Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

I loved Grid. I've been playing it as a warm up to the release of Grid 2. Now that it's arrived I'm happy to say that it's a worthy successor.

Grid 2 isn't a huge leap forward from Grid, but then if it wasn't broken why fix it.

Some of the changes made are trivial and have not made Grid 2 any better or worse than the original.

These changes include the switch from "currency" as a reward to "fans". I was happy with currency and paying for cars. In Grid 2 you are given a choice of 2 cars, one is instantly delivered and you are given the chance to unlock the other later.

Sponsorships now work in a similar way. Instead of each brand having it's required objective, they are now grouped by type eg. Racing parts. All the racing parts brands share the same objective and provide the same reward in the for of fans.

Visually, Grid 2 is amazing. The game is presented like a blockbuster, you feel like part of the world as fans shout and cheer as you drive past, you can hear the brakes shudder and your radiator pop and hiss after trying to outbreak and instead rear-end a competitor.

Speaking of which the damage model punishes you proportionately for your mistakes. You can't expect to pinball you way around the track as you will soon find your car pulling to either side as. Light bumps scratch your paint and dislodge body panels but let you continue with the race.

I still remember Grid 1 as being one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. And I have yet to find that same frustration with Grid 2. The medium difficult is exactly that, medium. If you're not concentrating you'll end up with second. Otherwise you're usually out in from within a few corners.

I turned the difficulty up to hard for more of a challenge. And even though it might take two or three tries to get first, I don't mind starting again, learning from my mistakes each time, without losing interest or becoming frustrated.

The livery editor is back, mostly unchanged. You now have 4 colours to apply instead of 3 and the welcome addition of 54 recognizable wheels, which can also be colour-coded to your livery. I am a Graphic designer and some of the liveries are quite gaudy. I would have preferred more simple subtle liveries like the stripes range from the original game.

A nice feature is that you can customize the livery for each car, if you want more retro looking wheels for you classic muscle car and more modern VIP style wheels for your Merc or BMW. You could even keep the same colour scheme and choose a different livery for different races, such as a drift livery and a race livery.

The AI is the best I've ever seen. In other racing games the AI will hold their racing line no matter what, which means you can blow by on the straights without a problem and drive circle around them in bends. Grid 2's AI will see you coming and where other games will let you out brake them and leave the inside of the corner wide open, Grid 2 will close the gap and squeeze you into the barrier. The straights are the same, they'll weave in front of you without cutting you off completely and forcing you off the track.

The True-feel handling system does feel true. Every car has a weight that you can throw into corners and then balance with counter steering and throttle control. And it translates to each car, as they all feel unique, some nimble and skittish and others slushier and blunt until they break traction.

Grid 2 is not Ridge Racer or Burnout but it's not GT5 either. Its definitely the top-end of the arcade spectrum. It's a lot of fun without being silly and it's serious without being dull.

Grid 2 is going to keep me well entertained until GT6 arrives.