GRIP: Combat Racing

GRIP: Combat Racing is an entertaining racer for the Nintendo Switch. It isn’t the best racing title the system has to offer, but as a tribute and a throwback to arcade racers of the old days, it certainly succeeds in achieving its goal.

While its controls can often be a little too unforgiving - especially when travelling at such high speeds - once you’ve got the hang of each vehicle's unique yet temperamental handling, GRIP: Combat Racing really opens up. Serving as a faithful nod to the original Rollcage, the wide range of modes and unlockable parts could make it the next Rocket League - if it manages to gather a similar cult following. If you’re in the market for a larger than life racer that isn’t Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, this could well be your next racing obsession.

Extreme speed, lethal weapons, explosions, turbos and driving through the roof and walls is what awaits you in GRIP: Combat Racing. Even with its technical issues, the sensation when driving any vehicle, accompanied by electronic music, is excellent.

GRIP is a racing game filled with issues of give and take. The combat races and Arena matches are fun, but the straight-on racing is subpar. The courses are detailed and varied, but they’re hard to make sense of when going fast. While it’s certainly nice to see a throwback to old racing games, especially one with local split-screen, I wish it could have been a game I’d want to break out with friends more often.

GRIP: Combat Racing boasts exciting gameplay that is sadly held back by technical issues. It's worth a look into for fans of racers, but other folk may want to wait until a price drop.

GRIP: Combat Racing is a decent racing game that can get a little too wild at times.

There are enough consistently frustrating issues to hold it back from being truly exceptional for most. Both the gameplay and performance can feel a little too inconsistent at times as the controls and frame rate can sometimes be equally bumpy. Regardless, at its core, GRIP: Combat Racing is still an impressively fast racer that almost anybody should be able to have at least some fun with.

It offers plenty of content and variety when it comes to its game modes, but this version is far from its full potential and will rely on updates and additional elements to improve the experience, not to mention it has a high number of technical issues which need to be solved in the near future and that there are points which need more than just updates in order to make GRIP a memorable game.

A no-thrills arcade racer that straddles the line between nostalgic throwback and outdated curio, and while fun in short doses it quickly loses its novelty.