Race Driver: GRID
Mobile Game Review

Title: Race Driver: GRID
Developer: Spiced Bits
Publisher: GLU
Release Date: May 2008
Format: J2ME
Game Features: Career Mode, Unlockables.
Reviewed on: Nokia 5300


Summary

Race Driver: GRID is all about the race. Featuring the most powerful race cars, you will have to compete to conquer the most prestigious official race tracks and Championships challenging city-based competitions, road events and urban street races (Japan, USA and Europe). From humble beginnings, being a total unknown competitor, build your racing career and hire the best team members to create a feared and respected racing team. Following the console release, the game delivers the most aggressive and the most exciting racing experience ever on mobile. Welcome to the world of the... Race driver

Review

This week Race Driver: Grid… So I got this on PS3 and I have to say it’s one of the best games I’ve played (GTA 4 being the best) this is a close second, so I wondering if it would be one of the best mobile games I’ve played… well we’ll see.

As usual graphics… first things first they’re not the best but… saying that they’re decent enough to look good on my 5300. And the graphics are much better than what you would have seen in any screenshots. Stands, track, backgrounds, cars, all have a good level of detail, and you can see that the developers have gone to great effort to produce the graphics.
So it's a real shame that they haven’t put the same amount of effort into the rest of the game. As you know this game is and mainly for the console and the developers know this as well so they have to decide which bits from the console version to keep and which not to, and I have to say some of those aspects are here. You do start off as a rookie and have to gain enough points and money to join teams.
The only thing is there are no instructions telling you how to do so… strange.
Don’t worry there is a career mode, and it’s what you would expect it to be, but I have to tell you It’s not easy at the start, or maybe that’s just me. I only won two races in the first half hour of playing, again maybe that’s just me. You earn reputation points and money but, I really don’t see the point, because from what I can see you can't spend it on your car at all, not even to upgrade it. But something I did find very similar to the console version the AI will knock you about, very frustrating.
Controls, well according to the instructions there are only two, left and right, but playing the game you find out there’s one more, thanks for telling us that… The one they forget to mention is the brake button, which is eight. This game isn’t like Need for Speed, so you’ll find that there is no turbo, nitro, speed boosts whatever you want to call it, which is fine because this game isn’t about street racing, modifying your car, it’s about being a professional race driver. You can only catch up the car in front of you, when you see them on the screen. Ok so the gameplay isn’t great for example, you can find yourself racing off the track and catching up to other racers who are in cars which are faster than yours.
I really wanted to stop playing after an hour, mainly due to the fact that I was rubbish, or was it because the game is just too hard, then I remembered I was reviewing the game, not playing it for pleasure (which I wasn’t getting much of), so I continued, something very strange happened… I came first; I have to tell you I was shocked, really shocked, then something really, really strange happened… I started winning every race. Although they’re not all too easy, but I was winning and there was quite a bit of satisfaction when you end up passing the line in first place, probably because you end up beating the annoying AI, who seem to want you dead. But let’s not forget that there is a lack of functionality in the game, really you don’t need that much skill to win races, just luck, and it would be nice to be able to buy and sell cars. Maybe a bit of customisation… ok so that’s not much different for the console version, but at least you can give your car a nice paint job and have a team livery, but there are other thing in the console version that keep you excited, which are missing from the mobile version. The only things you can unlock in the game are a few courses and cars to play in the free drive mode, hardly exciting. I almost forgot about the sound… then again is it really worth mentioning? Well no… It’s the same as The Bourne Conspiracy, nice tune on the title screen, then nothing for the rest of the game… Really in this day and age it’s not acceptable.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s alright, but as I’ve said before with some games, it really could be a lot better. Graphically the game is good; all the other factors are what let the game down. So I hoped that this would be one of the best mobile games I had played, but in the end I was disappointed. I’ll stick with the console version…

Screenshots


Graphics: 8/10
Good detail, best thing about the game

Sound: 1/10
no sound effects

Game play: 5/10
No skill needed, not that fun

Story: 5.5/10
Become the best race driver, thats about it

Overall Score: 6 out of 10