Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: World Rally Championship

Written by Adam Woolcott on June 10, 2002

Full Review: Instead of a backseat driver, rally racers have a passenger-seat driver.

Bay Area Multimedia (known as BAM! Entertainment for short) has taken a new direction these days Ц instead of publishing pure garbage such as Driven, the company is going out and picking up well-received games that are denied publishing in the United States. For the most part (for the time being, anyway), it's taking SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) titles that SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) pass on publishing, for pure monetary reasons Ц they feel the game won't be a big seller, so they just don't publish it here and avoid taking a loss Ц learning a lesson from the poorly selling Formula 1 2001 to be certain. Well BAM has picked up the rights (or you could say they were just vultures cleaning up a leftover carcass) to 3 SCEE games Ц Dropship, WipEout Fusion (why SCEA passed on publishing such a popular game series such as WipEout is well beyond me), and the game I'm reviewing here, Evolution Studios' World Rally Championship.

However, whether it's Sony, BAM, or Moonshine the Drunken Monkeyman that's in charge of publishing WRC Ц it's a great game nonetheless. I'm sure it will never be a big seller given the apathy towards any racing that doesn't involve big circular tracks and more left turns than downtown Chicago, and it's a shame because World Rally Championship is one of the best racers on the PlayStation 2 Ц in every category. It looks really nice, has a lot to do & pretty good replay, and is a real challenge on the higher difficulty levels. Say what you will about BAM picking up games that may not be big sellers; it's obvious that they do have some pretty good taste when it comes to picking up games to bring stateside.

WRC is in essence the video game version of the real World Rally Championship that's played out in pretty much every continent except for North America. Each of the 14 events (roughly one per month) has 5 sections per event, for a total of 70 races, lasting from 2 minutes to 5 minutes. At the end of the 5 sections, whomever has the lowest time is the winner and given standings points. It would be easy to win one section in an event and win Ц as well as win 4 out of 5 and lose. Consistency wins in the WRC. WRC for PlayStation 2 features all the cars and drivers from the 2001 season, except for Colin McRae, who has his own game, thus isn't allowed to be included in a different rally game. This realism comes at a price Ц there's only a handful of cars to choose from, because that's all there is in the actual season. You do get the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution's and Subaru Impreza's of the world, but only a few more to go along with, just like the real WRC.

World Rally Championship comes with 4 main modes of play Ц the WRC mode, a single rally mode, a time trial, and of course multiplayer for 2 players. The catch is the other 3 modes besides WRC come very bare-boned, and you'll have to play and unlock tracks in the WRC mode to use them in the lesser modes. So get prepared to be in this one for the long haul.

Before you get out into the WRC mode, you have to pick your team and car. Generally each car has 2 teams that use it, and you can pick the team you want Ц even though it really doesn't make a difference. Once that's done, you can jump right in and get playing. There's 3 difficulties Ц but only the first 2 are available at the start; beating it on normal unlocks hard. From there Monte Carlo is the first destination for the first rally.

Before reach section of an event begins you get some minor adjustments to make if you choose. The game typically picks out the best settings, so it's probably not necessary, but it's there for the pickings. It's nowhere near as deep as racers like GT3 Ц but what really is? WRC is one of those games that can be realistic and not bog down the racing with tuning, making it very user-friendly and one of those pick up and play games that appeal to the type who just want to race around.

Throughout the WRC, you hit different areas with different climates and surfaces. Sometimes you race on pavement (they call it tarmac), but usually you're on pure dirt tracks and occasionally ice-covered tracks. Each surface feels different Ц pavement is of course the easiest to drive on, but the dirt tracks are honest terrors to race, because they run so fast it feels like you can lose control any second, making sure you concentrate at all times & avoid looking at the scenery. The icy tracks are actually not too bad, as long as you're able to learn how to brake at the right time and know the right moment to turn the car. Plus they don't seem as fast as the pure dirt tracks.

All the while, you're not on your own Ц your teammate and co-driver is right beside you, holding your hand and telling you it will be all right and we'll live. No, not really - your co-driver instead is the nagging spouse of the team, barking out directions and the severity of the turn. Unlike some rally games, the directions are told perfectly and not too fast as to confuse you, and there's icons on-screen that lets you know what's coming next up. Of course, the co-driver really isn't an all-knowing master of the Force Ц no, he's just reading off a pad of paper that has the directions. But mom always said to not drive while reading, right?

Each section of an event is again broken down into 5 parts (making it a grand total of 25 checkpoints Ц whew, I'm glad I can actually remember how to multiply), each of which tells of how well you're doing against the competition. If you have the fastest time in a given checkpoint, a green bar appears in the corresponding box Ц if you don't, it's red. This not only is a way to see how far along you are, it's a way to see how you're doing in the race, yet keep you from watching your position the whole time instead of racing. On Xbox, RalliSport is a great rally game, but tracking your position in real time is an issue for meЕsince I'm watching my place instead of the road. You don't have to win all the checkpoints in order to win a section Ц just have the fastest time of all of them. It's possible to lose 4 checkpoints and still win if you have a big enough gap in the one checkpoint you win, and vice versa. So if you blow one area by missing a turn and falling off the track to a fiery death (well, you really don't, you just reset on the track after a few seconds), it's possible to still win with a great time the rest of the way.

