After all the hype, and the really nice videos, I had a chance to try WRC on
the PS2 at a friend's place. Disappointment is the overwhelming reaction.
Of course, I guess we will have to get used to console games never
fulfilling our itchy-finger desire for simulation at its top level. I'll
just give the "bullet" list for my disappointment:
1. Physics. I had hope, since these guys are supposed to be ex-DID flight
simmers, that they would get the physics right. Well, here's an interesting
first impression. On the start line, just wait. The counter goes down, and
you admire the scenery. Wait a minute, the scenery is shifting ever so
slowly laterally. If you do nothing at the start, the car will start to
creep sideways. Interesting new rules which Mr. Newton never told us about.
2. Driving feel: hard to judge with the little controller, but there have
been other driving games on the PS2 which gave a better feel that there was
some nice number crunching going on. On the PC, I've played GPL with a
limited-travel joystick and it was very apparent that the physics model was
a good one. I got bored after 30 minutes of driving WRC. The car jitters
around for no reason, and it's behaviour in the air is rather crazy.
3. Graphics: It's slowly dawning on me that the PS2, despite the hype, is
not an �ber-machine. Ok, that should be obvious from the specs, but after
all the verbal drool about GT3 and WRC, I expected better. GT3 and WRC look
nice, but so does a 2 year-old RallyMasters on an older PC. The PS2 does
nice lighting effects, and the car models have a good number of polys, but I
didn't have my socks knocked off. The "autogen" scenery, while clever and
quick, makes for quite bland scenery which doesn't come close to the
immersiveness of Rally Championship from two years ago. Watching Richard
Burns and "Ford Driver" shift up and down is a nice touch, but the novelty
wears off pretty soon. There are other things which should find their way
into other rally sims, however, like proper wheel and tire graphics for
winter stages.
4. Gameplay: Maybe I didn't dive deep enough into the options, but WRC
allows a fairly free environment, and you can go for a long trip off a tall
cliff. However, you are automatically reset to the road in 3 seconds. I'd
like to tumble and crash, and then decide for myself when I should be put
back on the road. The damage modelling is mimimal in terms of its influence
on your car's performance, and you have to really do some serious off-track
exploration to even crack a windshield.
So, some nice graphical touches (although not mind-boggling compared to what
a PC can do) but a really dull driving model. And if the driving model
isn't right, well then what's the point for those into "sims"?
Stephen
