We reported yesterday that Codemasters is bringing back one of their many racing franchises with GRID. It will actually be the forth entry in the series, and a reboot of sorts (not a remaster/remake of the original). While that game will release later this year, you can revisit another title in the series, GRID 2, for free via Steam right now.

GRID 2 released all the way back in 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It came out to mostly solid reviews and hasn’t been ported or remastered for modern consoles at this point (though it’s available on Xbox One through backwards compatibility). The game is free now on PC through Steam, which you can get here.

GRID will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 13^th. GRID 2 will give you a good idea of what to expect from the franchise if you have never tried it- and hey, you can’t go wrong at that price.

Codemasters has a number of current racing games that are worth getting into, the latest being DiRT Rally 2.0. However, for those who haven’t sampled the developer’s racing offerings – or just like great games that are free – GRID 2 is currently free on the Humble Store. It also comes with two free track packs – Bathurst and Spa-Francorchamps.

Simply head over to the Humble Store, click on “Get The Game”, and you should have the Steam keys for the game and track packs delivered accordingly. Keep in mind that the offer is only valid until March 17th, 10 AM PT. Also the offer is valid for as long as supplies last, so hurry up.

Furthermore, you need to redeem the keys before March 21st, 10 AM PT. If you don’t, they’ll expire and be pretty much useless. As for whether GRID 2 is worth playing, you can check out GamingBolt’s official review here. Track variety is kind of “meh”, but otherwise the single-player experience is well worth it.

The first wave of free Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles as part of Xbox Live’s Games With Gold promotion are now live.

Defense Grid 2 (Xbox One), the acclaimed follow-up to the original, and Grid 2 (Xbox 360), Codemasters’ racing simulation, are now available for subscribers. The former is available from May 1st to 31st while the latter is available from May 1st to 15th. And thanks to backwards compatibility, Xbox One consumers can experience both games for free.

Costume Quest 2 (Xbox One) and Peggle (Xbox 360) will be both be available from May 16th onwards, though the former is available till June 15th while the latter will be available till May 31st.

For those who missed out on the phenomenal Sunset Overdrive from April, it’s still free until May 15th. Download it now because honestly, what excuse do you have for missing out on it? Expect Sony to reveal PlayStation Plus’s Instant Game Collection for May sometime this week. In the meantime, let us know what you think of this month’s Games With Gold in the comments.

MotoGP15 is a similar case on both accounts. Taking notes from its predecessor while delivering a more authentic and solid experience that the series excels upon and does so well with, MotoGP 15 didn’t have to do much to impress me, it just had to fix what was wrong. Being the only studio that actually puts out games of this genre, Milestone S.r.l. doesn’t have any competition to be wary off. And while this may seem like a positive aspect for the studio, it also presents many challenges for them. Competition drives innovation, and innovation leads to new experiences.

" Competition drives innovation, and innovation leads to new experiences."

But if there’s no competition, slacking becomes prominent. Milestone S.r.l. is in competition with themselves. Which means I expect consistency while being delivered a new experience given their expertise in this area. MotoGP15 does attempt to achieve this and while it succeeds in certain aspects, primarily in the form of new game modes, it doesn’t provide a valid reason for those who have never been interested in the series to do so now.

MotoGP 15 has its audience but there’s nothing new that the game provides that will attract outsiders. The game brings back past game modes and those most common to racing games such as Championship, Grand Prix, Career, and Time Attack. All of which can be raced upon from a selection of over 20 bike models across 3 different classes, including those from all previous games in the series.

And while some of these traditional modes have undergone slight iterations with various online integration, the new additions come in the form of Real Events mode and Beat the Time. Real Events allows the player to relive past races from actual riders, while completing objectives and taking on challenges as they where actually performed by the appropriate rider. This is great news for hardcore fans of the game as well as motorcycle enthusiasts.

"Which means I expect consistency while being delivered a new experience given their expertise in this area."

While I didn’t fair so well taking on the challenges myself, the fact that it’s challenging encourages the player to continue and become better at the overall game. Beat the Time expands on this aspect of challenge as it requires the player to beat a specific time on a specific track with a specific bike.

While this somewhat diverts the players focus when aiming to master a specific bike in other game modes, it is enjoyable and it provides something else for the player to take part in. Where the soul of the game resides is within its Career mode. Creating a custom character consisting of gear, racing style, name, nationality, and gender, allows the player to have presence within the game and participate as a professional rider.

