World Rally Championship (PS2)

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Vasco

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Well, this is my review of:
World Rally Championship

Genre
Racing [Rally]

The Story
Ok, this was the first good rally game to hit the PS2, and in my opinion, this standard has never been matched by any rally game of this era, save WRC II. The basic aim of this game is to win the World Rally Championship, which is held over 14 different countries, and is true to the real-life counterpart, having the names of all the drivers and co-drivers, and using satellite data to reconstruct some of the tracks in the short form for the game.

Audio
The sounds of the cars have been re-created wonder fully, with the slight hum of the Peugeot to the all-out groan of the larger cars. There is music in the replays, and it does get quite annoying after a while, at least to me it does. That is practically all the audio in the game.

Gameplay
There is a Time Trial mode, Single Rally mode, or to go for the main prize, a WRC mode. As you progress in the WRC mode, you gain more codes to enjoy the game. There are no “car upgrades” as such, only the original cars in the WRC. Completing WRC in Professional mode is not very hard, but it gives a good feeling once complete. The fact that it is an official game also adds to the enjoyment of the game.

Replay Value
Once completed, there is no real incentive to go back to the WRC mode, but there is still fun in trying out the codes, and trying to beat your best time in Time Trial mode. After that you may want to bring it out once a month maybe, to test out your rally skills.

Graphics
The graphics were quite superior at the time, only falling to Gran Turismo 3, but they still put up a worthy fight with snow and rain conditions. The menus are quite nicely put together, and the car models look very much like the cars they are based on.

Load Times
Load times are horrendous, and really bogs down the fun as you are left waiting on end for just one stage to load. It does get very very frustrating at times.

Special Features
One of the fantastic features of this game was the WRC Challenge. This was an online challenge in which people from all PAL countries were given codes on a website, where they enter on a special menu, and compete with a Lancer Evo VI. Once they have finished the certain allocated stages, they are given another code, which they enter on the website to see their time against all the others of the world. The grand prize was a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. This was one of the best OLR competitions I have seen held on the PS2 console.

Summary
A great game in all aspects, and a certain must for rally fans. Not just for the die-hards, I’m sure even the normal rally fans will enjoy this game very much. Although it is now outdated because of WRC II, this was the pioneer to that game and I feel it should be recognised. Expect to see a review of this game soon ;).

Pros
-Licensed
-Most realistic rally game on the market at the time
-WRC Challenge

Cons
-Not a high enough difficulty level
-Late release for Americans

Rating

Aim: 9/10
Audio: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10

78%
 
Yes, well i would advise getting WRCII ;) Even though this is at 50 bucks, i reckon it would be better to get the second game in the series, a better game overall :)
 
I played through the Monte Carlo rally (whatever the first one was). While the car physics wasn't bad, I felt no sensation of speed at all, and that is what really makes GT3 (and real life rallying) so exciting. The 206 felt like it was crawling along all the time until I would suddenly hurtle into the wall. After a few times of that happening I moved my brake points back, after which I would find my self almost stopped but many yards short of the apex. I won the rally without too much trouble but I never went back to continue the game.

While the graphics and audio where quite good, I didn't like the 'feel' of the game at all. It's funny because I complain all the time about not having a decent cockpit view in GT3. WRC has a great cockpit view but overall the effect is lousy.

The rally stages in GT3 are very unrealistic but more fun IMHO. GREAT REVIEWS, GUYS! These are really interesting to read.
 
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