Coming to grips with GripShift: the PS3 demo
If you’re familiar with the PSP title, then you should be familiar with the PS3-downloadable, PS3-playable GripShift. If you’re asking, “Is GripShift worth the US$ 10.00 (no shipping and handling charges required) I have to plop down in the PlayStation Store?”, well, if you like puzzle racers, it could very well be. If you don’t, then the advice is obvious. If you’re asking “What the heck is a puzzle racer,” and you haven’t played the PSP GripShift one way or another, read on…
Okay, so I haven’t played the PSP GripShift…
The GripShift demo naturally doesn’t include all gameplay modes, but I wished (well, we wished) Sidhe Interactive would have tossed in some sort of limited multiplayer mode to test out, even split-screen would have sufficed. Instead, the demo is sort of a multi-level walkthrough of the stunts you could pull off in the game – not to mention the five basic objectives you must meet in any given track, in a given amount of time (in the demo, about a minute)
- Get all the stars in a given track
- Complete the track in a given amount of time
- Find the “GS” icon and complete the track
- In a race challenge track: outrace the other guy to the finish line
- In a race challenge track: get more stars than the other guy
The full game will feature single-player single race, “career mode” challenge, time trial, and practice mode, as well as the obligatory online multiplayer. As we said: this is a puzzle racer, not a pure racer like MotorStorm or Gran Turismo.
It’s not always pedal to the metal to achieve at least three of the five goals above. We can even argue that it’s not always pedal to the metal for ALL the goals: the hanging-in-mid-air tracks can be deceptive at times. If you liked “Theory of Flight”, then you will love running off the beaten track and into the air over, and over, and over, to no objective consequence…
If not, then that’s why it’s called a puzzle racer. And that’s where a little (just a little) noggin, and a fine sense of control, comes in.
The rest after the jump. No boost required; in-air braking, maybe.
If you’re familiar with the PSP title, then you should be familiar with the PS3-downloadable, PS3-playable GripShift. If you’re asking, “Is GripShift worth the US$ 10.00 (no shipping and handling charges required) I have to plop down in the PlayStation Store?”, well, if you like puzzle racers, it could very well be. If you don’t, then the advice is obvious. If you’re asking “What the heck is a puzzle racer,” and you haven’t played the PSP GripShift one way or another, read on…
Okay, so I haven’t played the PSP GripShift…
The GripShift demo naturally doesn’t include all gameplay modes, but I wished (well, we wished) Sidhe Interactive would have tossed in some sort of limited multiplayer mode to test out, even split-screen would have sufficed. Instead, the demo is sort of a multi-level walkthrough of the stunts you could pull off in the game – not to mention the five basic objectives you must meet in any given track, in a given amount of time (in the demo, about a minute)
- Get all the stars in a given track
- Complete the track in a given amount of time
- Find the “GS” icon and complete the track
- In a race challenge track: outrace the other guy to the finish line
- In a race challenge track: get more stars than the other guy
The full game will feature single-player single race, “career mode” challenge, time trial, and practice mode, as well as the obligatory online multiplayer. As we said: this is a puzzle racer, not a pure racer like MotorStorm or Gran Turismo.
It’s not always pedal to the metal to achieve at least three of the five goals above. We can even argue that it’s not always pedal to the metal for ALL the goals: the hanging-in-mid-air tracks can be deceptive at times. If you liked “Theory of Flight”, then you will love running off the beaten track and into the air over, and over, and over, to no objective consequence…
If not, then that’s why it’s called a puzzle racer. And that’s where a little (just a little) noggin, and a fine sense of control, comes in.
Always keep your hands in the ten and two o’clock positions
If you’ve played the MotorStorm demo, you can play the GripShift demo. And we are happy to say that yes, just as two commenters in the last article have mentioned, this game uses SIXAXIS motion-sensing, and for the same reason as MotorStorm. Theory of Flight notwithstanding, there are places where your one of two demo cars WILL have to go airborne to snag stars, clear gaps, take airborne short cuts, or reach higher platforms and tracks. You will have to worry about angle of landing.
