When I had the chance to try out Grid Legends and its story mode a month ago, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. The same happened to David Caballero with the first varied demo.
The graphics were of course well done, but the driving controls and the feel of the cars were almost a disaster. That everything seemed to work so erratically was a big disappointment. It was like going to the karts at an amusement park and constantly hitting someone. A month later, the review code ended up in my hands. I wasn’t very excited and figured I had to keep going for a few more hours, but was pleasantly surprised that Codemasters had greatly improved the game since then. Obviously the ride feel isn’t what it should be and it doesn’t reach the shoe sole of Forza Horizon 5, for example, but they’ve eliminated the main issues of the previous version. The downside, however, is that it’s not a lot of fun to drive because it’s not realistic enough to give that simulation feel, but it’s also not as fun as a pure arcade car game should be.
There’s another aspect I also don’t understand, which is that Codemasters was phenomenal at the small details but at the same time failed at the important ones. They’ve managed to please the spectators on the edge of the pitch very well, as it doesn’t seem like the crowd is as static as in other games, and there are even fans hanging onto the barrier to watch the pilots to cheer . Those are the little things that make me smile. However, Codemasters failed at the same time when it comes to water splashing on cars when driving in the rain. If you’re sitting directly behind another car and it’s drizzling, you’ll get almost no drips on your windshield if you choose to drive from the cockpit camera view. In fact, almost no spatter. Driving over puddles of water makes no difference and driving in the snow was also very disappointing. There is snow along the roadside, but never more than a few flakes fall, slowly floating to the ground. Driving in these conditions doesn’t leave tire tracks either, so feels like a racing game from 2003. Too bad, because the different weather conditions (whether sun, cloudy, rain, storm or snow) actually have a different design… very good. The rain is looking good, the snow on the side of the road is looking good too, but it lacks that extra something.
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If there’s one thing to commend Codemasters for, it’s the design of the various tracks. There are 22 different ones to choose from, and all have many different variants (over 130). The street circuits impress me the most, as cities like London, Moscow, Paris and Chicago are very well recreated. If you have been to one of them before, you will recognize yourself immediately. People will surely think: “I walked that street!”, “C’mon Oxford Street, now I feel like shopping at Primark” and “Look, the Golden Gate Bridge!”. Also, the different versions of the street circuits are so different that you don’t feel like you’re driving a shorter version of the same circuit. Two story mode races in a row took place in Moscow, and both were completely different. Most likely, the developers put 90% of their efforts into the story mode.
They did a really good job with F1 2021’s Braking Point story mode and tried to use their magic wand here too. Instead of CG characters, they have decided to invest in live actors, which is presented to us as a kind of documentary with the same dramatic touch as the popular Netflix series “Drive To Survive”. It all starts with a big crash involving my character. At this point it goes back in time to show the player everything that got them there and you start out as a nobody getting a contract with Seneca Racing fairly and honestly. Days before the start of the season because their second driver has decided to leave. Seneca is a troubled team, which of course changes course once Pilot 22, as your character is called, enters the scene. However, problems do occasionally arise and the story is fine. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get into the story. In F1 2021 we played as a driver who had a specific character and personality, but in Grid Legends we never saw driver 22. He (or she) never speaks or shows his face, so it’s hard to feel anything about a character like that. Overall, the actors do a pretty good job, but the 36-part story generally doesn’t quite reach the quality level of Braking Point.
If you’re looking for something different, it also has a racing mode. The content is good, there are many different types of competitions, from electric cars to touring cars. You start with a beginner level where there are eight different categories. You need to complete enough goals to unlock Semi-Pro, then Pro, and so on over 250 career events. The multiplayer mode is that you can create the race you want with up to 22 players online if you don’t want to go to the waiting room. 99 laps on the Strada Alpina in the snow? Of course we go there. Your friends can also get in and race with you in race mode as there is a join tool. In fact, you can get in the middle of a race while your friend is running. What do you see that a friend is online and you think they need some competition? In this case, you can jump in mid-race and get behind the wheel of a previously computer-controlled driver. Multiplayer can also be cross-platform, which is appreciated at launch.
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Grid Legends has improved a lot in just a month (and compared to 2019, of course) and it’s quite surprising in its own right. But the question is how I would have felt if I had just played now and not tried it before. Most likely I would have thought that the title is pretty mediocre overall and that there are parts that really stand out, but the driving feel isn’t good enough to keep me glued to the screen. After all… Codemasters are much better at it.