Seeing stars? Trying to powerslide that corner to collect said stars while whittling into the timer in that hot little vehicle sporting the Stars and Stripes?

If you are doing all of this, and doing it on a handheld, chances are very good that you are playing Gripshift, the PSP racing-puzzle title from Sony Online Entertainment, Red Mile Entertainment and Sidhe.

At its core, Gripshift is an innocuous little racing program featuring some minor puzzle elements, some platform elements and some combat – all tied up in a neat little package.

In the main game, which begins with your basic race against the clock modes, the levels are not overly large, but the tracks do a nice job of twisting away and require that drivers exercise the right amount of handling versus all-out speed when negotiating the courses. Failure to do so will result in a long drop into a seemingly bottomless chasm, and the resulting level restart.

The game begins with some tutorial levels that familiarize players with the various aspects of the game, including the power-ups for that nitrous boost, which are necessary when learning to jump from some of the game’s many ramps.

Each level has certain goals that need to be achieved to unlock other items, such as skins and drivers. There are stars on the track and you will gain bonus points for collecting them. But what matters the most is the time taken to navigate the courses. Your time will result in being awarded the bronze, silver or gold for that level. In the single-player mode, you can repeat levels and race against a ghost of your previous best time. The ghost can be turned off in the options, if you so wish.

The game’s controls are rather tight, with the brakes really grabbing – either in terms of the hand brake or the general vehicle (read that as cyber foot) brake. Acceleration is also well handled. The defining attributes of each vehicle come in terms of acceleration, top speed, weight, start boost, braking and handling.

You can unlock new skins for your vehicle, unlock two more characters and two more vehicles (the Colt and the Bruiser), and unlock bonus games (more on that in a moment). There are more than 70 tracks in this game, so – as stated – getting that right mix of acceleration and handling is very important. You do have to finish the easier courses and gain the necessary credits to unlock the more difficult levels. There is also a track editor to allow players to design their own puzzling tracks.  

There is a challenge mode and a race mode, as well as those entertaining bonus games. The bonus games break down into single player and multiplayer. For example, Penguin Bowling (your car is the ball and you drive down five alleys, knocking over – what else? – penguins) is single player while Soccer Crazy or Bomb Pool are both multiplayer. There are six bonus games, and multiplayer also has combat with deathmatch and reverse tag games. Multiplayer is through WiFi connectivity.

The controls will take time to master but are rather intuitive in the way they are set up. The audio portion of the game is sound (pun intended), but hardly stands out. Where the game shines is in the visual arena. The game is very lush and the environments are well rendered. The vehicle physics do not emulate real-world hot rods or off-road vehicles, but rather have their own set of characteristics that take a bit to get used to.  

Gripshift is a compilation of different ideas packed into one title what has racing at its core. But if you look at the game merely from that perspective, it is somewhat lacking. Take in the entire package – track editor, multiplayer, combat and bonus games as well as the racing aspect, and you have a fun little package that offers something different and does a good job in handling the different elements.

Gameplay: 7.8
There are some load times, but they are not overly long. It will take time to get used to the way the vehicles handle. The in-game physics are not much like auto racing, so discard that notion at the start.

Graphics: 8.3
Imaginative tracks, solid environments and vehicle customization all add up to a fun time at the old track. The bonus games can also be a lot of fun visually.  

Sound: 6.8
The sounds here are decent, but don’t really stand out.

Difficulty: Medium
There are five settings here, and the game begins on the easier settings before unlocking the harder tracks.

Concept: 8.0
Broken down, each of the segments of this game is merely average for their respective genres. But combined in the manner they are here makes for a well-rounded and entertaining experience.

Multiplayer: 8.0
This is much more entertaining than single player, especially if you have a bonus game unlocked. Anyone up for a rousing game of Bomb Pool? 

Overall: 7.8
Gripshift has variety; it has visual appeal and entertainment value. You may have to work to unlock the bonus games and more difficult tracks, but there is something about this game that will compel you to do so, playing some of the levels over and over until you accomplish the deed to advance. With the addition of the track editor and multiplayer, this turns out to be a very substantial and enjoyable title.