Demo Dive – Half Grip

What are you doing with your hand right now? No. Stop it. You need to put that hand on the demo of Half Grip.

Hear me out: you drive a car using your mouse for everything your arms would do. So, you have to steer, shift gears, and shoot at other drivers with nothing but your mouse pointer. Effectively, you have one arm. Thankfully, it’s your right.

Or unthankfully if you’re sinister.

FINDING FIRST GEAR

To be clear: Half Grip follows a roguelite formula. I’m not totally certain why that is, but since I often find it difficult to actually reach the end of a racing game because of the need for repetition, I… I’m not sure where I was going with that since “roguelite” implies a degree of repetition. Maybe it’s because it’s repetition with a short-term goal. Or maybe it’s repetition with a random element. Or maybe it’s repetition with continuous rewards. I’m not sure. But I think it’s a little easier to imagine myself reaching the ending here.

Or not, because I can’t even beat the rookie tier. I came extremely close, but choked at the last minute. Rather, I discovered that I’m not very good at driving in the game’s wet conditions.

Don’t laugh. It isn’t easy. The trailer shows someone effortlessly operating the car’s various function, but I’m not there yet. There are certainly times where I was able to shift, lock the steering, reload the gun, adjust the steering, and then fire at an enemy, but those were rare moments that required no misclicks to occur, and it’s very easy to misclick here. If I had a nickel for every time I grabbed the horn instead of the wheel, I probably wouldn’t even be able to afford a tea at Tim Horton’s, because how far does a handful of nickels actually go these days?

KEEP YOUR CLUTCH FOOT.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Each node on the roguelite route signifies its own objective, and this can range from destroying a single competitor, to actually winning a race. And of course, whenever I needed to actually win a race, that would be the only time I couldn’t.

I think a lot of attention in Half Grip was put toward the actual driving, with the developer figuring they’ll work out the surrounding mechanics as they go. And I say that, because the driving is amazing. The car’s physics model has a lot of detail to it for a game where the main draw is a deliberately dopey control scheme. There’s certainly a lot of arcade feel to it, but I was surprised by the detail of the grip and the suspension. We’re in, like, Sega Rally Championship territory, at the very least.

The actual races could use a bit of love. The tracks are very short, so when it tells you to eliminate an enemy, it feels like there’s little time when you’re lucky to have your gun loaded by the end of the first lap on the oval. For that matter, if any game could benefit from F-Zero X/GX’s championship grid where you can eliminate your closest competitors to drive them down the rankings, it’s this one.

Not that the roguelite formula doesn’t have its benefits. After each race, you can choose to buy something from a set of different parts to soup up your car. They’re randomly offered, which means you need to make the best of what you can get. There’s a pretty eclectic array, but more are unlocked by passing special milestones, such as drifting enough distance.

HAND AT TWO

There’s a lot that I love about the Half Grip demo, but there are some areas of weakness that, I think, can be ironed out either a potential Early Access period or just from demo feedback.

I think, at its core, the problem is that the tracks are too short and confined. The fact that there is less room for recovery in these races really fucks with the risk/reward balance.

Like, for example, if you decide you want to experiment with nitrous or a handbrake, you’re taking a tremendous risk. You’re not going to have a feel for it right away, so it’s almost certain that you’re going to screw up the first few attempts. With only a few short laps within which to recover, it will probably cost you lives or even an entire run.

It’s more of an impact on actual combat. Shooting at another car requires you to take your hand off the wheel, reach for the gun, aim, and fire, which can result in a crash. And one crash is often too many crashes when you’re given two or three short laps.

What makes this a bigger issue is the fact that you don’t necessarily need anything more than careful driving and accurate shifting to win a race. The opponents can rarely land more than a few bullets on your tailpipe, so showing a little mercy isn’t likely going to bite you. It’s also extremely unlikely that you’ll be able to eliminate a significant portion of the grid, so it’s not like you can focus entirely on combat to take top prize. When there’s a lot of risk for very little reward, then things like nitro and firearms seem much less attractive. At that point, shooting at other cars is more for personal enrichment, rather than a useful strategy, much like it is in reality.

Of course, I never got out of rookie league, so maybe it’s really just a skill issue. I can tell that there’s a high skill ceiling in Half Grip, so maybe my expectations for myself are too high, and I need get the game down more before it’ll all click into place.

GET A GRIP

However, as I mentioned, I think that, in the lead-up to the demo, the focus was on the car physics and controls, and in that sense, it’s a total success. There now needs to be attention focused on the things around it, like the tracks and the overall framework.

Also, I want to be able to view a replay after a race.

Still, you should absolutely check out the demo for Half Grip. It will make you a believer. A believer in one-handed driving. You’ll never use your left hand again.

You can try the demo now on Steam.