Trees. From a very early age we know what they look like, and the majority of us see one every day of our lives. You would think then, that an object of such familiarity would carry over into a video game well. But in the case of rally games, they just don’t. They never have. I have yet to play a single rally game with realistic looking trees. Sure, they look realistic enough when you’re driving down a gravel covered country lane in Wales. At 70Mph. In the pouring rain. But introduce one to your bonnet, and the realism halts as quickly as your Impreza did when bodywork met bark. You see, up close, the trees in a Rally game resemble four flat bits of tree coloured cardboard linked together like one of those 3D mobiles we were all forced to make at primary school. They look bad, and disappointingly this is no different in Evolution Studio’s 4th take on the sport. The good news is though, this is one of only very few negative points about World Rally Championship 4.
Each year we see updates of sports titles that, as a rule, offer little more than updated rosters, new animation and slight graphical improvement. Similarly rally games are churned out year after year and with each annual re-incarnation, the novelty and excitement dwindles that little bit more. Until now that is. WRC4 is absolutely jam packed with features to the point of leaving me almost speechless. All 16 WRC locations have been included, spanning 5 continents and 100 stages. There are even 2 new events in Japan and Mexico and a new location in Sardinia. Once in game, you are immediately aware that you have just chosen the most complete and in-depth rally game to date. The presentation is simply stunning. Rally footage plays constantly in and around the well laid out menus, with in-car movies of the drivers being displayed as you make your selection. I particularly liked the ‘3D Explorer’ feature when selecting your car. Not only does it allow you to view the car in the virtual showroom we’ve become accustomed to since the first Gran Turismo, but you can ‘explode’ the view so all the parts, doors, wheels, brakes, suspension etc. are revealed as the car is blown apart. Its refreshingly good and is only a hint at the amount of time and effort the team at Evolution have put into this game.
As usual, you’ll probably start with either of the two ‘instant action’ type game modes, Quick Race or Time Trial. The hardcore rally fans amongst you will no doubt hurl yourselves into the full championship or event modes straight away. Speaking of hardcore, this is one serious simulation. Sure, previous rally titles have been tough, but Rallisport Challenge this most certainly is not. The ‘Pro Driver Challenge’ does offer an arcade mode with increasingly difficult and varied challenges, but the full championship mode is where the real drivers hang out. Even with different skill levels, this is going to seem like very hard work to all but the most experienced of racers. This brings me to the second negative aspect of WRC4. The game is very unforgiving. Unless you are prepared to put some long hours into it or – as stated before – are hardcore when it comes to the genre, you may find yourself reaching for a copy of McRae just to reassure yourself that you’re not that bad after all. But there’s so much here that any fan of the sport cannot fail but to be impressed and should get a big kick out of the whole experience.
Once out on the gravel/dust/asphalt, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is just another rally update, but everything feels tighter. Well modelled cars, scenery that’s as photo-realistic as they claim and handling which feels spot on, albeit extremely tricky to master. You get the normal external car views but anyone not using the internal cockpit view should probably be playing OutRun. It’s the in-car view where the attention to detail in WRC4 is particularly evident. Droplets of water run up the windscreen as you hurtle along in the rain, dust forms on the parts of the glass that are out of reach of the windscreen wipers as you progress through the stage and making a mistake (which you will) results in a cracked windscreen, your front bumper joining the spectators and your co-driver asking if you are alright! The sensation of speed seems pretty accurate, although as with the previous WRC games still seems a little sluggish from a standing start. Audio, whilst not groundbreaking, is excellent throughout with distinctive and individual engine noises emitted from each car.
Multiplayer is on offer in the form of 16 player online support and an online time trial mode which allows players to race all the stages against other racers. If good enough, you can also submit your times in an attempt to get amongst the top 100.
Rally isn’t for everyone, and WRC4’s intolerance for casual or average drivers will have a lot of people moving on quickly. But it truly is an amazing package, offering so many modes, locations, and unlockable items that you simply won’t find anywhere else. Coupled with an excellent driving mechanic, impressive visuals, realistic damage model and the sheer depth of content and presentation, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much WRC4 improves upon the ‘just another update’ tag I was expecting to have to apply. The best rally experience to be had on the Playstation 2′ Yes. The best console rally simulation currently available’ Most certainly. Lets just hope they spend the time between now and WRC5 to get the trees right.
