GripShift Review XBLA

GripShift has been available on the PSP and PS3 network for a while now but only recently made it to the XBLA. Knowing virtually nothing about it I downloaded the demo as I do with most XBLA new additions not really expecting much. I usually keep an eye on metacritic.com also as you get a great idea of whether a game is even worth doing that. As the reviews for it started to build up most of them seemed to agree on a figure around 7/10, not bad.

My first try didn't really 'grip' me. The handling didn't feel quite right and the hand brake was severe, flipping you 180 degrees with a short touch. Something made me keep coming back to it though and I did so 3 or 4 times before I actually bought it. The more you play the more the handling makes sense and eventually you become an expert at it. You can even steer, boost and hand brake turn in mid air which is absolutely necessary on the challenge levels which I'll get to in just a bit.

The game itself has several ways of being played. It plays as a kart style racer with the usual range of power ups to collect but also a hint of Wipeout due to the placement of boost to collect on your way round to keep up your top speed. The tracks themselves are more Wipeout than anything also, being suspended in mid air with huge jumps and loop the loops. Great fun, and that's before you even try the challenges. These play like a cross between a driving and a puzzle game. There are 3 times to beat on each. Firstly just getting from start to finish as fast as possible. This being a little bit of a puzzle game means that this can be achieved by missing out huge chunks of track, usually by launching yourself high into the air. Secondly there are stars to collect littered around each track. Collect them all and cross the finish line as fast as possible. Thirdly there is a GS token on each level, often hidden off the normal track so you have to work out how to reach it and then again cross the finish line. You'll need a decent time on each to do well on the score boards, but you can try as many times as you like and you only have to complete one objective on each try.

It's the number of ways to attack each one that makes it great. Sometimes it's obvious which is the quickest way and other times it requires a lot of thought plus trial and error. Could I hit the barrier at the side of track to launch me into the air and jump that huge gap? Try it! The answer is often yes. Then you look at the online leader boards and find out that people are doing the same thing 10 or 20 seconds faster than you. There must be another short cut! It's very addictive and rewarding when you discover these new ways, and each medal earns you credits to unlock new vehicles, graphics or even more music tracks.

It's one of the largest XBLA games available at nearly 150MB but it's also one of the most polished and largest in variety with 120 challenge levels, 25 race tracks and 20 death match arenas. I'm a bit ashamed to say that the number of 7/10 reviews delayed me buying this even on my third or fourth try of the demo. It made me question why I was enjoying it so much. It's not a bad score by any means but pretty average on most review scales. This game is way above average though and for 800 points (£6.80) it's one of the best value games on the XBLA at the moment and easily goes into my top 10.

Oh I nearly forgot that it does feature online racing and death match modes too which I've yet to even try. It makes its mark even without it though.

GAMEOV3R score then.....

Reviews (or lack of)

I don't know about anybody else (and especially probably not the girls), but whilst I find the reviews and stuff informative on the internet, nothing beats that quiet moment in the day when a guy gets to sit down for a bit and enjoy a spot of reading. Most times during this interlude I am not really in the mood to get into something really in depth, so often find myself perusing the latest Edge or Mixmag, or perhaps one of the dedicated Nintendo mags.

Which brings me to my point. We basically have a choice of three mags for what is the biggest selling console in the UK at the moment, with lots of new owners and owners 'new' to games. And all three magazines are rubbish. It's not the quality of the writing or layout, or the articles in general, but the reviews.

Official Nintendo magazine may as well not review anything because they are basically a hands-on preview with a glowing review score at the bottom. But at least they manage to cover everything. They are catering for the young who are more forgiving and for the new casual crowd, and that is fine. Official mags are always like this. I just like reviews to be a bit more critical, which is why I have always enjoyed Edge, despite its pretensions.

The other two mags 'N-Gamer', and 'N-Revolution' both came from independent Gamecube mags and were previously aimed at hardcore Nintendo fans. Their reviews ae generally both objective and subjective, being attributed to specific writers so you get to know their tastes and whether you tend to like the same stuff as them.

