Grid 2

Racing Driver Grid got released back on 2008 and was praised as one of the best Racing games of the year  . Reason , it introduced the Unique damage mechanic where smashing your car around pavilions or into the back ends of your previous Racer actually meant something . When your engine gets smashed pretty hard , watch it you are going to lose power when you try to accelerate. The worse thing  that can happen is your steering control going crazy . Damn difficult to get your car under control .

                        

And other unique thing Grid was famous for was the ' Flashback '. Gamers of now probably know what that is , of course thanks to Dirt 2 and Dirt 3 and also NFS RUN . Well the truth is , this was the game that first introduced it . So some respect people .

Grid 2 has finally hit the streets and the word around the street is that its a damn good game . But that doesn't mean we have to believe that . I for one always believed tat one has to actually play a game first in order to tell if its good or not . Codemasters of ' Dirt ' genre has yet again given us a a beautiful game that is graphically so rich that it just makes one wonder , if they are driving a car in the real world .

 Plot :: 

Same as every racing game genre . You have a unknown voice speaking to you from first that directs you around the races giving constant advice , appreciation if u drive really good or sarcastic comments if u drive horribly . Really sometimes , you will feel depressed for getting a scolding from this faceless voice :P . Such is the impact . You are pushed into a race as soon as the game starts and asked to do test drive where a sponsor gets impressed and agrees to propel you into the world of legal racing. This time the world championship is known as World Series Racing or WSR . And its not based on money but by the amount of fans you get to impress and collect by winning races . Nice innovation by the way . You have tiers of  cars which gets unlocked as you enter each season. Drive a car and beat a time limit and make the car yours ;-) now tats sound easy huh ..Rather than deciding which car to buy with the money you win.

Gameplay ::

The surroundings and environments do feel good. But take your eyes off the road for just one second to admire the beauty you will find your car plastered around a bend . Such is the concentration that is required in order to propel you car across the finish line in one piece .Developers at Codemasters had introduced a new thing which they had dubbed as the 'TrueFeel', which aims to hit a sweet spot between realism and accessibility. Although it really is a pain in the A** to get control of your car ,once you get the hang of it you can go on like a boss !!.

Another one of the racing genres that introduces the Difficulty settings . I for one selected Easy and Damage : ON  mode . Even then the races were challenging and required my 100% concentration to cross the finish line first . Believe me , getting there is not a easy joke . It requires the absolute concentration that a gamer can ever give. And its not only one race you are talking about , You will be usually playing a set of 3 races or 2 . Players of Dirt would already know what I am talking about .

Well lets just say , that not all can play Grid 2 that easily . It requires patience and skill and most of all the hunger to finish it if you are ever going to play this .

Graphics ::

Game looks absolutely gorgeous . thanks to EGO v3.0 graphics Engine developed by  Codemasters and Sony Computer Entertainment [ V1.0 was created using Sony Computer Entertainment's PhyreEngine cross-platform graphics engine. ]  Dirt 3 was working under a similar engine but a previous version that made the game to look  absolutely mind blowing . Well say hello to real world Circuits and tracks and the details you will see at the back drops is absolutely amazing to look and feel .

The car's gloss paint is enough to make you go blind as the sun glints of the paint . But it can act as a barrier to your view of the road too .  Yikes !! huh . One small break or one small bump around the corner is enough to make you go spinning and spend some time in Loserville :P

Damages to the Car is amazingly shown . A light bump with nearby car is enough to scar your paint job that makes your bleed in the heart too sometimes . Hell , I used to restart races whenever I felt that my car had been scratched or disgusting to look at with all the flaps falling off. Too much damage and your car will be totaled . But no worries , as long as rewind is there , you won t have a problem .

Race Modes::

The Usual flurry of races but with a little spice here and there to keep us entertained .

1. RACE ::

You start with competing against 12 players with one being your Rival always who is the best at the particular track or one who fights dirty . But the innovativeness comes in the form of

i) LIVEROUTES ::

In these races you will be driving around the familiar track but the map will not be available . Because in Live Routes as the name hints , the Routes change themselves as soon as you take a corner . When you cross a difficult corner that makes you go very near to a crash , you keep in mind that you should break a little early when that particular corner comes up again in the next lap . But Whola , tats the beauty of Live Routes ..There won t be any corner . Atleast you will find a different corner . Amazing and keeps you on your toes always .

