Rallisport Challenge 2 - Xbox review

19 May 2004 0:48 GMT / By Stuart Miles

While some games push the boundaries of the genre, others are just content to plod along like the rest of them. Look at the MP3 market for example, you have the market leader, ie the iPod and then a bunch of players trying to emulate, copy and not really innovate anything new for fear of getting it wrong. The same goes for rally games, you have a few titles that are the market leaders like Colin McRae and then a bunch of followers. While Rallisport Challenge 2 would like to think it’s a leader in this field, unfortunately it isn’t.

Of course, to the pendantic there is the name - last time we checked rally was spelt with a “y” not an “i”, but we aren’t holding this against them, we are heard to review the game not pick on names those games are given (an honorable gesture- SubEd). Starting up the title and you are presented with the usual set of formula - single race, time attack or career. Career stems across 36 levels and you can pick and choose within reason the next race series you challenge, once completed you get a pat on the back. Of course completing race series opens up more tracks and extra cars for you to play with in the single race and time attack modes.

Cars can be altered to fit your driving style, although we noticed no difference in the handling when we tweaked all the setting to create a car that in theory shouldn’t have worked and likewise the cars seemed to perform the same whether it be different road surfaces or completely different cars.

Of course it’s not all bad news and there are some interesting elements in here, mostly to do with the style of courses you can choose in the single race section. We particularly liked the hill climb option that sees you racing against three other computer or human players up a dirt track and made a break from the usual lap-based courses, however this is too little too late to save the title.

Verdict

Unfortunately this is a standard run of the mill title that is more for filling the publishers game numbers than offering a ground breaking title that will change the way we see and play the rally genre. Disappointing. Rent or wait for the Platinum re-release.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Microsoft
Price as reviewed: £35
The good: 36 Levels
The bad: Samey handling whatever options you change
Quick verdict: Satisfies neither hardcore Richard Burns/Colin McRae Rally fans nor the arcade crowd.
Score