- 1,596
Ok, where to start w/ this. How about the price. 20 bucks, which is pretty damn good. You can tell why its a 20 dollar game as youre playing it too, but dont take that as a bad thing. They skimped out on certian little flairs like cutscenes or elaborate menus, or 8 different cameras and such, so they could give you SOLID gameplay. This is probably the most realistic rally SIMULATION I have played to date. Arcade rally fans need not apply here, this game is for serious ralliers only.
Graphics
The graphics in this game look awesome, no doubt about it, the car models are spot on, the track designs are very good and look pretty amazing. The damage modeling is AWESOME and very realistic. Theres actually 3 settings for damage. normal, heavy, and expert. heres what the manual says about them:
normal - your car is subject to an average level of damage and will take a fair bit of punishment before it is completley put out of service.
heavy - Collisions, grounding , bad driving, etc will have a dramatic effect on the handeling of your car. Take care, as poor performance may force you out of the rally earlier than you expect
expert - Expert difficulty is the ultimate rally challenge. Not only is your car subject to near-realistic collision damage, but course information (stage time, progress, etc) is removed from the screen and your view is locked to the cockpit camera. Its just like being inside a real rally car!
Expert mode has to be unlocked, but im anxious to unlock it and test out this "near-realistic" damage level they claim. I usually run on heavy damage, which really makes you think about what youre doin to the car. Besides the visible damage to the body, the tires become worn and damaged, you can break axles, the suspension, brakes, turbo damage, exhaust damage (your muffler even falls off if it gets damaged enough), tranny damage. Aside from a light that comes on when your turbo gets damaged, and a water and oil light that comes on when you start to overheat, if somthing breaks on your car during a stage you have to figure it out on your own. After awhile you kinda learn how the car reacts to certain things breaking. If you dont take care of your tires they'll flat, and then eventually just blow off of the hub so youre just riding on the rim. You have a spare tire in the car which can be fitted at the end of a stage if youre not to a service area yet. If you dont take care of your cooling system they car will overheat and stall out, forcing you coast for a little bit and try to get the car started again. Service areas are after every 2 stages, you have 60 minutes to repair whatever you can on the car. You can go up up to 5 minutes over in a service area, but this results in a time penalty added to your total rally time. Somtimes if you have enough of a lead you can afford to take a penalty to get somthing fixed. On heavy damage mode, you DEFINENTLY have to take care w/ your car, you gotta watch out for ditches, rocks, or whatever else. When you go over jumps you have to be careful also, you just cant go balls out over them, especially the big ones, cuz you WILL mess up your car. even on smaller ones if you come down unevenly you can mess somthing up.
The driving physics in this game are quite nice, like i said definently simulation style, no rallisport arcade crap here. Just like in a real rally, driving well in this game depends on 3 things. Your driving skill (of course) but more importantly, settings, and listening to your co-driver (which i'll get into later) The settings, (if you choose to have them, you can race w/out them if you like) are very important to how well your car will perform, ESPECIALLY tire choice. You take the rally 2 stages at a time, and you MUST look at the info for each stage to determine how to set up your car...sometimes the 2 stages will be completely different, so you have to decide how to best setup your car. Where you might lose some time on one stage, you might better make up on the next because of your settings. Theres 7 adjustable settnings you can work on. Tires, brake bias, steering speed, gear ratio, ride height, springs, and anti-roll. I wouldve liked to have seen one more, some type of VCD control, but thats alright. Once you learn how to set up the car for each stage, you can just fly thru a stage. If you made a bad choice, you can definently tell.
Pace notes. Awesome. Every rally game ive played so far babies you w/ the pace notes, giving you easy commands, and making them slow so you understand whats coming up. Anyone who watches real rally knows this isnt how it happens. In a real rally pace notes come flying at you at 100 miles an hour. It's not quite like that in this game, but it is much better than other rally games. Somtimes youre getting commands for 3 or 4 turns ahead of you, and you REALLY have to listen to what he's telling you and concentrate on whats coming up or else youre either gonna be slow, or crash into somthing. You cant just drive blindly thru a course and expect to win, you need that co-driver, and this game does a pretty good job making you realize that. Aside from understanding his accent, you have to understand the commands hes barking at you as well, the manual lays it out pretty well, cuz each rally game is different. A "2 left" in one game could mean a slight left whereas in another game that same command could mean a hard left.
Hmm, what else. The sound. sound effects are quite nice in this game. The cars all sound great, and have all the little noises that make a rally car special, like a slight hiss of the turbo, the chirps of the wastegate, the whine from inside the cockpit, backfires and pops from the exhaust, creaks and pops of the suspension, squeeling of brakes when they get damaged. each surface you drive on sounds as it should, from light gravel to heavy gravel, tarmac, snow, whatever.
The cars. They have all classes of cars, 4wd, 2wd, group B monsters and even some bonus cars, like classic rally cars from the good old days when they didnt have things like saftey equipment...haha. (and an impreza 22b which im axiously awaiting to unlock) I only have one of the classic cars unocked so far, and I must say its quite a humbling experience to drive one. it really shows you how far the sport has come.
Tracks. Theres 8 countries, USA, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Greece and of course, the UK. Each has 6 stages plus one special stage.
Parts testing. After each rally you have the opportunity to test out new parts for your team, and if you pass the test you unlock that part which helps the performance of your car...those parts range from different tire types to advanded dampers, ceramic brakes, im not sure of all of them cuz i havent unlocked them all yet. Dont expect it to be a walk in the park tho, they really make you work for those parts, they're not easy to unlock.
I'll admit when i first picked up this game I didnt think very much of it, but the more Ive played it, and the more I realized how much of a rally simulation it was , its definently grown on me.
