Rally Trophy looks like being a winner, happily. High Gear has an
excellent and detailed review of the Rally Trophy demo, but that was
done with a [email hidden] GHz PC with a new graphics card and 512 megs of
RAM. Not absurd by modern standards, but still beyond what a lot of us
have to make do with.
Therefore, I thought it might be useful for people with less impressive
specs (the PCs, not the users!) to know whether the demo's worth the 70
meg download. Note that I have *not* played the full version (yet! -
when I do I'll review *that* too), so some comments will seem a bit
pointless to those who have.
Here's my PC's spec - getting rather into its dotage, as you can see:
Celeron 500 (not overclocked as the room's bloody hot anyway!)
128 megs RAM
20 gig HDD
Voodoo3 2000 PCI (16 megs) with official v1.07 drivers
SoundBlaster 16 PCI
Microsoft Force Feedback USB wheel
Windows 98SE
DirectX 8.1
Here goes, then:
Installation - 8/10
===================
The hardest part was the 6 hour download! After that it was a breeze,
though the slightly non-standard "InstallShield-alike" took a little
bit of getting used to (why not just use the standard version? - we
shall return to this issue later).
A rather bizzare happening at first, with a desktop shortcut seemingly
created as normal, but on right-clicking, I discovered that it didn't
point to anything! Creating a new shortcut manually solved this minor
problem.
One or two people have mentioned some sort of copy-protection scheme on
the full game. Inward groan time - these things are utterly pointless,
as anyone dishonest will find a way round them anyway. They seem to be
less common in the UK than the US, so I live in hope that the British
release won't do anything so damn stupid as to make you enter a
Microsoft-style registration code. But I have a nasty feeling....
Configuration - 6/10
====================
The demo pops up the configuration screen before each session - a
reasonable imposition for a demo, but I hope that goes for the real
thing. It's okay I suppose, though not particularly user-friendly: no
explanation of what "Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio" is, for example -
you have to assume that it's the in-house system. Also, some explicit
indication that clicking on the "JoWood" or "Bugbear" logos would take
you to a website would have been nice.
Graphics setup is fairly rudimentary - choice of card (if applicable),
plus a few texturing options. A good choice of driving resolutions -
from 512x384 up to 1024x768 - though I would have preferred to be able
to set those in the game itself. Possibly other 3D cards will have
other options available - I haven't a clue about that.
Menu system - 5/10
==================
This I don't like much. It's too grey, too fuzzy and the text is far
too small. There's lots of space on the screen, so why not use it,
instead of making everyone squint at the monitor the whole time? The
text for the stage previews is so small that it's almost unreadable -
okay, so the Voodoo3 isn't the latest and greatest of cards, but it's
still very widespread, and the text textures [sic] should have been
made to work properly with it.
Once you get used to it, though, the organisation of the menus is
reasonable - it takes about 5 minutes to get orientated, then you're
rolling. Of course, most options are greyed out in the demo anyway. One
further gripe before I leave this section - the preview pictures of the
cars (and the stages) appear just as white rectangles. Not a fatal
flaw, but annoying, especially as I spent some time getting the latest
drivers. I gather this is a fairly widespread problem. Or "bug", as I'd
call it. This isn't Linux, Bugbear - you shouldn't to expect people to
spend hours fiddling with configurations just to get the damn thing to
work properly. Even with a demo.
Music - 8/10
============
I generally turn off all music in any game where I want to concentrate
- yep, even in the menus. Grand Prix Legends (thought that would pop up
somewhere along the line...!) has no music at all, and that doesn't
diminish the fun. But RT's music is actually rather good - I'd even go
so far as to say it creates an atmosphere, which is not an easy thing
to do at all. In-game music I did turn off (after one run) - come on,
this is supposed to be a sim!
Sound (Engine) - 9/10
=====================
Well, it's not perfect (what is?) but it does sound like a rallying
Mini Cooper, which is what I want. Provided the volume is UP, that is -
at low volumes it's a bit "computery". This isn't a game to play
quietly in any case, so that shouldn't really matter. The only reason I
don't give it a 10/10 is that I'd have liked just a tad more roughness
on the exhaust note.
Sound (FX) - 6/10
=================
These are never much cop on any game (yes, GPL included), but Bugbear
have made a fair stab here. Crowd noise is not at all bad, but as per
usual if you hit a tree it sounds completely unrealistic.
Co-driver - 7/10
================
A very mixed bag. It's a clear English man's voice, which is good, but
I have to say he doesn't sound terribly interested in goings on - he
says "four" as though he were reading a bit of paper in a recording
studio (which he probably was - but it shouldn't *seem* like that).
Some more excitement in his voice would have been nice. When you break
something, though, he'll let you know about it - after a couple of his
"smart" remarks you'll feel like booting him out and carrying on solo!
As for the pacenotes themselves - well, quite apart from the question
of whether these rallies would have *had* pacenotes 30 years ago (the
RAC Rally didn't have them until 1990 or so), I would much have
preferred "descriptive" rather than "numeric" notes.
The "descriptive" system is the one found in Network Q RAC Rally
Championship (the 1996 game), wherein co-drivers say things like "easy
right, 70, into K left, opens, 100, caution ditch, oh dear Ari <g>",
and I have fond memories of in-car shots of people like Juha Kankkunen
drivin to this type of notes.
They're much less common now, though - Alister McRae was about the only
major driver I noticed using them on last week's Rally GB - and the
"numeric" system ("2 left, opens, 4 right" etc) is now the prevailing
method. It seemd much too new for a game using 1960s and 1970s cars,
though.
The worst feature is that the co-driver is ridiculously late on some
notes - once or twice he doesn't finish giving directions until you're
actually into the corner, which is ridiculous. It means that you almost
have to memorise the stage and anticipate his notes, which rather
defeats the object.