As the player works their way up by completing races, signing with teams, and participating in sponsor based contracts, they’ll earn reputation points in the form of money and fans. Rather than implementing a complicated menu system coupled by tabs and tables, the game seeks to immerse the player directly in to the game through the use of the riders cabin. Within this space the player can check their calendar for upcoming races, enter their bedroom to change their riders gear, and check their PC for emails from teams and contracts.

"Where the soul of the game resides is within its Career mode."

This is a unique touch and it goes a long a way in making the player feel immersed within the game’s world. While the additional game modes are great to see and is clearly something that enthusiasts will certainly be excited for, controls and gameplay mechanics is most likely where this specific audience is hoping to see changes and improvements.

MotoGP 15 is all about authenticity and realistic handling, and while this is tailorable for a more casual experience, the game encourages the player to progress with their skills so that they’re able to race on the top-end on the scale. Since the experience is configurable, players are given many choices in terms of racing aids, level of A.I., racing lines, brake assistance, vehicle damage, and physics simulation.

Although this works well in practice it can cause some issues when the player chooses to take part in a race which requires a different class of vehicle, or should they choose to customize or upgrade their custom bike. But this is all down to the learning aspects of the game as it means you’re required to adopt to new situations, something which will become very apparent with the games various weather conditions, when fitting incorrect tire types.

As mentioned previously, the A.I. of the competition varies depending on the player’s choosing of set difficulty, and while the it seems to fair well during the default difficulty setting, how it fares on easier and harder levels is where things can feel a tad bit random. Adjusting the game for an easier ride can cause the game’s A.I. to not pay attention in the existence of other racers on the track.

"This is a unique touch and it goes a long a way in making the player feel immersed within the game's world."

This is common to a fair number of racing games and it results in a simple manner of trying to finish the race as opposed to riding professionally. The lack of awareness is begging for a pun here, but I’ll willing to leave things be. Harder difficulties can result in a more challenging and enjoyable experience for those familiar with the series as well as those who are willing to put in the work and raise their skill level. This is where player A.I. becomes a bit more interesting as it deliver on the intended experience that the game wishes to deliver.

Something which becomes very obvious from the start of the game is the emphasis on motorcycling history. Throughout the games many loading screens and introductory videos, MotoGP 15 prides itself on presenting information on historical events, tips on racing with specific vehicles, and how to make the most of tuning your bike before heading out on to the track.

All of which proves to be helpful and aims to make the player a better rider. Graphical quality is where the game falls short, sadly. While it’s a step-up from its predecessor, it isn’t without its faults. Vehicle and character models are superb, there’s no doubt about it. Combined with cinematic camera angles and depth-of-field to top it off, the entrance to every race can be truly immersive.

Where this all seems to fall apart however, resides in the presentation of the race overall. Stadiums and tracks are appealing at first but it’s doesn’t take too long before you realize just how bland and lifeless these locations actually are. Ever since the release of Codemasters’ GRID 2 back in 2013, I’ve held it as the visual standard for every racing game that has come and gone since.

"This isn't done as a measurement of gameplay, authenticity, or graphical quality, but in terms of its visual presentation and the factor of immersion. "

This isn’t done as a measurement of gameplay, authenticity, or graphical quality, but in terms of its visual presentation and the factor of immersion. It has unique wow factor that a great number of racers seem to lack and it’s something that I wish more games would take note from.

MotoGP 15 is without a doubt a solid racer, unfortunately, it’s gasping for life. Cheering crowds, balloons in the air, helicopters flying above the stadium, smoke and particle effects. I could easily go on but it’s these small details specifically that made GRID 2 so appealing and so distinct from it’s competitors.

It had life, it thrived on immersion, and it breathed excitement. MotoGP 15 is bland. There’s no sense whatsoever that any of the environments the game presents to the player could be actual real-world locations. Almost everything within its environments resemble a movie prop. It’s quite painful to say this too, since the gameplay itself is truly amazing. Other aspects in the games visual department also fall short, primarily within its textures.

"Other aspects in the games visual department also fall short, primarily within its textures. "

As far as I can tell, anisotropic filtering looks to be rated at around 4X, it could be slightly higher but it’s not pleasing regardless. To put this in layman’s terms, everything outside the immediate vicinity of the rider isn’t too attractive to look at. Performance on the other hand seems to be fairly stable, something of which is much more important to the overall experience of the game.

