Gaming Target - Xbox: RalliSport Challenge

Written by Adam Woolcott on March 11, 2002

First Impressions: Hot bodies getting dirty in the mud Ц dont'cha just love rally racing?

Rally racing, and rally racing video games in general, have always been an extremely hard sell in the US. Since the US is so infatuated with NASCAR's left-turn tournament of traveling billboards, everyone but the hardest of the hardcore racing fans basically ignores the sport. There's been many great rally games released over the years Ц Colin McRae Rally, the V-Rally series by Electronic Arts Ц even Gran Turismo 2-3 had a bunch of rally racing thrown in as a different aspect of that game. The only ones who've had a smidgen of success on US soil are Turismo (probably because of all the other stuff, not the rally racing), and the Sega Rally series (because it's Sega, and Sega, of course, owns). The rest have hit the bargain bin quickly, as fast as the 400-pound guy in the table next to you runs over everyone in his path to hit the buffet line before you do.

With that in mind, Microsoft, and developer Digital Illusions are working on a rally game for the Xbox, titled RalliSport Challenge, with hope that the game takes off and becomes a big seller. Obviously, MS is going to exploit the amazing visuals like no tomorrow, but considering DI's history with rally games in its native Europe (where they shun left-turn mania and support Formula 1 and rally racing), it should be expected that those graphics will be backed up with winning gameplay.

RalliSport promises an even balance of arcade controls based in a simulation world, which sounds familiar, such as Project Gotham Racing and all the crazy powersliding. The physics are to be as realistic as possible, which could create some interesting turns and spins through the numerous tracks. This formula usually works quite well, so hopefully it will remain that way with this racer.

As you would expect, RalliSport Challenge is loaded with tons of cars. A good majority of the most famous/popular rally cars, from makers such as Subaru, Lancia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota are included, along with many others. There definitely will not be a shortage of cars to choose from.

What's interesting is Microsoft has been able to acquire the rights to use the Уgroup bФ cars from the 1980's. B apparently means banned, because all these cars were banned from being used in regulation rally races. Why? Apparently these cars, despite being extremely fast, were impossible to handle, and many fatalities occurred behind the wheel of them. Thus the governing body of rally racing (whoever that is) put a stop to using these death-mobiles in their races.

Now with RalliSport, gamers can actually use these cars, without fear of losing their life in the process. Kind of difficult to get killed driving an animated car, eh? Thus you'll be able to race as these banned vehicles from some big names like Ford, Toyota, and rally racing virtuoso, Ferrari.

Besides the car issue, RalliSport Challenge will offer a career mode to take up a majority of the one-player game. Like usual, you start off at the bottom and work your way up to being a racing superstar, winning lots of money, and unlocking lots of cars along the way. Working your way up promises to be very challenging, in that famous Project Gotham kind of way. When you have friends around, RalliSport has a 4-player split-screen mode, and hopefully will have LAN play as well.

Of course what makes RC stand out amongst the crowd is the dazzling graphics. The game is loaded with nice graphical touches, like fully animated crowds (something never really done right before), near-perfectly recreated cars, and a ton of nice kicking up dirt effects and such. You can even race at different times of day, which could change the complexion of how you race completely. If anything, RalliSport Challenge will easily be an Xbox showpiece.