too many racing games. The objective is to either pull ahead of your opponent by at least five seconds or get to the finish line first. You do this twice — once with your opponent behind you and again with them in front of you. Checkpoint racing is also available, and I was surprised to see this since most games that use it do as their primary mechanic (Hi Midnight Club, you’re long overdue too.). In GRID 2 there is no final checkpoint, however. Your objective is to have traveled the farthest distance before you run out of time. Each checkpoint gives you more time, so basically you need to make sure you get in first and outlast all of the other drivers.
There are additional race modes that are only available in Promos; which are a way you can attract more fans. An Endurance promo lasts for a set amount of time, and at the end of that time period you need to make sure you are in first. Doesn’t sound like much, but once you get past the initial 3-4 minute races, the name of the event becomes more apparent. Overtake (which is my favorite Promo event) is an event where you need to pass other vehicles on the road. As you pass the vehicles you gain points, and those points multiply with every passed vehicle. If you collide with anything (another vehicle, railing, wall) your point multiplier will decrease back to 100. At first I thought it was cake, but the other vehicles are moving on the track and sometimes their movement is not what you would expect.
Another way to get fans is to complete sponsor objectives. You will be able to choose the sponsors of your choice, and each of them has a specific objective attached like beating a specific racer, going full lap in the lead, drifting a certain distance, etc. You can only complete a sponsor objective once, and at least once a season you will be able to change sponsors.
Usually in racing games if there is some type of coach or announcer I will try to turn them off. Most of the time they just annoy me. Surprisingly, Codemasters was able to implement an AI race engineer that wasn’t irritating at all, and actually, was quite helpful. The first thing I noticed is that when you return to a track that you have already raced, the AI remembers how you performed previously on the track. Each track is broken down in to four sectors that you can see above the mini-map gauge. At the beginning of the race you may hear your engineer say, “sector three was a problem area for us last time, be alert” or maybe “we’re strong in sector one”. It may not mean much for the sectors you’re strong in, but it definitely reminded me to be more cautious once I was in trouble sectors, and it worked out well.
The engineer gives you good advice about the vehicle that you are in; it really comes in handy sometimes because you may be forced to drive a new vehicle you weren’t expecting. In the event that you manage to damage your car (which is likely), he will also tell you about the damage and its affect. Damage to your car may affect the performance, but since it takes a lot of damage to do that, in most cases you will probably hit something and then your car may pull left or right. Sometimes you don’t always notice that you knocked the vehicle off alignment, so having the engineer there to tell you is great so you know that you need to adjust the way you drive. Sure, you don’t NEED the engineer, but I can’t deny that he provides good, useful intel.
The newest and most unique feature of GRID 2 has to be Liveroutes. Liveroutes is a track that changes dynamically as you race through it, and because of this there is no memorizing break points or how to handle certain parts of the track. A lot of the racing is pure reaction, although after you have played for a while the different sections may become familiar to you. Not familiar enough, however, since I found myself in some emergency breaking and drifting situations because I became too comfortable. While Liveroutes is active the minimap is disabled, so you can only rely on your eyes and reflexes as you make your way to what could be a sharp turn.
The driving experience is solid, with each car having their own unique attributes that made driving them different from other cars. You may think two vehicles are pretty similar until you get them into certain situations like trying to turn at high speeds, realizing they react very differently. I’m always a little amazed when a developer is able to put the sense of weight on a virtual vehicle that I’m controlling with a gamepad; a control that by nature really can’t translate the experience of driving these vehicles very well. Codemasters did a great job with this, and with practice you should be able to master vehicles that fit your driving taste.
Although I think the driving experience was great and the game was fun, it wasn’t without its shortcomings. First off, on higher difficulties I felt the AI was too aggressive on a physical level. I started playing on the normal difficulty level, but since I wasn’t interested in playing a car passing simulator, I decided to kick it up a notch. I fully expected the races to be more difficult, with drivers driving more efficiently to win. This did happen, but so did the paint trading. Opposing AI had no problem getting rough with me while driving, which became very frustrating as I like to drive clean races. Not only did I need to worry about my driving, but now the AI is going bat shit at times. In general I did notice more AI crashes on the harder difficulty levels; even some that worked in my favor. Too aggressive? I think so.
I also noticed that cars where almost magically able to pull away from me when it came down to the top three places. I’m not talking about cars that are just faster than mine, or a driver that was just out-driving me, either. I could be running a damn near perfect racing line against a car that I know is statistically inferior to mine in both the real world and the confines of the game, and yet at some points they would just start to pull away from me like they had some type of magic fuel. They aren’t impossible to beat, and once I found points at which I could take control I was able to overcome these magical racers, but it becomes very frustrating and I had to shut the game down on more than one occasion. Make the game harder by making the AI smarter; not by giving it magic powers.
One of the bigger problems (but it’s not really a problem) I had with the single player was that there was no currency or point system for me to unlock or upgrade cars—All cars are given to you over time. Many times you will need to choose between two cars, but you will have a chance to obtain the other car later. You are given all paint options, liveries, rims, and any other customizations options at the start of the game. Basically your main objective is to get first in every race until you beat the game. In between that time though, it would have been nice to have something else to work toward; like unlocking a car or customizations options. Having that in games helps to build a better sense of accomplishment and keeps the player busy working toward the smaller goals while simultaneously working toward the main one. GRID 2 doesn’t have that.
What GRID 2 does have is beautiful visuals. I can’t speak for the console side of things, but on PC running at Ultra GRID 2 is gorgeous. Besides the cars showing tremendous detail and the game having phenomenal lighting effects, the cities look great as well. Not only do they look good, they are alive, with people in the streets, airplanes flying by, sparks coming off of train tracks as trains pass; this all aids in making the game feel alive. The way the camera shakes based on the terrain and how fast you are going really helped relay a true sense of speed. Couple all of that with 60fps and you have yourself a great looking game.
Unless you can get in with a good group of drivers, playing racing games online is an exercise in futility; and GRID 2 is no different. It’s not that the online modes are bad, it’s that the general population sucks at racing games. I played multiplayer for a bit, and to be honest, it might as well been Destruction Derby. Most of the players I played with were missing the bulk of parts from their cars, and if you won the race it was either because you were lucky enough not to be taken out by a dumbass or you were the dumbass taking everyone out.
You can choose to setup custom games, but unless you have someone to play with your best option is to go with one of the playlists that specifies what types of races you want to do. If you don’t want to race head to head against other people there are global challenges you can complete, which are typically single player ranked affairs that change weekly. Finally, at least one rival is chosen for you weekly, with your objective being that you are supposed to get more XP than them.
GRID 2 online is completely separate from single player, as any cars you have unlocked on either side does not affect the other. Actually, to unlock cars online you need to two things: cash and XP. You purchase cars with cash that you receive from racing online, but those cars are only available after you are a certain level; with XP being obtained from placing in races as well. I don’t know why they couldn’t have that system in the single player, but at least they put it somewhere.
Though I had my gripes about it, GRID 2 is an excellent game. There should be more than enough to keep any racing fan happy as long as you aren’t looking for a simulation racer With the Need for Speed series still in decline and the racing market kind of dry right now, it was a perfect time for GRID 2 to step on the scene. Here’s to hoping that Codemasters won’t make us wait so long for another GRID game.
