"Network Q RAC Rally Championship" Review
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Graphics/Visuals: A-
================
The graphics are similar to Need For Speed 1 in both appearance and
speed. Extremely fast (I'd estimate consistent 30 fps regardless of
traffic) on my P200. Ocassionally the scenery on parts of the tracks
is repetitive, but it's often quite varied an interesting too (water,
fences, tunnels, different rock formations and trees). Like NFS 1,
there are three viewpoints, in-car, front-bumper cam, and chase cam
from behind the car.
I don't know how the graphics would perform on slower computers, but I
don't forsee any obvious problems (there is a lo-res option, though I
haven't tried it). The graphics engine is "pseudo-3D" using some
cleverly placed 2d bitmaps to provide a realistic 3d illusion without
sacrificing performance.
The one area of real innovation in the graphics, what brings it up
into the A- range, is the excelent implementation of weather. Snow,
rain, fog, clear and cloudy, all are very realistic and well done, and
add a real touch of realism to the game. The weather will sometimes be
contstant for a race, or sometimes come and go. When it's raining hard
you can get lighting flashes, which is a cool feature.
There is also an excelent night-driving implementation. You can only
realy see as far as your headlights, though sometimes you can catch a
leading car's tail lights in the distance and use them to lead you
which way the road is turning (major upcoming turns and jumps are
called out).
Like NFS 1, you have an "out of car experience" when you crash, but
the rolls and multi-car crashes can be spectacular (not quite as good
as NFS 1crashes, but not bad).
Driving Model and Cars: A
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As far as I can tell (I've played most PC arcade racers and sims) the
driving model is excelent, closer to a sim than an arcade driver.
There are the usual adjustments you'd expect, like changing gear
ratios, tires, suspension, etc., and they seem to have a noticeable
effect on the way the cars drive.
There are different textures, tarmacs, gravel, mud, snow, all of which
seem realistic, including they way they are affected by the weather
(you can pick tires that are good for snow, wet mud if it's raining,
etc.).
There are six cars, all of which do have their own feel (two main
types, 3 four wheel drive and 3 two-wheel drive).
Gameplay: B+
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There are a variety of playmodes. 5 collections of arcade mode tracks
in increasing difficulty, play any track with other racers or by
yourself, or play a championship season in which you race on every
track in order. In arcade more there are checkpoints that you need to
get to to continue the race - usually if you crash you will not have
enough time left to complete a track.
In the championship mode damage to your car is tracked, which you can
fix at way stations (only at the end of some tracks - so you don't
want to damage your car too much!). At the repair site you have a
limited amount of time that you can apply to the repairs, so you can
usually only repair some of your damaged parts.
My only complaint is a lack of a comparitive results (i.e., with other
racers) in arcade mode, and I'm not sure there's anyway to turn up the
skill of the competitive drivers in championship mode (and there not
too hard to beat). There are a few web sites where people are
competing against each others times in semi-organized competitions,
which I may get into to make it more interesting.
Tracks: B
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300+ miles of real, non-circuit tracks of varying textures, hills,
lanscapes, etc. Very fun, it took me three days of playing to even try
every track, and there is also an expansion pack with 10 addon tracks.
There are jumps, mostly fairly small ones (a couple doozies), I think
more realistically implemented that the "floating away" jumps in NFS
1.
The only reason I give a B instead of an A is because no track editor
is available, which as we all know can greatly increase the
replayability of a driving game. Hopefull someone will crack it (maybe
that guy who did the Need For Speed editor, I think his name was Denis
Auroux?).
Multiplay: C
=========
I'm somewhat generous I think in awarding a C for a very incomplete
network play that does not support Internet play. I haven't got a LAN,
and for all I know it works great if you do. It is apparantly
bandwidth-hungry in it's multiplay implementation, so I'm not sure we
can assume Internet-play will be forthcoming anytime soon. Fortunately
I read this in the FAQ before buying the game so it was not a surprise
to me.
It's a shame because there's a shortage of good multiplayer racers,
IMO.
Sound: B+
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The car sounds are good though not particularly exciting. The ingame
music is pretty good and features a number of tracks you can select
from.
Replays: B-
=========
No bad, but I can't seem to find a rewind key (there is a fast forward
and a pause). It would be nice also if it supported a few more viewing
angles like in NFS1, and also the ability to save replays.
The Final Score:
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Graphics/Visuals: A-
Driving Model and Cars: A
Gameplay: B+
Tracks: B
Multiplay: C
Sound: B+
Replays: B-
Overall rating for Network Q RAC Rally Championship: B+
The Bottom Line:
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A good investment, I'm glad I bought this game. A lot of fun (it has
at least temporarily bumped Flying Corps and Tie Fighter off my
playlist).
Joe