Bottom Line: For 20 dollars, this game gives you everything you need, and nothing you dont. If youre a true rally fan, this game is worth looking into. For casual gamers...eh, probably wont get into it as much, you may have a better time w/ rallisport.
Graphics
The graphics in this game look awesome, no doubt about it, the car models are spot on, the track designs are very good and look pretty amazing. The damage modeling is AWESOME and very realistic. Theres actually 3 settings for damage. normal, heavy, and expert. heres what the manual says about them:
normal - your car is subject to an average level of damage and will take a fair bit of punishment before it is completley put out of service.
heavy - Collisions, grounding , bad driving, etc will have a dramatic effect on the handeling of your car. Take care, as poor performance may force you out of the rally earlier than you expect
expert - Expert difficulty is the ultimate rally challenge. Not only is your car subject to near-realistic collision damage, but course information (stage time, progress, etc) is removed from the screen and your view is locked to the cockpit camera. Its just like being inside a real rally car!
Expert mode has to be unlocked, but im anxious to unlock it and test out this "near-realistic" damage level they claim. I usually run on heavy damage, which really makes you think about what youre doin to the car. Besides the visible damage to the body, the tires become worn and damaged, you can break axles, the suspension, brakes, turbo damage, exhaust damage (your muffler even falls off if it gets damaged enough), tranny damage. Aside from a light that comes on when your turbo gets damaged, and a water and oil light that comes on when you start to overheat, if somthing breaks on your car during a stage you have to figure it out on your own. After awhile you kinda learn how the car reacts to certain things breaking. If you dont take care of your tires they'll flat, and then eventually just blow off of the hub so youre just riding on the rim. You have a spare tire in the car which can be fitted at the end of a stage if youre not to a service area yet. If you dont take care of your cooling system they car will overheat and stall out, forcing you coast for a little bit and try to get the car started again. Service areas are after every 2 stages, you have 60 minutes to repair whatever you can on the car. You can go up up to 5 minutes over in a service area, but this results in a time penalty added to your total rally time. Somtimes if you have enough of a lead you can afford to take a penalty to get somthing fixed. On heavy damage mode, you DEFINENTLY have to take care w/ your car, you gotta watch out for ditches, rocks, or whatever else. When you go over jumps you have to be careful also, you just cant go balls out over them, especially the big ones, cuz you WILL mess up your car. even on smaller ones if you come down unevenly you can mess somthing up.
The driving physics in this game are quite nice, like i said definently simulation style, no rallisport arcade crap here. Just like in a real rally, driving well in this game depends on 3 things. Your driving skill (of course) but more importantly, settings, and listening to your co-driver (which i'll get into later) The settings, (if you choose to have them, you can race w/out them if you like) are very important to how well your car will perform, ESPECIALLY tire choice. You take the rally 2 stages at a time, and you MUST look at the info for each stage to determine how to set up your car...sometimes the 2 stages will be completely different, so you have to decide how to best setup your car. Where you might lose some time on one stage, you might better make up on the next because of your settings. Theres 7 adjustable settnings you can work on. Tires, brake bias, steering speed, gear ratio, ride height, springs, and anti-roll. I wouldve liked to have seen one more, some type of VCD control, but thats alright. Once you learn how to set up the car for each stage, you can just fly thru a stage. If you made a bad choice, you can definently tell.
Pace notes. Awesome. Every rally game ive played so far babies you w/ the pace notes, giving you easy commands, and making them slow so you understand whats coming up. Anyone who watches real rally knows this isnt how it happens. In a real rally pace notes come flying at you at 100 miles an hour. It's not quite like that in this game, but it is much better than other rally games. Somtimes youre getting commands for 3 or 4 turns ahead of you, and you REALLY have to listen to what he's telling you and concentrate on whats coming up or else youre either gonna be slow, or crash into somthing. You cant just drive blindly thru a course and expect to win, you need that co-driver, and this game does a pretty good job making you realize that. Aside from understanding his accent, you have to understand the commands hes barking at you as well, the manual lays it out pretty well, cuz each rally game is different. A "2 left" in one game could mean a slight left whereas in another game that same command could mean a hard left.
Hmm, what else. The sound. sound effects are quite nice in this game. The cars all sound great, and have all the little noises that make a rally car special, like a slight hiss of the turbo, the chirps of the wastegate, the whine from inside the cockpit, backfires and pops from the exhaust, creaks and pops of the suspension, squeeling of brakes when they get damaged. each surface you drive on sounds as it should, from light gravel to heavy gravel, tarmac, snow, whatever.
The cars. They have all classes of cars, 4wd, 2wd, group B monsters and even some bonus cars, like classic rally cars from the good old days when they didnt have things like saftey equipment...haha. (and an impreza 22b which im axiously awaiting to unlock) I only have one of the classic cars unocked so far, and I must say its quite a humbling experience to drive one. it really shows you how far the sport has come.
Tracks. Theres 8 countries, USA, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Greece and of course, the UK. Each has 6 stages plus one special stage.
Parts testing. After each rally you have the opportunity to test out new parts for your team, and if you pass the test you unlock that part which helps the performance of your car...those parts range from different tire types to advanded dampers, ceramic brakes, im not sure of all of them cuz i havent unlocked them all yet. Dont expect it to be a walk in the park tho, they really make you work for those parts, they're not easy to unlock.
I'll admit when i first picked up this game I didnt think very much of it, but the more Ive played it, and the more I realized how much of a rally simulation it was , its definently grown on me.
Bottom Line: For 20 dollars, this game gives you everything you need, and nothing you dont. If youre a true rally fan, this game is worth looking into. For casual gamers...eh, probably wont get into it as much, you may have a better time w/ rallisport.
