Who remembers Rollcage? It was a combat racing game from the 90’s that should have gotten a lot more attention than it did. Unfortunately, it came out around the same time that the Wipeout series took off, and therefore Rollcage was forced out of the spotlight. It introduced fast paced antigravity racing that saw you go so fast that the perspective flipped, with your car sticking to the ceilings. This was later reused in some form by Nintendo in Mario Kart 8, but not the way Rpllcage did. Rollcage reinvented the wheel by literally flipping combat racing on its head, and yet the series remained in the past.
Fast Forward to 2018 and Caged Element and Wired Productions have brought us Grip Combat Racing. Grip is the spiritual sequel to Rollcage that we didn’t know that we needed. It captures every amazing idea from the classic title and expands on it further. There are multiple modes of gameplay, such as a campaign mode, online mode, split-screen competition, capture the flag and deathmatch just to name a few. Almost all the modes can be played in single player as well, with AI bots substituting for other players, and this is a nice touch that helps the game stand out some more.
The visuals are absolutely amazing and to see such a throwback to the 90’s style but with modern graphics is impressive. The graphics just seem to pop off the screen, and each minor detail of the vehicles stand out, and while the races go by too quickly to see them in full detail, the tracks and settings are fantastic. The effects from the cars, such as the flicker of flames and burn-off from the cars pop out at you as they go and you just want to not move for a few minutes to take everything in.
The races themselves are all out insanity, whether they are weaponless races, races with weapons, or all out battles. This is not just a racing game, but an all out action game. There is a jump button here for a good reason, as this is a much more involved racer. It isn’t all good though, as sometimes it feels the game can move too fast for you to react. This can throw you off in some races in competitive modes and the campaign. That said, overall Grip Combat Racing is a welcome game that really does bring a missing ingredient to the genre that has been lacking for a while. I recommend it.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided.