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Dom Robinson reviews
Microsoft
- Price: £44.99
- Players: 1-4
RalliSport Challenge. It’s a rally racing game.It’s a sport. And it might be a challenge to get £45’s worth of enjoymentout of this game. However, it wasn’t always the case because a few short yearsago we saw a brilliant racing game on the Playstation in the form of V-Rally.Yes, the control system was a bit difficult but you got to grips with thingseventually, but four years or so on and you need a bit more than the basicsto sustain your interest.
Getting the rest of the basics out of the way and this is a game for up to fourplayers, the multiplayer aspect being handled in a split-screen format. Talkingfigures, there are 48 tracks split across four different rally sports (Rally,Hill Climb, Rallycross and Ice Racing), plus you can drive 29 fully-licencedRally vehicles including the infamous “Group B” cars, with choices includingthe Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI, Audi Quattro S1 and the Saab 0-3 Viggen,whatever that is.
Play a single race, race against the clock in the “Time Attack” mode, playagainst your friends instead of just playing with yourself, or make a “Career”out of it. You know the drill.
This game looks okay, but the graphics are far from revolutionary. Things looknice, but, annoyingly, although you can see far and wide around you – and beyondinto the hills, if you travel just a little bit off the beaten track the screenwill go blank and you’ll be placed back on course again.
A number of forgettable dancified tracks are available for selection, althoughin most such games I tend to turn these down so I can concentrate on the gamein hand. One crash is very much like another and you can guess the sounds forthose.
The handling of the cars takes a bit of getting used to – a la V-Rally -and you get told what type of bend is coming up, but what is weird is thatwhether you’re driving over sand or ice, the grip on your tyres is indistinguishable,which means the weather is just there for visual effect and not physical.
But like any good rally racing game, you ask yourself – Can you go round thetrack the wrong way and crash into your opponents? Yes and no. You can turnround and head back from whence you came, but it’s not always a circular track,so for some you can do this – although any such crashes are far from spectacular -and on the others you travel from A to B so there’s nothing behind you to crashinto once they’ve all run off in front, as they expectantly will.
If you really must have a rally racing game in your collection for the Xbox thenI’m sure better ones will come along. Until then, if you’re keen to take thisone for a test drive then rent before you buy.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.