However, my problem is that they SHOULD review every game released in the UK if they can, its not that many a month yet on Wii. Even if its a quick 2-page round up of 'Don't buy any of those games on the same budget label as Ninjabread Man, no matter HOW funny the title is'.

Its absolutely shocking that NEITHER of these mags has reviewed Tiger Woods 08 yet, for instance, nearly 2 months after its release and it sitting in the top 10 sellers for the system. If it wasn't FANTASTIC how many pissed off casual Wii owners would there be? There are several other games sitting there on the shelf in Game that I've never heard of, yeah licensed tat some of it, sure but sometimes a gem of a kids game turns up in that genre when someone takes a real chance with a license, and those are the sort of things casual gamers will pick up.

It annoys me that both these mags review import Jap and US games, when as yet there is no way to play them on your PAL console without illegally chipping it, something i am not prepared to do when they are still like gold dust in the shops. I am interested in these games as they are potentially coming over here, but they are NOT yet so they should be covered as previews only, thus freeing up space for reviews of games ACTUALLY RELEASED HERE. Anyone with a chipped or imported console is 'core' enough to use an internet to find out what imports to get and probably order them too.

Lastly, sometimes it is painfully obvious that someone hasn't really 'got' the controls in a Wii game. This is much worse online than in mags, but i have seen some really hateful reviews from people when it was clear to me when i played the game that their head just hadn't clicked with it. This is why Wii reviews are all over the place with many great wii games having at least one really negative review. Personally, despite it gaining glowing reviews, I just could not get into SSX Blur at all: looks great and all but controls were all over the place to me and counter intuitive. It felt like playing a flying game where I pushed up to climb and down to dive, my brain just knew it was wrong and it should be the other way around.

Anyway, to sum up, the people responsible for providing us with information about this hobby of ours are clearly unable to get their heads around just how to deal with Wii yet, I think. Sorry i kind of lost the thread of what i was trying to say about halfway through. Maybe there's an idea for something there.

Macchinmi

Not free but only a tenner

With so much information available about games it’s hard to know how good or bad a game is going to be. There is information and opinion everywhere and it’s difficult to know who to trust especially when publishers would have you believe that all their games are the best you’ll ever play.

Take Jeff Minter’s latest game Space Giraffe on XBLA. I’ve played Llamasoft games since the days of the Commodore 64 so I was already tempted but on the game’s release I read some hugely varied responses. One reviewer gave it 2/10, incidentally Jeff’s response was classic, where others were much more favourable. Gameov3r’s very own host, Lee, reviewed Space Giraffe and gave it a score of and, knowing that we tend to agree, more often than not, that was enough for me to make my decision and download the game. I’m happy to say that I still agree with his evaluation of the game.

Over a month ago now Lee recommended the 360 game Kameo to me. He also told me that Asda had it for a tenner on their website. Not only that but he said that if I didn’t like it he would personally send me a tenner out of his own piggy bank. Bargain! I thought to myself. I can’t lose! So I hastily placed my order.

Well Lee the wait is over. Last Thursday night was my first opportunity to play the game and you’ll be glad to hear that your tenner is safe. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 and half hours I spent playing. I’ve now spent in excess of 6 hours playing and I’d recommend it to anyone that has enjoyed a RARE game in the past or anyone that enjoys huge games with epic storylines.

So that’s 2 games I’ve had recommended to me, in different ways, and both times the recommendation has been right. I make a lot of decisions based on what I read and what a few people tell me and it’s not often these days that I buy a stinker. I’m pleased to say that the Gameov3r forum has a lot of likeminded members, granted we have some strange members but they’re likeminded nonetheless, and all are passionate about video games and perhaps there is a reason in there somewhere why there’s always someone playing the same games as you. Perhaps unusually for a gamer forum we have an average age of around 30 and I think this is one reason why there is a lot of agreement on the games we play and discuss.

Of course, none of us agree all of the time and we still need as much information as we can get from reliable sources to help us to decide what to play next.

So who’re your trusted sources and where do you arm yourself with the information you need to make your next purchase? Tell us on the Gameov3r FORUM