After spending a little time getting used to the driving controls of the cars available at start in the game, it became a lot more interesting. I really think they could have taken the time to insert a few more tutorial stages at the beginning, for players to get the hang of the cars' controls. I have always found the PSP to be unfriendly with the control of any car in any driving game that I have played to date. The analog nubs just feels too stiff for my liking, and I am used to the analog controls to steer more accurately. Some of the later stages are next to impossible without being an adept at the controls of the car, making completing them an accomplishment worthy of reward.

Graphically, I like the various designs you can choose from. Though limited at the start, they expand to a nice selection after completing the first few stages of the game. There is a trend today toward a more comical, cartoonish appearance, rather than towards the realistic. Gripshift tends towards the comical, cartoonish side, and is a good fit for a game like this. Realism has no place when jumping from floating island to floating island in the sky! Load times from stage to stage were hardly there, and allowed for playing a quick stage or two when time was short.

So in the small library of games for the PSP, Gripshift shines out as a unique game experience. It is easily accessible for a quick game, or you can spend a few hours going stage to stage and trying to rush it through to completion. I find it lacking in the replay department though, only because it is a puzzle game as well as a driving game, so once the puzzle for a certain stage is done, there is little to no reason to go back once more. Its affordable price makes it an easy choice as an addition to the library of games out there, and earns my approval simply because it is not a watered down port of another PS2 game.