GRIP: Combat Racing Reviews
GRIP: Combat Racing suffers from a number of flaws, inadequately hardened difficulty and dead multiplayer. The project may appeal to old Rollcage fans and fans of high-speed arcades, but everyone else can safely skip the game or wait for big updates.
Review in Russian | Read full review
GRIP is not yet at the point its potential suggests, but being made available at this moment runs that risk: as it is, the game needs several improvements and will certainly receive them. However, while its plentiful and varied content tick the right boxes, there are issues which will require more than just updates and additional modules to solve, and the model selected to bring GRIP to the players runs risks that can end up harming this experience more than it should.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Minor issues aside, Grip: Combat Racing is a great experience for both veterans of arcade combat racers as well as those who are willing to learn the genre. The initial learning pains and massive difficulty spikes toward the end of the game may turn away newcomers, and the catch-up mechanics and sometimes questionable physics may dissuade veteran players. For all others, though, Grip is a wild ride that offers fantastic tracks that are exhilarating to race on at lightning-fast speeds.
For Nintendo Switch owners who are looking for a racing game that differs from the “kart” scene, the low-gravity and speedy thrill of GRIP is the way to go.
GRIP: Combat Racing on PlayStation 4 is certainly the full package with a ton of content to enjoy. I don't think the game does a good job onboarding new players, but the good thing is that you will pick things up after playing for a bit. It's a tight, fast and tense racer which is all you can ask for. Give GRIP: Combat Racing a chance to grip you!
Fast, furious and explosive racing is very good choice. But it is sad, that there is not enough players in multiplayer.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
GRIP: Combat Racing is an entertaining racer for the Nintendo Switch. It isn’t the best racing title the system has to offer, but as a tribute and a throwback to arcade racers of the old days, it certainly succeeds in achieving its goal.
GRIP Combat Racing was as much a battle between myself and the game as it was between my car and rival racers, which is a shame because when it works, it works splendidly. It's fortunate that at least the game's issues could all be resolved with further patches, potentially leaving us with an excellent racer on the Nintendo Switch, but as it stands now, the game is flawed and is hard to justify at full price.
"Needs more grip and multiple players."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
GRIP is a fine racing game. It has some fantastic moments in its fast speeds and impressive maneuvers. While there are some issues here and there with the devastation of crashing, and the online being laggy at times, I find that at its heart, it’s a great racer that tries something that hasn’t been thought of in a long while. It’s a buy for racing fans, but I would hold off until a slight price drop, at least. Maybe by then a few patches and sort out a few things.
Grip is a solid racing title providing many ways to compete with more traditional options or with some exciting competitive modes.
GRIP is a technically sound game and can genuinely offer some exciting racing, as you try to dodge enemy weapons, track hazards and more, all at insane speeds. However, it can also be a confusing game to navigate and also has very unfair rubber-banding which can screw you over more than half the time as you'll find a well-placed rocket right up your rear-pipe just before you hit the finish line. GRIP also looks and sounds great, with some very well designed tracks, though some side modes (arena-based modes) completely miss out the best part about the game - being able to ride on any surface. I can genuinely see people enjoying their time with GRIP than I have, I just think it's missed the mark.
The actual gameplay of GRIP: Combat Racing is pretty entertaining. That it supports local multiplayer makes it an ideal game to play with some friends, and the easy-to-pick-up nature of the game is almost begging for some party play. That being said, the actual career mode is mostly cosmetic in progression and the number of tracks is a bit light, with even fewer really good tracks out of that collection. Some nice twists on race modes help to provide some variety to those same repeating tracks, but that sameness when mixed with somewhat shallow modes and options and an average presentation kept GRIP from being so compelling that I have to play it often or over very long stretches of time. It is a fun experience, if a somewhat shallow one.
GRIP: Combat Racing demands constant discipline from its audience while exhibiting little itself.
While GRIP may not be everything you could hope for in a combat racer it also nails some crucial elements when you play the right modes that make it worthwhile. Perhaps it tried a little too hard to find a more broad appeal with modes that are more focused on racing, and though changing up your vehicles to match the mode can help quite a bit in general the straight racing simply isn’t anywhere near as fun as when you’re trying to wreck your opponents. I’d be fascinated to see what they’d do with a sequel if they focused on the elements that worked well and expanded them and perhaps expended a little less effort on trying to be a racing title.
If you're not looking for a spectacularar AAA, but a honest and fun game, GRIP will suit you.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There's a huge amount of fun to be had here, but it's not a game that will appeal to those in the market for a realistic depiction of the joys of the internal combustion engine. Realism has been traded for pure insanity, so if you prefer something more like Forza or Gran Turismo then this won't be the game for you. If you were a fan of Rollcage, then you'll love this.
I feel that GRIP will draw lots of strong opinions on either side of the spectrum and that the diehards will stick with it for the foreseeable future. It’s not likely to set the world on fire and will appeal mostly to the nostalgia of older PC gamers, but does enough to be more than a pretty paint job on top of old ideas.
Though GRIP offers up some exciting racing and vehicular combat on a really wild and creative set of tracks, a frustrating singleplayer campaign and serious technical issues with the online multiplayer make it difficult to recommend in its current state.
GRIP is a great speed racer with a big nod to favourites of years past, breathing new life into the genre, and its well worth adding it to your game collection.