We’ve had a good selection of rally games on the consoles this year, the big names got sequels and a new pretender had a go. Last year’s WRC3 game was probably the best in the series so far, so with a re-written game engine this should be good – VERY GOOD.
From the first quick drive it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into WRC4. The cars look superb (but we should rightfully expect them to), and the graphics that portray the WRC series’ trademark expansive landscapes look more detailed than ever. From my preferred in-car view there’s an excellent sensation of speed and involvement, and this year’s stages have more trackside detail and realism modelled in than ever before – it’s hard to believe the improvement in the detail level if you saw the original WRC’s panoramic but sparse tracks. Locations not only capture the character and look of the real thing, but have so many trees, bushes, buildings and animated spectators (including nutters who lean out to take flash photos and duck in at the last moment), narrow bits, realistic junctions and surface changes that just like Rallisport Challenge 2 and Colin McRae 2005, you can believe they’re real locations; in fact I’d go as far as to say that watching a WRC4 replay is as close to watching real TV footage as you’ll come on this generation of consoles.
WRC 4 has the best in-car view the series has managed yet, with a raindrop/wiper effect as good as McRae’s. As you’d expect the cars damage and dirty-up realistically, churn up dust and mud, and despite the flora not looking that great close up, the overall effect as you zoom by is excellent. As you travel the world’s backroads and forest tracks the lighting looks nice too, with a real contrast between the locations. There’s even a pretty passable watersplash effect, but the flat, unconvincing water, like McRae 5’s is best left well alone – you don’t stray too far off the beaten track either, as the textures get seriously ugly and N64-like.
But it’s the handling and physics where WRC has improved most noticeably this year. Despite Evolution’s annual claims that they have the most sophisticated handling model on the planet and draw-distances of 5 kilometres plus (with “photo realistic” track), the WRC games have never really felt or looked quite ‘right’, but now they’ve really hit the handling nail on the head, with what is quite simply the best-feeling rally game on the market, bar none. The thing is; the cars behave exactly as you’d expect them to. A 300bhp WRC car feels like a lively beast, but the engine characteristics and handling aren’t unbelievably friendly, or painfully tricky and punishing either. The cars are capable of 130mph+, but also struggle and bog down a little on steep high-grip slopes or rough ground. They have immense levels of grip, but you can lock up the wheels with harsh braking, or lose the back end and spin with over-zealous cornering or handbrake use. You need to watch where you cut corners or slide wide too – if you see sharp pointy little rocks then stay off them, they feel nasty (the rumble effect is really good this year) and run over too many and they will give you a puncture, a real pain if you’re only half way through a stage. Get to the end with an un-bent car and you can feel justifiably proud, and thankfully tune up and damage repair is kept as simple as possible with auto-repair options and advised setups (although you can of course fiddle and tweak till your heart’s content if you want with custom setups).
The main WRC championship season gives you the thrill of all 16 WRC locations on 5 continents, comprising more than 100 different stages - Point to Point, Super Special, Shakedown and Sprint Stages. You get to choose from any of the teams (yay! - no need to drive some car you don’t like in order to unlock your favourites) including two brand new rally cars not seen in a computer game before - the Peugeot 307 WRC and Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 04. Players can also choose to race in any of this year's WRC rally locations, including the new rallies in Mexico and Japan. Driving a season on the default ‘Professional’ setting is pretty tough to start off with – you soon learn to pay close attention to the co-driver’s pace notes, and you won’t do very well if you’ve a lead foot. This isn’t to say that WRC 4 ever gets as painful to play as Richard Burns Rally (which despite its claims to be a simulation demands that you pussyfoot around the stages, constantly terrified of falling off) – WRC 4 has LOADS of super fast sections, and the new game engine gives an excellent sensation of speed. 130 mph really feels fast. McRae veterans will gobble the game up and enjoy the challenge, but newbies might prefer to start with something a little more sedate…
The Super 1600 Championship is cut down to just 5 stages per rally and seems a lot easier than the WRC in every respect – the cars’ handling is forgiving and they’re easy to keep on the road, the opposition doesn’t seem to be up to much either.
As previously with the WRC games, rather than including some classic rally specials from years gone by for performing well (like all the other rally games), win bonuses allow you to unlock new evolution levels for the WRC cars or other cars from each category - WRC, Extreme, Group N4 and Super 1600. The extreme cars are all believable evolutions of the real WRC cars (some are based on real concept cars), and with over 600bhp these cars are not only stunning to look at, but awesome to drive as well.
Options include Quick Race, Time Trial, or Events; these events include the Pro Driver Challenge (a sort of career mode), Test track, SS challenge or single rally. Sadly there’s no option for a custom rally, and it would have been cool to do an “open” rally with multi-class cars for players of differing abilities, or just to be able to do simultaneous Extreme, WRC and Super 1600 championships. You can play up to 4 player in a proper ‘take-turns’ championship, and if you have a network adapter the online time trials ain’t a bad laugh either (when you can find someone to race).
Every decent rally game need good pace notes, and WRC 4’s are accurate enough. Trouble is they’re delivered a little too late for my liking, by one of the most irritating co-drivers since that moron in V-Rally 3. He says things like “are you alright?” when you crash, “pay attention!” when you miss a turn, “what are you doing” if you spin – it really doesn’t help and the likelihood is that he’d be walking home if there was a “kick the twit with the map out” button available. The co-driver also announces “we’ve damaged the suspension/ gearbox/ hydraulics/ transmission/ bank balance/ ozone layer” etcetera instead of a good old damage gauge or just letting you figure it out for yourself via the visual cues or handling & performance irregularities. And maybe it’s just me, but the way he drones out information got on my wick too – shut up you knob, and just tell me where the corners are, and be a bit bloody quicker about it too – who pays your sodding wages anyway?…
WRC4 is so nearly the best rally game ever, but it has a few niggles that stop me from thinking it’s a 10. For a start, some stages last 8 minutes or so, and are just too long to be enjoyable. On the good side, this gives you an opportunity to make up for mistakes, but it also means that rainy miserable ones seem to go on and on for ever (especially in a 1600 car). There’s also a disappointing amount of pop-up. You’ll barely notice it when you’re driving, but watch the lovely replays and it’s like getting poked in the eye when a group of trees appears or disappears in the background. You’re also going to have to play the game an awful lot to unlock everything and see the best of WRC4, and I’m not sure gamers have the time or dedication for that sort of thing any more – there are just too many other good games out there to play. Some of the presentation is a bit ropey too (particularly considering the polish this series has shown before) – there’s no smart TV-quality intros to the rallies, and some menus are a pain; at the end of a stage it’ll take an amazing 16 button presses to quit from a replay and start another stage – mental.
Regardless of the gripes, Mr McRae finally has a genuine rival, and for some, with the official licence and superb handling to lend it some authenticity, it might even have the edge over Codemasters’ rally king.
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