GRID Legends

Review

I am a bit of a petrol head, as you might know by now! I love watching motor racing, from touring cars to Formula 1. And every time the well-known developer, Codemasters, releases a new game of the GRID series, I am jumping with glee, hoping that I will have fun playing it across several categories of cars, racing for hours on end.  So, are you strapped into your seat? The lights are on, and the countdown has started! Are you going to be the next driver to become a legend? The proof is in the pudding, and it is all up to you now in GRID Legends!

GRID Legends is a racing simulation/arcade game developed by Codemasters and published by Electronic Arts on the Origin Platform on the 25^th of February 2022. The game is also available on PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Box Series X|S and on the Steam platform.

The game consists of Story, Career and Multiplayer modes. As the game has many cars across nine racing categories, I strongly recommend that you start playing the game through the Story mode. Not only will you be entertained with the story, which is pretty good and well-acted, but It will also allow you to get the feel of different types of cars and racing throughout 36 races. Furthermore, depending on the difficulty you select, it will also provide you with some challenging races, as you have to complete the main objective to unlock the next race.

In the Career mode, it is all about progression. You'll start in the Rookie class, which has eight different categories of racing, and each of them has a certain number of races to complete. Then you'll move on to the Semi-Pro, Pro and The Gauntlet. You must finish and successfully reach all required tasks to unlock the next step of your career (from Rookie to Semi-Pro etc.). You'll also find that you will need to replay a few races with a specific car during your progression within each of the categories to unlock the next event for that specific car. It's all about reaching the second stage of upgrades which is based on kilometres. Occasionally, you must also complete all tasks of a specific sponsor to unlock a new event.

I am enjoying this game so much in many aspects. The controls are super tight, and there is a fair difficulty progression in the Career mode, and on the difficulty level, that you select to play on. I started on the Medium level difficulty and fairly quickly found myself playing on the Expert level, which is more challenging race by race. However, I think it will take me a while to switch onto the Legend difficulty. All the cars that I have played with so far feel and behave slightly differently, which is really fun, and of course, it will also depend on the category of cars you'll be racing with. Electric cars will behave and sound differently to touring cars, for example. This game has over 120+ cars to drive across all categories, which is staggering. In terms of locations or tracks, there are 17 to compete in total, including Paris, London, Dubai and one of my favourites, Mount Panorama, as well as other stunning destinations. Not only that, you'll also experience competing under heavy rain or snow, which will insert more fun and difficulty into the equation.

In terms of the AI, while playing single player, I think Codemasters have done a great job, even though cars are running off the track oddly or are having strange accidents at times. But overall it’s pretty good. You will collide with cars in every event, and the AI will get annoyed with you. In fact, most of the drivers will become your nemesis and will try to take you off the track if they can do so. It adds a bit of fun, but can be annoying if they manage to run you off the track. Thankfully, you can use one of your flashbacks to rewind the action to before the accident or prior to your mistake. However, you only have a limited number of flashbacks per race, so use them wisely. By the way, there are no flashbacks available to you if you are playing on the Legend difficulty.   

Grid Legends offer seven different perspective views while racing, and most of them emphasise the arcade gameplay. However, the dashboard view will give you slightly more of a simulation feel, which I particularly like. So, if you are like me, I strongly recommend using the dashboard view.

There are a few types of upgrades in Grid Legends. There are three stages of upgrades for the cars. These upgrades will be available to you when you pass a certain number of kilometres. Stage One will unlock when your reach 16 km, Stage Two when you reach 56 km and Stage Three when you pass the 80 km mark. Then you can only upgrade the power, acceleration, braking and handling, and that’s the same for all cars. It will cost you money for each of these upgrades. The other upgrades are Mechanic and Teammate, which are located in the Team tabs on the menu page. They will also cost you money to unlock, so make sure you win many races.

You also have the possibility to create a race through the race creator, and I must admit, it is really easy to set up! Regarding the game's multiplayer aspect, you have a social tab on the main menu. From this tab, you can create or join a session, but I am not interested in playing Grid online against other players, so I can't say much about it.

The graphics in GRID Legends are absolutely stunning. Sound effects are pretty realistic, and the story is well-acted and entertaining. The gameplay is leaning toward arcade racing, but if you like your racing more like a simulation, the dashboard view will give you more of that feel than the other six views. Some of the cars you drive will feel really slow compared to others, though. There is not much in terms of tuning cars or upgrades. Overall, it is a really fun and addictive game.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

GRID Legends Origin and Steam store page