Milestone S.r.l. has created a superb game, there’s plenty to do and there’s a reason to progress within all of its many game modes. While I’m pleased to see how much it’s improved from its predecessor, what I would like to see going forward with the series is a rise in visual quality. Authentic experiences are key to games of this nature but if they can only do this in the way of gameplay mechanics, they would’ve been better off by applying an update to the game that came before.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

Earlier today via Twitter it may have come to light that Codemasters has, not a new, but possibly several new dirt/rally racing games in the works for release in 2014. This news came to light after a Codemasters rally racing fan, Luke Harvey, tweeted at the official Codemasters Twitter account with the hopes of getting an update on one rally title he thought to be in development. The original tweet read:

“@Codemasters definitely a new dirt/rally game. But you’re working on one already aren’t you? ;)”

Codemasters, latching onto Luke’s coy attitude, responded in kind with an equally coy double negative and possible play on words followed by a winking emoticon that not only confirms development of at least one rally title, but hints at the possible development of several more, depending on how literal you want to get. The response read:

“@Rallycameraman Well we’re not, not working on one ;)”

What do you make of the back and forth?

For all the “great” games that Xbox Live is offering with its Games With Gold program (and we use that term loosely), PlayStation Plus subscribers in North America will be able to take advantage of some significantly high profile releases for December. Best of all? They’re all free of charge.

For PS3 gamers, there’s Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 2 which released last year and has a string of amazing DLC (with more to come) to go with its excellent campaign and co-op features. GRID 2 is a stellar racing game from Codemasters that released earlier this year, while Dyad is a critically acclaimed downloadable tunnel racing shooter.

PS Vita owners get a somehwat limited selection with one of the free games being Urban Trial Freestyle but then there’s also Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which revisits the surprisingly good kart racing of its predecessor and adds other vehicles to the mix for a more varied experience. What are your thoughts on the free games for December? Let us know below.

(Source)

Earlier today, something interesting was posted on the Codemasters’ official website.

“Test Drivers wanted – fancy a trip to Codies for super-exclusive, super-secret early game access? We’ve said before that we’re really focussed on getting your feedback about our games – well, one of the initiatives we’re keen to launch is to get you guys involved at a much earlier stage. Earlier, even, than announcement.”

Understandably, this post has caused rumors of GRID 3 to run rampant. You’ve got Codemasters asking for test drivers to come test an unreleased project. It’s not too difficult to make the logical leap here. This announcement comes right on the heels of the release of GRID 2 earlier this year.

Additionally, in the full text of the blog post, Codemasters requests the applicants submit a one sentence review of GRID 2, which, to many hopefuls out there, means that Codemasters is looking at the ability of applicants to provide succinct and helpful critical insight specifically relating to the GRID series.

Do yo have any advice when it comes to GRID? Problems you think could be improved upon. Consider applying.

For whatever reason in this sequel to Race Driver: Grid, the much loved Demolition Derby mode from the first game was left out. As reported earlier, a surge of requests from fans prompted Codemasters to begin development on a new and improved Demolition Derby mode. And it’s free.

This new Demolition Derby mode will be similar to the original, but will feature the updated mechanics and graphics featured in Grid 2. Additionally, it will include the Jupiter Ray MK 5 Demo Derby car, the ability to customize liveries, and the Detroit Demolition Stadium, which can be configured two separate ways.

Demolition Derby mode can be played single player, split screen, or with up to twelve players in online races.

The new game mode will be available for all versions of the game, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

The free DLC is available to Xbox 360 and PC users, with PlayStation 3 fans having to wait another week to get their hands on the same. Meanwhile, you can head here to check out our official review of GRID 2, which is actually well worth a play regardless of your console of choice.

Honestly, this shouldn’t even be news. I mean, of course no one bought it. Who’s gonna spend £125,000 on a video game?

But that didn’t stop Codemasters from making a GRiD 2 BAC Mono Edition that did in fact retail for that much… which is just slightly more sane than the $1 million Saints Row 4 Special Edition that Deep Silver has cooking up.

The BAC Mono Edition was extremely limited- we’re talking one copy ever issues- it included a PlayStation 3 along with a copy of GRID 2, a GRID 2-branded race suit, boots, gloves and helmet, a tour of the BAC factory, and a real, road-legal 170mph BAC Mono supercar. It’s still available for purchase, since it never sold, so if you want one, go ahead and purchase it. Although if you spend that kind of money on a game, even one that includes a supercar, I do have to question your priorities in life.

[VideoGamer]