Grid (2019) Video Game Review

Image Source: https://gamingbolt.com/grid-2019-15-things-you-need-to-know

Today I want to cover a video game that I finished earlier this month: Grid (2019). This game has that odd numbering convention in video games where they use the same name from an earlier title that the company published, but it isn’t a direct remake of the original game. It’s more of a “spiritual successor” of the first game (not a sequel, not a remake, just a nebulous re-imagining, I suppose). Not to be critical, but after EA did this with two of their “extreme sports” games in the late 2000s (Sled Storm & SSX), I’ve been wary of companies and projects when this is done as it usually means (from my experience playing those EA games) game developers want to continue the “franchise,” but are more invested in corporate buzzwords (“pillars of game design”) than actually creating a new and fresh take on the world without changing the core of what made the game fun to start with.

If it seems like I’m starting this review out negatively, there’s a reason for this. I didn’t really enjoy my time with this game (at least not enough for me to recommend it), but, while it often irked me, it didn’t have any fatal flaws that kept me from playing it and finishing it

A Real “Looker” (Great Graphics and Sound)

At first blush, this game looks really awesome! It has incredible graphics that are very detailed (at least on the car models) and very vibrant. While I don’t have a 4K display, this game makes me wish that I did because I’d love to see how it upscales on a 4K TV/monitor. The first couple of races/tracks are insanely good looking and really make you think that this one’s going to be winner.

The sound, especially if you have a sound system or sound bar, is really well done and the bass of the car going over the curb will have you jumping the first time you hear it vibrate the walls (its that deep)! The sound is localized fairly well so that you can hear cars creeping up behind you.

If you have a superb new 4K/8K TV and a sound system/sound bar, this is a game you’d use to show off the system.

Grid 2019 TrailerAll That Glitters Isn’t Gold

However, when you start racing in earnest after the initial blush of the game, that’s when the true game reveals itself. While the Grid series has always featured “rewinds” (I think, this is the first Grid game that I’ve ever finished having disliked the feel of other Grid games), I knew there was going to be trouble when I saw that they gave you 5 rewinds per race as a default. There’s a reason for this: the handling model is atrocious, even for an arcade racing game like this one.

To me, the car is both “understeery” and “oversteery” at the same time. What does that mean? Well, I watched loads of video reviews on the game before I bought it and one mentioned that he felt the car turned strangely–as if it turned on its “center axis,” and I agree. Most cars always seem to want to understeer (move into the curve) during turns and many want to oversteer (the back of the sliding outward) once the turn is completed. Usually, cars do one or the other based on the cars’ steering radius and the momentum in the corner, but cars here tend to do both, making driving a particularly “slippery” endeavor, especially in high powered cars.

Driving in Circles

In addition to wonky handling even for an arcade racer, there’s also the repetitive nature of the game. There’s only 2 modes (in single player, where I spent my time): racing and time attack. Racing is what it sounds like, you race other drivers, while time attack is when you race the clock with other drivers out on the course. Even though there are a fair number of courses and configurations, the drawn out structure of single player means that the game gets tedious quickly. Add in the 3 DLC (which I did as well), and I had my fill of it when I completed the main game with all gold trophies for the events, but continued on my quest to get all the gold trophies for the DLC events as well (ugh! ). I did so, but instead of exultation, there was only the sense of relief that I had finished and could move on to something else (finally)!

And, to add insult to injury, the designers clearly knew that the game was repetitive, but rather than shorten and tighten the experience, and lower the MRSP for the game (or wait and put the DLC in to justify the original asking price), they put in a trophy that was egregious to the max. The trophy asks you to drive the circumference of the Earth in miles. The problem is, even after doing EVERYTHING in the single player (and doing some the main races twice), I wasn’t even a 1/3rd of the way to that distance. That trophy seemed to have been put in to dissuade trophy hunters from playing the game, getting bored, and trading the game in and to limit the secondary market.

Overall Score: D+ (C if I would have stopped at the Main Game)

Rating: 2 out of 5.

This game currently sits at a 6/10 for Steam users (although Google says 85% people who played it liked it). I bought the game (and all its DLC) on PS Store sale, so I didn’t pay full price. Had I payed full price, the game would have been a D- or F. It is a good looking game, sure, but is it a “fun” game? Not to me, not by a long shot. I had fun with it during my first hours with the game (the first half of the main game). After that, I was looking to finish it as quickly as I could, made impossible by the number of races in each subgroup (2-4 generally per “subgroup”).

I should have stopped at the main game–continuing on via the DLC did add new venues, but they weren’t really different enough to change any of the strategies in the game and really, only the course layouts were significantly changed–the graphics and “tile sets”/”assets” (my wording for overall graphic elements making up any one scene) were very similar to the base game, making the new courses seem familiar rather than new and fresh. I feel that if I had stopped, I would have enjoyed the game more rather than less. I became more and more tired of the game the more I played.

This is a game that is good in small doses and would be good if it were given to you rather than purchased, but this is one that I’d say–play for a while until you get tired/bored and then move on. It is far too repetitive in my opinion to be fun for very long. Also, if you ever get a new 4K/8K display or booming sound system and really want to show it off, this game (esp. in small doses–a race or two) will really fit the bill. For me, that’s about the only good that came from it was finding a good demo showcase should I ever be lucky enough to get one of those once I’m out of school.

Have a great day!

Sidney

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