2. Elimination :

The usual eliminator series with timer running off and for every 20 sec the player at last is eliminated  when the timer goes off.

3. Checkpoint ::

Cross the check points and add 4 sec to the time you had when the race started and make sure to drive the max distance than the other drivers if you want to finish first . But watch for other retired drivers who will be standing on the sides of the road after retiring . If you crash then the race will be over much sooner than expected .

4. Drift ::

Drift your car around the ,markers to get your score doubled . My personal favorite was the Nizzan 370Z roadster.

5. Faceoff ::

Although the name sound cool and different the race is the same old one we had in NFS Carbon Canyon . You have a set of three races to prove who is the best of you . You can win by ' Lead by 5 sec Rule' or actual win by crossing the finish line . The best of 3 wins the race.

PROMO Events ::

a) Endurance ::

You get to drive a car of the Sponsor's choice for a time period of 6 min and by the time when the clock hits zero the player with most driven distance wins ( mostly the driver who was doing first )

b) Overtake ::

Overtake the car 

This was a new and refreshing experience  .All you had to do is to overtake some cars that are going in a line in the track . As you cross a car you get points which starts from 100/ overtake to 1000/overtake. But the catch is you should not hit or experience collision of any type with the pavilion or with the cars . Bcos once you bump them you lose your combo of Overtake points and have to start from 100 once again .It may sound easy at the beginning . But as you progress this is a huge deal breaker .

Some test drives are also available always . You do have some Objectives which are provided by the sponsors whom you pick . Don t worry !!  There is no need to work towards achieving it ( Like in BLUR ) , Just drive the racing series that is mentioned in the objective and you will clear it .

Cars and locations :

The game has a total of 56 cars to choose from and the biggest highlight is you never get to buy them . They are all handed over to you as soon as you smash the objective , mostly to drive a single lap around a world famous Circuit .

Paris 

The game features many new track locations like: California, Miami, Paris, Barcelona, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Indianapolis, and a few more track locations like Chicago, Algarve for example . My personal favourite is Dubai for its decor and Paris , cos driving these tracks are really fun.

Dubai

The most horrible and Difficult tracks you will ever come across are in

Asia:

Okutama

1. Hong Kong

2. Okutama

3. Yas Marina

4. Dubai

Out of which Hong Kong and Okutama tops . God these tracks are horrible . Steep inclines and declines will make your car go crazy and it will need your utmost skill to bring it under control . Especially the Tier 5 Cars will perform their worst here. Their inhuman speeds are ridiculous in this Hell's road . Especially while coming down the inclines.

I was really excited when I entered Tier 5 . Finally I will be able to drive high end cars like Pagani , Koenigsegg or Bugatti. Sadly all the cars perform horribly . Atleast tats what I felt . Especially the Pagani and Koenigsegg . I mean i was literally dying to drive one of these babies , but they are extremely hard to handle when it comes to taking 90 degree corners or drift . Way to drifty for my liking . If this how they are in real life , no siree , i dont want one especially after paying that price :D 

Pro's ::

1. Amazing Car Physics and Simulation dubbed as ' True feel ' by Codemaster Developers . Experience it because its unique . 

2. Breadth taking Graphics and locations  that kind of reminds that you are not in the world of Grid 1 ;-)

3. Nerve racking and tension building races at the end of the career that gives you an headache just be cos of the concentration required to cross the finish line without crashing :P  

Con's :: 

1. Music score and BGM were missing . Although the BGM made a entry at the last lap of every WSR series it would have been much more better if they were available throughout the game races . I will hear that rather than continuous whine of Car engines . Maybe they thought it would give the game a NFS kind of feeling ;-)

2. Some times the car physics is just too hard and punishing that it may frustrate some players to the extreme causing them to hate the game for its brutal Truefeel .

3. No racing line so its all 100% you who has to maneuver your car .

4. Doing 3 races at some track can be bit boring and tiresome .

Overall :: A excellent Masterpiece of Codemasters after Dirt 3 . Say hello to the next gen in the Racing .

Rating :: 9.2 / 10 ( Very Good )

Regards

Ram