GRID 2 (PS3): "First Impressions"

I'm desperate folks. I'm desperate to find a worthwhile game that has both a solid offline, and online experience. In fact I was so desperate today that I ventured out to the local Gamestop just to pick up the newly released "GRID 2" for the PS3. It has been years since I last played any racing games, and I figured that GRID 2 might just be the answer to my gaming prayers. I forked over the $60+ dollars to the Gamestop employee, and headed back home to try out my newly found hope. Upon inspecting the contents of the game case, and the game case itself I found that Codemasters (The devs behind GRID 2) had jumped on the the old single use VIP PASS bandwagon. I thought for sure since EA was abandoning that practice that no other game developer would be foolish enough to do the same thing. I guess I was mistaken.

So, I pop the game into the PS3 disc tray, close it up, and let the game load. Almost immediately I get this message that states that there is required game data installation that is necessary for the game to be played. I let the data download commence, and follow-up by activating my one time use Vip Pass. For those of you curious as to what the VIP PASS offers you it simply adds 3 extra cars to your in-game garage, lets you upload 1 minute replays to your Youtube channel. It also lets you play the games online modes which in my opinion should have been included for free in the first place. In simple terms it all means that if you were to take this game to a friend's house that they would have to have purchased the VIP PASS as well in order to be able to play online. Any of this sound familiar? I thought so.


After I've installed the necessary game data, and VIP PASS I get into the core of the game which is basically a racing career mode. When you first begin the "Career" mode you'll find yourself immediately placed in a race with no explanation as to why you are there. There's some button inputs that suddenly appear on the screen explaining the generic drifting controls, and soon after a generic sounding announcer chimes in with his motivational speech about how great you did even though you weren't racing against anyone.

I shrugged this tutorial race off, and let bygones be bygones. Sure it was an unprofessional way to start a game, but who am I to judge? Next up I get a brief introduction to the game's garage, and schedule system. I even get to tweak my car's appearance in the process. The garage itself looks as if it were PS2 material with an HD upgrade to be honest, and sadly you'll find other details in the game that suffer from the same issue as well. The various tools lying around, for example definitely did not look like current-gen graphical additions. Even the car was a bit lacking in the graphics department. As usual I continued on with all these thoughts floating in the back of my mind, pecking away at my brain as I try to figure out if I bought another shitty game.

Finally, When I had every setting set to my liking, and my car looking as badass as I possibly could I headed back to the computer area of the shop to listen to what the mundane announcer had in store for me. It seems after scoring my first "so called" victory I was liked by my fans well enough to be offered a position in another well known race by some dude named Callahan. I couldn't give two shits folks, I really couldn't. The repetitive nature of the male announcer's voice had become like fingernails scraping across a f*cking blackboard at this early point in the game. All I wanted to do is f*cking race. I didn't need, or ask for some motivational speaking dumbass to pamper me like a child as if I were peddling my three wheeler down the sidewalk for the first time.Hell no!

Needless to say I finally got into the first race, and won after countless restarts (and numerous cuss words). My initial impressions upon looking at the various visual aspects (lighting, color, realism) of the racetrack, and its many components was that it didn't look half bad. Upon further inspection of the crowds though my perceptions began to change. Not only did the people look as if they were ripped from some poor excuse for a PS2 game, but there were noticeable visual imperfections on the vehicles, and racetrack surroundings as well. Aside from the visual flaws I also found that the racing itself was ridiculously flawed.

When trying to win against the AI/CPU opponents at the beginning of the game (at the "Normal" difficulty) I found that they were my least of worries. As it turned out actually completing a race was harder than outracing the other racers. The steering was so extremely sensitive that I'd often times hit a tree, or flip my car several times over due to some off-the-wall impact as the other racers passed me by. Keep in mind I do have proper experience with racing games, and racing game simulations. I've played them just as much as any other gaming genre I've played in my life. Me, and my brothers spent countless hours mastering the Gran Turismo games, and I even spent some time alone playing the more arcade style of racing games on different consoles. I can tell you now that I'm honestly not exaggerating. For the game to be set to "Normal" the AI is extremely too advanced, and the driving mechanics (as simple as they may be) are set to to be too responsive/sensitive. This makes for a poor gaming experience. I spent about an hour trying over, and over again just to win that first real offline race, and most of the time my losses were due to mistakes early on in the race. The races that followed also ended in the same manner.

Unfortunately the more I played GRID 2 the more I found wrong with the game. The AI itself, for example is so flawed that your car, and the AI opponent's car seem to be in separate realities. Your car's performance is hyper realistic with hyper responsive steering/control while your AI adversary's vehicle seems to be the f*cking terminator, and could give two sh*ts if you rammed the hell out of it. What really gets my goat though is the fact that your cars can easily flip on a dime while the AI cars will barely budge even after being hit at speeds in excess of 100mph. WTF!? The bottom line is the offline is poorly designed. As for the online I've yet to sample it yet, but will let you know what I find when I do. Please keep in mind that this is a first impressions review. My views may change as time passes, but I highly doubt it. GRID 2 just seems more like an PSN arcade game experience than a proper PS3 retail experience. In my opinion it's not worth $59.99 at all.