- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Release Date: Dec 12, 2007
- Also On: PlayStation 3
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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GripShift is one of the best XBLA racing games available. The game is just too damn varied, wacky, and all around fun to summarize it any other way, and the feature-packed content makes it well worth the 800 point price tag.
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The racing and deathmatch modes, multiplayer online or offline, are both very well done and lend themselves surprisingly well to racing controls that don't seem built with racing in mind.
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Whether you're simply racing to top your friends' scores, as you would in any Xbox Live Arcade games, or you're racing for the very top, this is an unbelievably addictive physics puzzle game with its roots in TrackMania, Mercury and games of their ilk and arguably the beating of most of them.
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For $10, you really can’t beat the value of this game. Not only do you get a fully fleshed-out Kart style racer, but also deathmatch, a platforming puzzler, and Xbox Live support!
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Xbox World 360 Magazine UKTop game. [Mar 2008, p.94]
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The handling is just right, playing is fun and the sheer number of events warrants long hours of play.
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Innovative, addicting gameplay launches Gripshift out of mediocrity, but the lack of motivation to play everything, a ghost of a multiplayer mode, the 600-Microsoft-Point price tag and eventual frustration makes the game plummet back to Earth.
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I'd absolutely suggest Gripshift to you 360 owners out there, based purely on the strength of the challenge mode gameplay. I still find myself going back to it time and again for random maps, and if you're a fan of achievements it'll take you quite a bit of time to actually "complete".
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Rather than stretching to make a multi-bajillion dollar, true-to-life racing simulation, Sidhe have focused their efforts on producing a rather cute, well-designed, simple puzzle/platform racer and the awards speak for themselves.
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Despite my complaints, GripShift isn’t a bad game, it’s just flawed in all the wrong places and at the end of the day, it’s completely unremarkable.
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So, is GripShift the end all be all of combat racing on the Xbox 360? Not by a long shot. However, the game definitely stands out in its genre and makes it a lot of fun to get behind the wheel to put the pedal to the metal—and has a price tag of only 800 Microsoft Points (or about $10).
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Some will be able to take it for what it is, but I need some sort of glue to hold my games together, some sort of over-arching point as to why I’m playing them, sadly GripShift doesn’t have any of that.
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With the promise of downloadable tracks, levels and game types in the future, GripShift is a decent way to spend 800 Microsoft Points. It might not be the most incredible kart racer you’ve ever played, but it’s solid and it’s fun, and that’s what counts.
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Either online in a deathmatch, or attempting to perfect the 120 levels, Gripshift is a fun diversion that holds a lot of value if you’re up for the challenge.
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The gameplay is unlike anything else offered, and even though it’s technically a port, compared to the rest of XBLA it qualifies as original content.
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The puzzle sections are great fun, and could have been their own game. As it stands, however, the Race mode just doesn't cut it.
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Official Xbox Magazine UKPlenty of options, game modes and good fun. [Feb 2008, p.102]
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Gripshift tries to do a lot of thing, and while it doesn't succeed at everything there's a huge amount of content available for what it does best.
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X-ONE Magazine UKIt's so colorful that it's likely to lure people of all ages in and keep them hooked. [Issue#29, p.120]
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Ultimately, GripShift is not precisely original. Its elements can be clearly traced to many other racing games, and it's not even the best in its particular racing sub-style (that reward remains with Trackmania).
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GripShift includes a decent amount of gameplay for an Xbox Live Arcade title, but it just isn't compelling enough to motivate you to play through the entire game.
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GripShift tries to be too many things at once, and ends up falling flat at most of them. The funky physics of the game will provide a decently enjoyable learning curve to get over, but it will be a rare gamer that cares to see GripShift through on all 125 races.
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If you’re looking for a racing title on the Arcade, Gripshift does a passable job doing it.
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And combine this with all the jumping, shooting, and platforming the player needs to do in order to compete challenge modes, it is easily seen where the game’s overall presentation begins to falter.
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Official Xbox MagazineGripShift includes a ton of new tracks and a brand-new deathmatch mode--which lets you face off against your pals on Xbox Live--but this game isn't worth the points. [Jan 2008, p.65]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 12
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Mixed: 2 out of 12
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Negative: 1 out of 12
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BlueFalconJan 11, 2008
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StarH.Dec 31, 2007
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CaseyD.Dec 30, 2007