But don’t worry too much – it’s not like the physics run off Havok or something. You can brake, accelerate, and boost in midair, which is not only handy, but useful when you’re trying to land on a platform and are about to overshoot (just hit the brakes and hope you land somewhere on terra firma). Controls are brought over from the PSP, although mappable, with a couple o’exceptions: (a) SIXAXIS support, (b) the L2 and R2 triggers also mirror the L1 and R1 controls. Because the controls mirror those on the PSP, no functionality is assigned to the right analog stick, which means the classic-control racers can’t assign throttle/brake to that stick, sorry.
Seeing stars is not a bad thing, really, if you can collect them
The appeal of a puzzle racer is to accomplish challenges with what the game gives you. Enjoy nailing hidden ramps and stunts in Grand Theft Auto? Then this game’s for you. You don’t have to complete all the challenges of a track in one go (you can always restart for the next one), but you do have to get to the finish line to collect the reward: credits. Use credits to unlock even more stuff in the game. By the way, there are a hundred credits to collect in the demo, and I’m up to seventy-three or something right now.
Blame the loops. GripShift is known for its rather insane track designs. Loops, ramps, perilous one-lane tracks with no guardrails, one-way speed boosts (or brake lanes if headed in the opposite direction), fans, nitrous boost and time limit extend pickups, off-road tracks and platforms and other hazards (other hazards not present in demo tracks). The track and its challenges make up the total puzzle to complete. Although the demo ones are fairly easy, we can assume that the full set of challenge tracks in the full game should leave some heads scratching.
Guess nobody wants to be lonely in GripShift
Like we said: no multiplayer in the demo, no matter how hard we wish. Still, the last demo challenge, which features a race against a single AI racer, should give a small taste of that feature. As mentioned earlier, the challenge is to outrace or outcollect the other guy to the finish line, and the trick is to make that task difficult for the other guy.
Aside from nitrous pickups, there are also random pickups in the race challenge and (we can presume) in multiplayer. It spits our either a mine-like TNT crate, a semi-homing missile, or a shield. Use the first two to bust up a competitor and leave him stranded for a bit; use the last one to nullify the other guy’s attack. Other than that, also use the environment to your advantage – one-lane tracks without guardrails, remember? Simple, Mario Kart-like, and who doesn’t like Mario Kart? Pick-up multiplayer was one of the PSP game’s strong suits, and it should be the same here.
Guess he took the scenic route
It’s not the grit of MotorStorm‘s Monument Valley, but GripShift‘s visuals fits to its rather kiddie-racer, 3D-cartoonish atmosphere. Bumping graphics to 720p definitely brings the game to life vis-a-vis PSP graphics (hope you have a proper set for it), but they look decently sharp even on an SD. Anyway, in-game objects are big and bright enough to be easily identifiable even in the heat of a race challenge.
Sound effects are okay, but I guess I’m not a fan of techno. The game comes with 38 tracks to create a playlist from, but I found myself wishing for custom soundtrack options. That can be given a pass though – OSTs are really personal taste in the end, and swapping the music doesn’t really change the game.
The finish line up ahead
So, still want to strap in and hit the gas? Puzzle gamers will most appreciate this game, trying to beat all the challenges, collect all the credits, and unlock all the hidden goodies of the full game. Next up are Kart fans, who will probably take to the game’s wacky multiplayer races (always wanted to knock a guy off a loop, rather than “for a loop”). Finally, fans of the PSP game will also find the PS3 version well worth downloading, for the online multiplayer option and the added content.
Everyone else might not find collecting stars in a racer to be their cup of tea. Still, GripShift is simple enough for anyone to have a go at the demo, get his feet wet of sorts. Should the demo gameplay perk your interest – and there is more in the full game that hasn’t been seen in the demo yet – then it’s probably worth the money you give to your PS3. Hey, at least even in the demo, you still have a hundred credits to collect before you decide (that’ll take a couple of hours, more or less).
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