steam 100% 29 - 21/04/24
grid legends is a step up from grid 2019 - what was a game that had a good baseplate for what was to come, however lacked in content and failed to engage with the player, leaving an experience that many got bored of before finishing. grid legends had one thing to do - build up upon what grid 2019 left and find a way to make the ingame experience feel unique and enticing.
did it? yes and no.
at the start, you would be pointed to the story mode, a episode like story staged like a netflix show like f1’s “drive to survive” series. a new take to the series, however shown previously in codemaster’s f1 story mode games in f1 2019, f1 2021, and f1 23. the story - although predictable - was well put together and had references to the previous grid and toca games that came before this entry, what shows the attention put into it. additionally, the story mode doesn’t take too long, and can be used to get a grasp on how the game works. the parts are usually “do this (normally finish a certain position) and move on” sort of thing, what isn’t too bad and doesn’t rely on the ai and their actions.
however, this game very quickly overstays its welcome, especially in achevement hunting.
after the story mode, you would be moved onto the career mode. one problem - the career mode is staged in the exact same way as grid 2019’s career mode. except for the new content, such as drift and elimination events, this game has the same carrer mode as its predecessor, just shown in a different format. i had to take multiple breaks before finishing this game, as races felt like a chore, doing the same thing again and again. what made it worse is that some championships could be 3 races, or as short as 1. some races inside of them can be 2 minutes long, or up to 12 minutes long, so you don’t know how long it will take until you experience the races yourself.
furthermore, the car upgrade system doesn’t work well. to upgrade your car, you need to drive a certain distance with it. seems fine, however some championships only unlock when you can get upgrades at a certain level, what means (usually) you would have to spend time going around a oval just to get the miles for the championship. the final “pro” series forces you to do all of the championships, so sometimes you will have to farm mileage for championships. furthermore, you also need to get to tier 3 for roughly 15 cars and go beyond that for two more cars! this game quickly outstayed it’s welcome on my end, where getting all achevements ment doing events that felt like the same race again and again, and mile grinding that also feels like doing the same thing as before.
for an additional price, you can also get the special edition for dlcs. bare in mind that for the 100% you do need to get the dlcs. the stories are well put together and work as a extension for the base game story mode. the destruction derby dlc has buggy collision, what proves to be a problem when the requirements for the events are based on the collision model. the endurance and seneca one was okay, does the job well and showcases the edurance feature added (although the events are a maximum of 10/15 minutes long), the ravenwest dlc is in my opinion the best one out of the 4 dlcs, the events also further focus in on the throwbacks to the toca series of games as well as race driver grid, especially in the art direction for the ui for those events. the snow dlc was forgettable, think it’s because it just feels like regular events but in snow conditions. overall they do work well as their own solo events, and add small parts into the ingame universe that has been built up, however don’t expect massive amounts of focus in on the story like the main story mode.
overall, grid legends is a game that made an attempt on its job - to build on the baseplate left by grid 2019. did it work well? yes, as long as you take the best parts in, the story mode works well and the dlc adds onto it. furthermore, the new modes added can break up the monotony of regular races, and are also showcased quite a bit by the game. however, the same base career mode left by the game still leaves a bitter taste - as there is no real feeling of being in a team, more feeling like a shopping list of events to complete. a far cry from race driver grid’s career mode with teammate, money and car management features.
it’s a shame though this may be the final entry, ea hasn’t said anything about the franchise for a while and with dirt’s transformation into ea wrc, it looks like all of codemaster’s franchises are being turned into sports series or being canned. so this may be the end of the grid franchise, with the modern era leaving a game that although overstays it’s welcome for some, leaves some notes inside of its finale for a series that had seemed to peak in the mid to late 2000s, like most racing game franchises.
grid legends is a step up from grid 2019 - what was a game that had a good baseplate for what was to come, however lacked in content and failed to engage with the player, leaving an experience that many got bored of before finishing. grid legends had one thing to do - build up upon what grid 2019 left and find a way to make the ingame experience feel unique and enticing.
did it? yes and no.
at the start, you would be pointed to the story mode, a episode like story staged like a netflix show like f1’s “drive to survive” series. a new take to the series, however shown previously in codemaster’s f1 story mode games in f1 2019, f1 2021, and f1 23. the story - although predictable - was well put together and had references to the previous grid and toca games that came before this entry, what shows the attention put into it. additionally, the story mode doesn’t take too long, and can be used to get a grasp on how the game works. the parts are usually “do this (normally finish a certain position) and move on” sort of thing, what isn’t too bad and doesn’t rely on the ai and their actions.
however, this game very quickly overstays its welcome, especially in achevement hunting.
after the story mode, you would be moved onto the career mode. one problem - the career mode is staged in the exact same way as grid 2019’s career mode. except for the new content, such as drift and elimination events, this game has the same carrer mode as its predecessor, just shown in a different format. i had to take multiple breaks before finishing this game, as races felt like a chore, doing the same thing again and again. what made it worse is that some championships could be 3 races, or as short as 1. some races inside of them can be 2 minutes long, or up to 12 minutes long, so you don’t know how long it will take until you experience the races yourself.
furthermore, the car upgrade system doesn’t work well. to upgrade your car, you need to drive a certain distance with it. seems fine, however some championships only unlock when you can get upgrades at a certain level, what means (usually) you would have to spend time going around a oval just to get the miles for the championship. the final “pro” series forces you to do all of the championships, so sometimes you will have to farm mileage for championships. furthermore, you also need to get to tier 3 for roughly 15 cars and go beyond that for two more cars! this game quickly outstayed it’s welcome on my end, where getting all achevements ment doing events that felt like the same race again and again, and mile grinding that also feels like doing the same thing as before.
for an additional price, you can also get the special edition for dlcs. bare in mind that for the 100% you do need to get the dlcs. the stories are well put together and work as a extension for the base game story mode. the destruction derby dlc has buggy collision, what proves to be a problem when the requirements for the events are based on the collision model. the endurance and seneca one was okay, does the job well and showcases the edurance feature added (although the events are a maximum of 10/15 minutes long), the ravenwest dlc is in my opinion the best one out of the 4 dlcs, the events also further focus in on the throwbacks to the toca series of games as well as race driver grid, especially in the art direction for the ui for those events. the snow dlc was forgettable, think it’s because it just feels like regular events but in snow conditions. overall they do work well as their own solo events, and add small parts into the ingame universe that has been built up, however don’t expect massive amounts of focus in on the story like the main story mode.
overall, grid legends is a game that made an attempt on its job - to build on the baseplate left by grid 2019. did it work well? yes, as long as you take the best parts in, the story mode works well and the dlc adds onto it. furthermore, the new modes added can break up the monotony of regular races, and are also showcased quite a bit by the game. however, the same base career mode left by the game still leaves a bitter taste - as there is no real feeling of being in a team, more feeling like a shopping list of events to complete. a far cry from race driver grid’s career mode with teammate, money and car management features.
it’s a shame though this may be the final entry, ea hasn’t said anything about the franchise for a while and with dirt’s transformation into ea wrc, it looks like all of codemaster’s franchises are being turned into sports series or being canned. so this may be the end of the grid franchise, with the modern era leaving a game that although overstays it’s welcome for some, leaves some notes inside of its finale for a series that had seemed to peak in the mid to late 2000s, like most racing game franchises.