Reviews// GripShift (PSP)

Developed by Sidhe Interactive and published in the UK by Ubisoft, GripShift is a fun little game that comes at a time when we are not starved exactly, but certainly longing for more good games for the PSP. The game bills its self as a puzzle, platform, driving, action game, not a combination you see too often, but one that works quite well in this case. The main - single player - game is split into puzzle and race levels with only the races involving other cars. The levels are grouped into difficulty sets ranging from beginner through easy, intermediate and hard all the way up to insane.

The general idea of the game is to race your car around suspended tracks before the time limit runs out without falling off, thus giving you access to the next level. Credits are given for finishing within specific time limits, three credits for a gold time, two for silver and one for bronze. There are also collectibles around the tracks and environs. Nitrous tanks allow you to boost your car's speed and attempt crazy jumps, collecting all the stars on a level will give you three additional credits and each puzzle level has a bonus credit tucked away in a hard-to-reach spot. Disappointingly this bonus only gives you one credit, despite how hard it usually is to find, never mind access. To qualify for the stars and bonus credits you still need to cross the finish line within the time limit, but you can re-start the level again and again until you succeed.

Credits are used to unlock cars, drivers, paint jobs, mini-games and higher levels. So while you can just hare around the tracks getting to the finish line in under the time limit, you'll probably have to go back and try levels again (and again) to collect the stars and get a gold medal in order to progress to the next set of levels.

Completing the track is made more difficult by small things like checkpoints, huge gaps in the road, hills, teleporters, loop-the-loop sections and your car's ability jump in a way that makes it seem like it can fly. This flying makes staying on the track quite difficult at times (it's suspended in mid-air, remember) Don't worry though, you can still steer, boost and brake while soaring through the air. You can even do a hand brake turn while not touching the ground, which is most impressive and occasionally very, very useful.


Add in ramps, jump pads, moving platforms and a cartoon style and you would be mistaken for thinking GripShift is simply Super Monkey Ball with cars instead of monkeys (Super Car Ball? Super Monkey Kart?). However, the different gameplay mechanics, along with the addition of races against other characters, differentiate the games enough to keep you from making the comparison too often. Later levels of GripShift emphasise the jumping, boosting and, well, flying aspects of the game that you just don't get in Sega's masterpiece of simian puzzling.