The one aspect of AI racing that really stuck out and made an impression was the AI’s ability to fight each other for the best racing lines and for a better position. The AI will pay you back when the opportunity arises, and will make it a struggle to pass when the time is right. If your approach is win at all costs, then a few enemies will be made. If you race clean, the AI will give you the benefit of the doubt and race with you. Sometimes that means the experience is frustrating, sometimes it’s maddening, but it’s always exciting. The AI is tuned very well in Grid Legends.
#GRID LEGENDS PS5 REVIEW FULL#
When you add some extremely dialed-in AI opponents, you have an experience that is both exciting and crammed full of longevity. Toss in a solid downpour or snowstorm, and the knuckles turned white more frequently than I care to admit. Some tracks just required me to haul ass through long straightaways, while others were all about the 90-degree turns and S-curves. In order to progress through the story mode, career mode, or online - and do so with some success - I had to learn what each vehicle was about and the best approach for each track with said vehicle. That is the beauty of the racing system in place here. Throughout my time with Grid Legends, I found the developers had created a driving model that forced me to not only learn how all of the vehicles handled, but how they interacted with different surfaces and different track types. Fist, the driving mechanics in the game are simply stellar, and I like to refer to them as easy to grasp but hard to master. The reasons it works and resonated so well with me is twofold. Grid Legends is, at its core, an adrenaline-fueled racer that rarely ever lets up.
I will not give anything away, but know that the new story mode is extremely well done and is approachable and addictive enough that multiple playthroughs should be an option for some. There are moments that it felt like it was a combination of games from the past, with a dash of Wreckfest and TOCA sprinkled in here. Again, it all comes down to the quick hitting delivery of the story where you’re the star on and off the track. I enjoyed it as much the second time as the first, and a third attempt is not out of the question. Everything flows together so well because the actual story aspect of the mode is delivered in quick videos and screenshots with description-style overlays that quickly explain what is happening before you get back to racing. There are over 30 different scenarios that play out over the course of the story, and each one requires a different approach and has a small story to accompany it. To start with, the developers created a solid story that plays out in a way where it allows you and the racing to be the stars of the show.
I was impressed by it then and remain impressed by it now. If you read my preview here on Operation Sports, it was a detailed look at the all-new story mode created by Codemasters called Driven to Glory. After a “hands-on” session with the career mode build, I could instantly tell that work had been done and the racing had moved closer to the roots of the former TOCA series, which was a simulation and arcade hybrid.īut beyond my first taste of the career mode and racing, does Grid Legends now hold up in its final form? What I Like There is room within the community for a variety of titles that range from pure simulation to over-the-top arcade, but what there isn’t room for is a title that’s doesn’t know what it is or what it wants to be.
This brings us to my Grid Legends review. When you factor in that the current racing scene is loaded right now with titles of multiple disciplines, it means changes, additions, and corrections needed to take place for the Grid franchise to find its footing again with Grid Legends. I believe Codemasters and EA know the direction of the last Grid game did not resonate with the masses as they had hoped.