GripShift

"Amazing game. Tons of replay and tons of fun."

This is my first ever review although I've been playing games since i was about 5. I bought the PSP back in August and have played 14 games on it since. Of all the games that I have played this is by far the best.

Graphics: While hardly breathtaking they are very good to look at. The buggies you drive are well detailed and the courses and backgrounds are pleasing to look at. I must say that because the graphics aren't awesome the load times are minimal. Also I haven't encountered any slowdown either.

Sound: This is nothing to write home about but as with the graphics gets the job done. The music does get repetitive after a while.

Presentation: The menus are well deigned and because the load times are so brief it doesn't take long to get into a race or challenge. The game's manual is well laid out and tells you everything you need to know.

Gameplay: This game is a mixture of racing, puzzle solving and platforming. The games tracks are suspended in mid air with no barriers so it is quite easy to plunge to your death.

The main portion of the game is the challenge mode. Here you start off at beginner difficulty and work through the challenges until you complete the last one on insane difficulty. The challenges mostly consist of getting to the finish line of the track within a set time. The quicker you are the better the medal you receive. There are also two other objectives to complete but these are optional, at least at first.

Getting to the end of the track and earning a bronze medal gives you one credit. Achieving a silver earns you two and attaining a gold will give you three credits. The two other objectives will also give you credits for completing them. These objectives are: 1) Collect all the stars on the map and 2) Collect the hidden Gripshift icon.

Completion of these objectives often requires you to jump off the track and onto floating islands. The reason that these objectives are optional is that you do not have to complete them in order to move on to the next challenge. However, simply finishing the tracks will only earn you a small number of credits and you may find that you cannot move to the next difficulty level or unlock a mini game until you have a certain number. So you will find yourself going back to collect all the stars and/or finding the GS icon.

Included in the challenge mode are some races. Here you race over two laps against opponents and must come first to complete the level. You can fire weapons at eah other in these races. If you fall off the track, instead of having to restart the level as in the other challenges, you are simply reset onto the track.

When you start the game you can choose to be one of four characters, another two are unlockable. Your choice of character has no bearing on gameplay. You can also choose from one of four buggies, once again another two being unlockable. Each buggy has different stats such as for top speed, handling , acceleration etc. This of course will affect how you play. If you are having difficulty with a track you can simply change your vehicle to use a more suitable one. Some tracks in the game are more suited to particular buggies than others.

It is important to note that this game does not feature realistic driving. When first starting the game even the most hardcore arcade racers may find themselves struggling ro keep the buggy on the track. There are many reviewers who have given this game a low score because of this. However, you will quickly adjust to the handling characteristics and after a few levels will wonder what all the fuss is about.

The game contains six single player mini games and six multiplayer ones. These are unlocked as you progress through challenge mode and earn credits. All the mini games are fun to play especially penguin bowling and deathmatch.

Value: This game can easily suck up a lot of your time. Replaying levels to attain all the objectives is fun even if you have to do so several times. The game contains a very easy to use track editor so you can create tons of tracks to play through yourself or to share with friends and watch them plummet to their deaths. I've played this game for around sixty hours now and still am not bored.

This game is a definite buy for all racing/platforming fans. I picked it up for £20 and is easily the best purchase I have made on the PSP and indeed since Half Life 2 came out.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/06