A huge element in the racing is car damage. While it's nice to see the cars get dented up, that's not really what I mean Ц it's more in the electrical area. For instance, if you have a hard time racing and keep running into walls or falling off the track, your could blow your front alignment, giving the car a pull towards one direction and making it a bitch to keep the car straight. Or you could screw up the gearshift and make it difficult to accelerate, especially on uphill climbs. There's a few more things that can go wrong Ц and don't worry, they will affect the race if it happens early on. Just be careful Ц one fall off a cliff and it's possible to ruin the whole car.

Thankfully, WRC makes it fairly easy to keep the car on the road thanks to some solid control. Each car handles differently, but all very well Ц you'll never have to worry about a car not doing what you want Ц unless you've already messed it up and made it uncontrollable. The cars do need more attention on certain surfaces, but that's just the realism that WRC manages to squeeze in. The controls do feel a little loose at first, but after a minute you can get them down and get on to racing. Also, WRC uses the Logitech Gran Turismo force feedback wheel, so if that's what you'd like to use, you can. Personally I have never used the steering wheel ($100 for a wheel is a little bit too rich for my blood given I can use my controller and buy 2 games for the same price) so I can't comment on how it works, but given how well-received the wheel is, I'm sure it's fine.

Where WRC shines is how the game manages to toe the line between simulation and arcade. This IS a hardcore rally game Ц there's nothing but the traditional rally races, with one person on a track at a time instead of all of them at once. There's no rallycross racing or anything like that Ц instead its pure rally racing at its best. Yet, the game manages to give newbies and the kind of people who have never played a rally game a chance to become good at the game and enjoy it, with easy controls and a light set of tweaking options. And since the only УAIФ that WRC has is time, there's no dealing with pesky, cheap computer racers costing you the races Ц instead it's all based on your skills, and your skills only. Learning how to listen to the co-drivers' instructions as well as race the track is essential, but it's not really that difficult. WRC fans will eat it up because it's a perfect video game replica of their favorite event, and racing fans will enjoy it because of the ease of jumping right on in and playing.

Most importantly, the game is pretty long to play through in WRC mode. With 70 total sections over 14 events (each with its own unique traits), it has enough punch to keep you playing. It is indeed possible to play through the whole thing in a weekend, but only if you play it non-stop for 2 consecutive days. And since each car really handles differently, it's fun to take each car out and win the game with that vehicle as well, and not feel like a little bit of dщjр vu has struck.

While saying World Rally Championship is a stunning looking game graphically would be a bit of a stretch, the game still looks really good. The cars themselves are really well detailed, and look great in any shape. The cars get dirty and muddy along the way and that's represented well Ц it doesn't just appear out of nowhere, it actually slowly shows up on the car with time. They do take a little visual damage too, like dents in the side and busted windows and such. Also, depending on conditions the cars will add certain things to adjust; for example, more headlights in a nighttime race, and an extra fan/air conditioner in the events that are held in areas of extreme heat. Plus, little details like seeing the sparks fly from a backfire during the race is nice Ц as is seeing the car flash inside constantly if you've messed up the electricity in the thing. They're all nicely done little touches.

Most interesting is the fully animated driver and co-driver Ц while their faces are indeed terrifying to look at (I'm sure you expected nothing less), it's quite cool to see the drivers doing their thing in the game Ц such as the co-driver looking down at his post-it notes to tell the driver what's coming up.

The tracks themselves are pretty well done, but nothing really spectacular. Some areas are fairly bland, but that's due to the real area it's based upon. Some are loaded up with tons of extra details like trees and mountains, but nothing stands out amongst the crowd. Speaking of crowd, the tracks are cluttered with insane people, who stand within 5 feet of a car barreling down the track at 100 miles an hour, defying getting steamrolled into a cardboard cutout. The game does feature a great draw distance - on most tracks you can see a good bit ahead and see what's next on the menu of tight turns. There's very little pop-up also, and it manages to stay at a solid 60 frames per second throughout (of course, this is not difficult given the need to only display one car on the screen at a time).

It's all tied up by a great presentation Ц realistic to the WRC in every way. Before each event you get a little video describing the event and the location of it, priming you up for what's to come. All the in-game menus, as well as the setup screen menus are very accurate to the WRC races. It's all very cool.

In terms of sounds, there's really very little to discuss, and little to complain about. WRC actually has most of the voices of the real co-drivers, so you can hear them belt out the upcoming turns and hazards and identify them - if you're a hardcore WRC fan, that is. They do sound like they're reading from a script and sound robotic Ц but then again, these guys DO read off a piece of paper. As mentioned before, they give out the instructions in a very easy to understand manner, and never confuse with speaking too many directions at one time. It's probably the best I've heard in this area.

Oddly, there's no music that plays during the game Ц most likely so you can hear the co-driver and the instructions he gives. Besides that, you only hear the engine blaring and the roar of a crowd you might have just passed up. The engine noises are pretty well done, but not really unique from car to car. Other sounds include the noise of the car backfiring and the cracking noise of the wheels running across a dirt road, compared to the virtual silence of racing on tarmac.

I say oddly about lacking music in-game because there's actually licensed music by some U.K. based bands Ц yet it only plays for a few seconds after each race. Bizarre for sure Ц why waste the money putting real music into a game when you're only going to use it in areas that most people won't spend a lot of time in? It boggles the mind.