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CNET editors' rating:
2.0 stars
Mediocre
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Product summary
Even the most hard-core rally fan should be hesitant around this title.
Specifications: ESRB: Everyone; Genre: Driving; Elements: Rally / Offroad Racing; See full specs
Price range: $40.99
Gamespot editors' review
- Reviewed on: 10/13/1999
- Updated on: 04/28/2000
- Released on: 08/31/1999
While relatively unknown in the States, rally racing is a huge phenomenon in Europe. The concept is simple: Take a bunch of cars that have been slightly modified for racing, stick them on actual roads, and let them have at it. As such, the game has you zooming over African trails, through the center of coastal towns, and past expansive countrysides. But somehow V-Rally Edition '99 fails to capture the exciting elements of rally racing and ends up being mediocre, at best.
V-Rally '99 is split into two separate game modes: arcade and championship. In the arcade mode the physics are less realistic, your vehicle is a bit faster, and you race against other cars. Unfortunately, even at the expert setting, the arcade mode is ridiculously easy. Indeed, you can roll your car any number of times and still place first. With any car on any track the secret to the arcade mode is simple: Hold down the A button to win the race. The championship mode boasts more accurate physics, which in turn make the game a bit more difficult. But even at their best the physics are sorely lacking. Sure, rally cars slide around an awful lot, but the cars in this game slide around far too much. You're almost constantly fighting a fishtail. Your normal brakes are almost useless, and the handbrake is unrealistically superior - a quick speed reduction without any rear tow. The track design itself, while loosely based on real courses, is fairly boring and repetitive. Almost all the tracks toss you a barrage of tight corners and then a huge straightaway, keeping you from obtaining any real speed.
The cars themselves look very nice, but the backgrounds and pop-up keep you from enjoying the graphics for too long. All the cars look true to their real-life counterparts, and there are some simple lighting and shading effects in there. However, the backgrounds are uninspired and look terrible once you get close to them. Easily the most frustrating feature in the game is the ever-present pop-up. Even with your dopey navigator calling out the turns in his quaint British dialect, the pop-up keeps you from seeing an important turn until you're right on top of it, leading to plenty of collisions with the unforgiving borders of the track. If the pop-up doesn't get you, the sheer blandness of the backgrounds will. Most of the track is a similar shade to the background, and as such, turns tend to blend in with the rest of the background, keeping you from noticing a killer turn until you're halfway through it.
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