WRC II: Extreme (PS2)

Well, this is my review of:
WRC II: Extreme

The Aim
The story is the same as the previous game, where you compete in the WRC to try and become the world’s best driver competing in that to strive to the best of your abilities. That is pretty much the aim of the game

Audio
Well, the sounds have been even better tuned to perfection, with the gear changes having a blissful sound when you change gears, and inter-menu music is splendid this time as well. The different sounds of the cars have been created again to even better standards.

Gameplay
The modes have been better managed with these modes: Novice, Professional, and Expert. Expert is very hard this time around with my times on the stages only winning by about 1 or 2 seconds, and that’s on a perfect run. The difficulty is fantastic, and the different modes again are just great. With more than double the length/amount of stages in the game this time around, Evolution Studios have outdone themselves. It takes a very long time to complete the different modes of the game, with time trials still challenging. Again all official drivers and manufacturers are licensed. Two great bonuses in this game are:
-Unlockable stages to play on.
-Unlockable Extreme cars (600-700 bhp cars developed in house at Evolution Studios in co-operation with the car companies. Citroen didn’t participate, and the Extreme cars are just so much fun, especially on the winding tracks)

Replay Value
There is a lot of replay value, and it is very hard to memorise the one track until you have done it about 20 times. Time Trials again help you to challenge your best times.

Graphics
Graphics have been re-worked to a magnificent standard, which really emphasizes the size of the cars. There are hardly ever slow-downs when racing and the light-shine on the cars make the cars look very realistic. Sunsets have also been realistically created in the game, coming over a crest the glare is very realistic.

Load times and improvements WRC
Load times are extremely short compared to WRC, which is a thing which I am most relieved for. Improvements over WRC:
-Longer Rallies
Yes, the rallies now have longer stages, up to 9 per rally, and they are certainly longer, some going past 8 minutes, while some are just over 1 and a half minutes.
-More cars
Yes, the Extreme cars have made the grand total 13 cars.
-Weather Conditions
The weather conditions have improved considerably which causes for much more sliding in the rain on tarmac or whatever surface you’re racing on.

Special Features
The WRC Challenge OLR has been changed to be even better, with clubs being able to be formed and this time you can attempt any of the challenges at any time until the end of May. The codes are still used, although there has been one entrant who had obviously hacked the code, although he was deleted. The grand prize is a Focus Rally show car.

Summary
WRC II: Extreme is a great improvement over WRC, and any Americans who don’t have the first WRC, wait for this game to come out there and get it. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed at all by the high quality. It is much better than Colin McRae Rally 3.0 and V-Rally 3, which are quite meagre compared to this game.

Pros
-Most realistic rally game out there at the moment
-More Super Special Stages
-Licensed
-WRC Challenge

Cons
-One of the negative things about this game is that you can't get rid of the directionaly arrows, which doesn't give a very realistic feel to the game. It would be better if you could get rid of them.
-Late release in America (for Americans)

Rating

Aim: 9/10
Audio: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value + Improvements: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10

92%

I'll take 2!!

What?

Uh you forgot to put some negative bits in there.

Like you can't change the controlls at all and you can't only get rid of the direction arrows.

Oh, yep, i will edit those in...i quite liked the controls...and isn't there a control scheme 2?

Hmm, does it still vehicle physics still handle like part1?

No, much better, although a clipping of the rails will send you into a spin.

so far from what rally games ive played..

Colin mcrea 2 has the best realistic rally handling
(used to go rallying myself, believe it or not)

WRC was total crap
Vrally3 was total crap too

Those 2 were too arcade-ish in physics
in CMR series, u feel the tires wanting to grip , u feel the cars roll while in a corner...

WRC1&Vrally3 didnt have that feeling..

CMR 2 has nice feeling, but WRC II has made it even better

Originally posted by Race Idiot
Uh you forgot to put some negative bits in there.

Like you can't change the controlls at all and you can't only get rid of the direction arrows.

Click to expand...

This is a good point. Even if you're content with everything in the game, you need to view it from other people's perspectives. This is what makes a quality review.

What about my comments directed at WRC 1? Is there a good visual feeling of motion and speed? I really found that lacking in WRC, particularly the idea of momentum.

Originally posted by LoudMusic
This is a good point. Even if you're content with everything in the game, you need to view it from other people's perspectives. This is what makes a quality review.

Click to expand...

The only thing is I have seen people take reviews too seriously, for example there is a Teletext page (I don't know if you have teletext in america, its a basic text and graphics thing that comes with most TV's that you can view schedules and articles, althought its very old technology) called digitiser that reviews games, talks about hardware, the state of the gaming industry etc. The only thing is that they are very harsh with their reviews and they have really been very harsh with allot of X-Box and GC titles giving them low marks (well they gave starfox adventures, smash brothers and waverace very crappy low marks) so then loads of nintendo fanboys wrote in complaining, recently the same thing has happened with the X-Box as well having a load of people wrting in telling them that they can't review games properly. They also really bashed the PS2 when it was first released. They always reply that a review is just an opinion and you don't have to bide by that opinion. I know plenty of games that have been bashed by reviewers and I have bought and enjoyed them.

I really want to do a negative review of GTA:Vice city, not completely negative, but not a praise fest like dodge the viper's one (no offence mate).

Don't worry mate It is one of my favourite games, but yeh, it is obvious i am probably biased...hmm. ***goes and adds a pro and cons section to every review ***

Man those barriers are weird just touch them and you will be facing where you just came from. I seem to remember GT1 suffering from this I think they were magnetic. Also I sometimes seem to run ahead of the pace notes???

What is the Date of the release of WRC II?

Err...about 6 months ago in PAL land, I dunno about you Americans though.