Review: 'GRID' a nice change of pace in racing games
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By AIMEE GREEN / Lincoln Journal Star
This is definitely the era of music games. Games such as “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” have exploded in the past year or so.
While “Guitar Hero” sequels will continue to be released, Activision and RedOctane also have planned band-specific games. A “Guitar Hero: Metallica” is planned for some time in the future.
Meanwhile, “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” is out now. Unfortunately, players who are just casual fans of Aerosmith likely won’t enjoy the game as much as a fanatic.
Of course, I could say that about any game, but it applies here. When I started up “GH: Aerosmith,” I expected a kind of overview of the band’s career, with songs spanning three decades.
The game kind of has that overview, in that the stages all take place in key locations for the band: their first gig in a New Jersey high school, the Super Bowl, the hall of fame.
Unfortunately, the music doesn’t hold up to that. The majority of the Aerosmith songs are from the ’70s, which would be fine if the game balanced it with more songs from the ’90s and the 2000s. But it doesn’t, and I think that leaves out a key demographic (people my age and younger) who haven’t heard most of the oldest Aerosmith songs.
Most of the important songs are there — “Dream On,” “Sweet Emotion,” “Love in an Elevator,” even “Walk This Way” — but there are also a number of notable big-hit omissions (“Dude (Looks Like A Lady),” “Janie’s Got A Gun”?). If I’m going to pay full price for an Aerosmith game, I at least want all their singles in the game.
The result is I felt kind of cheated. I’m not the biggest Aerosmith fan out there, but even if I didn’t know the newer songs, at least they would have made sense in a “follow the band’s career” way.
I did like that the game included video clips of the band members describing their rise to fame. I also liked that the stages were set up to look like album covers. The band members’ online likenesses were incredibly accurate, though at times seemed wooden.
No major gameplay changes were made in “GH: Aerosmith” and there was one boss battle with guitarist Joe Perry.
Don’t get me wrong; “GH: Aerosmith” is fun to play. But I finished the game feeling like it should have been organized differently. It’s also not terribly long, clocking in at about 40 songs, or very hard.
Unless you’re a huge fan of 1970s Aerosmith, this one is a rental.
It’s been a while since I played a really good racing game that wasn’t part of an established series. Codemasters manages it with “GRID.”
“GRID” feels like a mix of other racing games. The driving mechanics are “Forza” meets “Project Gotham Racing.” The game also includes many types of races, from straight street racing to destruction derby racing to Japanese-style togue racing (racing up and then down a short stretch of narrow mountain road).
The cars also are a mix, with muscle cars, imports and exotics. Most of the time, the type of car you can drive depends on the race.
Races take place in three regions: Europe, the United States and Japan. Drivers earn reputation for placing, and reputation earns more sponsors, more money and higher-level licenses. After you’ve created your own racing team (a few hours into the game), you can hire and fire other drivers. The teammates can be helpful, though at times they’re more of a hindrance.
While the game doesn’t require you to pay for damage to your car, it does pay attention to it, with an indicator at the bottom of the screen telling you if your tires are shot or your engine is about to blow. Depending on the damage, your car can drive differently. I spent one race with the car pulling sharply to the right because I’d rammed into a wall at high speed. Oops.
But here’s where it really gets interesting: “GRID” uses an instant replay system that you can access in the middle of the race. When you crash or spin out, you can jump into the replay, back up to a point before you screwed up and use a “flashback.” Yes, you can literally turn back time.
There are limitations, however. The in-game replay only goes back maybe five seconds, so you can’t delay if you want to fix your position. Also, you only get a set number of flashbacks per race. At the end of the race, unused flashbacks translate into money, so it’s better not to use them.
It’s an interesting system, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. The cars handle nicely (and differently from each other), and the races have variety and are well-paced.
I also liked the voice-overs, which can be set to say your name. I broke into a huge grin when, in my first race, my person in the pit said, “Nice job, Aimee!” Unfortunately, pronunciations are chosen from a list, and less common names aren’t on there.
Still, I found “GRID” to be extremely well done and a nice change from the repetition of sequels. Racing fans should take it for a spin.
Reach Aimee Green at 473-7326 or Aimee.Green@lee.net.
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