Grip – Combat Racing review

Reviewed on: PC

By Samuel Auras

Right off the bat, I’ll say I’m a huge fan of Rollcage. For those who don’t know which game I mean (probably most of you), Rollcage was a racing game for PS1 and PC released in 1999. And Rollcage was excellent. I spent more time playing Rollcage locally with my friends than almost any other game. The sense of speed, the destructible buildings, the cars that could drive up walls and across ceilings… To this day I remember the cheat code that removed gravity, turning any ramp into a launch to infinity – while you memorized the Konami code, I memorized “flymetothemoon”. So you can say I got quite interested when Grip – Combat Racing started showing up around the internet – a spiritual successor to Rollcage (and to Rollcage Stage 2, which, although it didn’t hook me as much as the first game, was also great), developed by many of the original’s designers and fans.
By this point in the text, you’re probably imagining I’ll give Grip an automatic 10. But trust me: I can be impartial. Even so, I can say with the greatest joy: Grip is AMAZING. It has its flaws, but it’s the perfect successor to Rollcage. If you have even the slightest interest in this kind of racing game – with combat, sky-high speeds and wildly designed tracks – give Grip a chance.

Let’s get straight to what matters most in a racing game: the gameplay. The game can be beautiful and packed with content, but if it’s boring to play and lacks precise, intuitive controls, it’s all for nothing. Grip – Combat Racing nails it here. Despite the sky-high speeds (the game promises to have the fastest cars in video game history, and that’s probably true, since one of the speed unit options is MACH), Grip keeps control of the car completely in your hands. It can be a bit hard at first, and I admit I even thought it was the game’s fault, but after a few races I was getting the hang of it.
It’s a game that takes a little while to get used to, but everything works very well. And there’s quite a lot within reach of your fingers: besides the obvious – throttle, brake, handbrake, etc. – you have two weapon slots you can fill with items picked up during the race, control of the car’s angle while airborne, and even a dedicated button to make your car jump (a small vertical boost that helps you clear certain obstacles). But Grip‘s main differentiator is the cars’ ability to flip upside down and keep racing normally. Put simply: your car never flips over. On top of that, the high speed is used to give grip on the ceiling, walls, upside-down tracks… Forget normal racing games that make you drive only on the ground. How boring.

The tracks are mostly excellently designed. They have open sections that encourage combat during the race, plus several alternate routes, opportunities for incredible stunts, shortcuts that are super hard to navigate, dynamic obstacles (turrets firing missiles at the competitors, for example)… And all of this happens in the most varied environments, with superb art direction. The game doesn’t have the most impressive graphics in the world, but it runs at a steady, constant framerate, and the visuals look very good at high speed. The various tracks take you across a few different planets, each with its own distinct look – a huge metropolis, a nuclear desert… Yet everything stays very cohesive; you really believe it all belongs to the same universe. The cars also look really cool: several unlockable models and many, many customization options. The game has a player level system through which you unlock new cars and new customization options – stickers, wheels, etc. Anything you do in the game, whether playing the campaign or outside it, gives you XP that helps unlock the next item. There’s also no shortage of game modes. Besides the classic race mode, there are other race variations. In one mode, for example, the race is won on points, and there are several ways to earn points – finishing first, eliminating more opponents, pulling off more aerial stunts… You get to choose HOW you want to win. Do you want to be faster than everyone, finish first and try to secure the win, or stay behind the others blowing up every car you see ahead to win by brute force? And speaking of brute force, the game also has battle modes, which take place in arenas built for them. The arenas are quite open and full of weapons to collect, ramps and loops to chase and ambush enemies… Everything you could want from a combat arena in a game like this.

The game also has a completely unusual mode, different from much of what you’ve seen: CARKOUR. As one of the game’s own trophies says: “It’s a pun… get it?” Carkour is the mode where your skills behind the wheel are truly tested. You must maneuver the car through obstacle courses that demand precise jumps, exact speed, millimeter control and nerves of steel. This mode is a tribute to a game mode from Rollcage Stage 2 along these same lines. Ideal for a change of pace after a tough race.

All these weapons and power-ups, game modes, and every system Grip – Combat Racing offers are introduced little by little in Campaign mode. In this mode, you start with races that have only one power-up: the turbo. After that, little by little, the game unlocks new weapons, new game modes, new tracks, and you get more and more used to it and better at the game. But don’t worry: practically all of this is already unlocked from the start if you want to play a race in single player, online multiplayer, or local multiplayer – YES, the game has split-screen mode.
I only have two negative things to say about the game – one a bit annoying and the other not so much. The first is the loading times – the infamous loadings. Grip is totally random in this regard. I’ve had races that loaded in 5 seconds, and others that literally took 3 minutes. I know because I started a song at the beginning of the loading, and the song ended right at the end. I’m rooting for this to be fixed in a future patch, but right now, every loading feels like a roulette. My second complaint is the music. Not that the available tracks are bad, but there are few and they quickly get repetitive. This becomes even more apparent if you’re not much of a fan of this kind of drum’n’bass electronic music. Maybe more tracks, and especially songs from different genres, would make this part of the game a bit better.
At the end of the day, Grip is excellent where it really matters: when you’re at high speed. The controls are responsive, the weapons are fun to use, the opponents’ AI is challenging and the tracks have great design. The game has plenty of options to spend your time on, and frequently rewards you with new customization options for your cars. Grip is a great option for racing fans looking for a new game of this kind. If you can overcome small frustrations, like a higher-than-usual learning curve for a racing game, you can go for Grip without fear.
Fun: 8.5
Mechanics: 9.0
Audiovisual: 8.0

FINAL SCORE: 8.5