I was excited to hear that SEGA had decided to bring their staple Rally Racing franchise to the XBLA as a downloadable title. To be honest I never thought that the game really met the requirement to ask for the full retail game price. Fortunately, this version of the game is worth the money.
The game looks pretty much any other game in the franchise. It plays just about the same as well. In todays market of racing games SEGA Rally just can’t keep to par with what’s going on. That’s why it’s a great choice to add it to the XBLA game selection. For those of you unfamiliar with Rally racing, you start at the rear of the pack and try to make your way to the from by the end of the series. All the control that you’re used to with other racing games is pretty much non-existent. You either figure out how to drift or you drive a manual transmission car, so you can down shift going through some of the corners. Otherwise you may have a hard time doing anything on the game. You are presented with a small selection of tracks to begin with and the only way to unlock more is to continue racing and trying to win, which could be a task on its own.
The games graphics are pretty good considering it’s a detailed racing game on the XBLA. It’s pretty much looks like previous entries of the game, just polished up a bit. The filth that gathers on your car is a fun thing to see on a arcade game. You get everything from dust to mud and it will all come off when you hit your first water puddle. Nothing grand, but nice detail for an arcade game. The environments get old rather quick as you will do most all championship races as well as most other game choices all on the same three or four track, depending on how well you make your way to the front of the pack. The cars take no damage and the only sign you see from your races ever is the dirt that gathers on the car.
The sound is pretty good as well. You really get a since of the gears shifting and the motors red lining. All the environmental sounds are there as well. Rather it’s passing other racers or driving through a water puddle, you’ll hear it. The music part of the sound is classic SEGA Rally and is once again nothing new.
The game features an online mode as well as time trials, quick race and classic tracks. All the achievements in the game are based upon these game modes and how well you do in all of them. The game also has one Avatar award to be won. If you play it enough the 200G for your gamer score will come, but I’m not positive that most people will stick with it long enough to get it though. All in all the game is a great addition to the XBLA and at a 800 MS point asking price it’s worth the money. Just don’t go into this game expecting a racing game to keep up with todays more sophisticated racers in the genre.