Still, despite all this whinging, the co-driver isn't all that bad, and
the niggles might reasonably be put down to "first-game-itis" on the
part of the developers.
Graphics - 8/10
===============
This was another very tough mark to give. There are aspects of the
graphics that are the best I've ever seen, and the standout here is the
sun-glare. Every time I drive the section into the sun, I screw up my
eyes and wish I was wearing sunglasses - it's brilliantly done and a
credit to the artists.
The rocks and the track itself are also well done, though personally I
prfer the grainier look of Rally Masters and RC2000 to the "Colin McRae
style" Bugbear have gone for in RT. The trees, as in most games, are
poor. RC2000 has the best trees I've seen - look and learn!
The Mini model is very convincing externally, although the interior,
while pretty accurate (notice the Terratrip in the corner!) is not a
particularly pleasant place to be - it feels much too claustrophobic,
and an element of this is in the lack of attention given to the
dashboard. It looks like something from a four-year-old game - in fact,
the steering wheel, centring tape and all, could have been lifted
straight from Network Q RAC Rally Championship. It just isn't up to the
standard of the rest of the game - so much so that I tend to drive with
the "over-the-bonnet" view instead.
Oh yes, and why isn't the Mini *right*-hand drive?
Physics - 10/10
================
Now, as many of you know, I don't drive. That means this section is
based partly on films and passenger rides, but mostly on "feel" - if
things "feel" right, then the marks go up. GPL (there it is again!) is
the game that "feels" best to me, which is why I like it so much. And
Rally Trophy seems to have delivered in spades.
The demo car is a Mini Cooper. I was delighted with this, as it's such
a characterful car - everyone loves them. Anyhow, I was expecting a car
with not a huge amount of straight-line grunt, but very precise
handling, and a great deal of (to use the technical term)
"flingability". Basically, I wanted to be able to drive it like a kart.
And I could.
Now, not being a "real-world" driver, I again had to rely on virtual
experience when judging the handling model and comparing the front-
wheel-drive Mini to the largely 4WD cars of modern rallying. The only
FWD cars I've driven on anything approaching a sim are the F2 cars on
RC2000 - and they're a generation later!
It was truly wonderful to hurl the Mini around Russia like a complete
hooligan - within a couple of runs through the stage I had the basic
skills, and was learning to drift it around the bends - it's a
different style altogether from a RWD powerslide. And balancing the
throttle around right-angle turns takes some practice - get it wrong
and you'll slide serenely into the undergrowth!
All in all, then, a completely satisfying experience. real-world Mini
racers will probably be able to find niggles, but I enjoyed it hugely,
without reservation.
Replays - 6/10
==============
Well, I won't suggest that Bugbear just lifted this section whole from
Colin McRae Rally, but... it is almst exactly the same! Sectional
breakdowns of your run, compared with the record run, and split times
along the way. A reasonable choice of viewing angles, though nothing
particularly special. But the lack of a save feature pushes the mark
down - there really is no excuse for not having one these days - GPL
had a very good one three and a bit years ago!
Running it on a lower-spec PC - 7/10
====================================
I'll make no bones about it: my PC can't quite cut it. Fraps told me
that at 800x600, I was getting in the mid-20s fps. 640x480 improved
things only slightly, and I felt that the loss of sharpness was too big
a price to pay for a handful of extra fps. But even with this
framerate, Rally Trophy is *still* a very fine game.
Overall - 9/10
==============
This is the most enjoyable rally game demo I've ever played by some
way. In fact, it outstrips some full games, on its own. The physics are
what make it, and mean that the "GPL of rally sims" crown ought to be
heading in the direction of Bugbear. They are Finnish, after all, and
if anyone knows about rallying...! If only the co-driver was a little
earlier on the notes (and they were descriptive!), the Mini was right-
hand drive, the cockpit graphics were sharper and the trees were better
drawn, things would be perfect.
I'm going to buy my copy tomorrow. This will only be the second driving
sim I have ever bought even though my PC couldn't quite hack it. Guess
what the first one was? ;-) Right. And that's how much I like Rally
Trophy.
An updated review will follow... when I can tear myself away!
--
Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which
deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense -- Carl Sagan
The GPL Scrapyard returns (slowly): http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com
On 27 Nov 2001 01:29:06 GMT, [email hidden] (David
Buttery) wrote:
Nice review, you have a similar viewpoint to mine. A couple of points
- the graphics on the V3 seem to be a bit messed up in certain areas,
this is a driver issue I found at the time, as older drivers fixed
things, but were screwy in others. My new GF3 has fixed all the
graphical probs, not troubles generally.
- The menu thing you mentioned (the bluriness) is due to the lower
resolution chosen. Once you beef it up to 1280 or 1600 the menus are
very crisp and clear. However sims like GPL have never had a problem
with this, especially since GPL's menus are all at 640x480. My biggest
gripe was the fact that there was a delay on the mouse, it would take
a second or so to actually move where you wanted it to go. Very
annoying.
With a high spec system, it is fantastic except for one thing - I
can't get it running better than 22 fps. I get over 120fps at times
(if I go off track) but on the track it is REALLY slow. Very odd, yet
to sort this one out.
Rafe Mc
Quoted text (14 lines)
>Rally Trophy looks like being a winner, happily. High Gear has an >excellent and detailed review of the Rally Trophy demo, but that was >done with a [email hidden] GHz PC with a new graphics card and 512 megs of >RAM. Not absurd by modern standards, but still beyond what a lot of us >have to make do with. > >Therefore, I thought it might be useful for people with less impressive >specs (the PCs, not the users!) to know whether the demo's worth the 70 >meg download. Note that I have *not* played the full version (yet! - >when I do I'll review *that* too), so some comments will seem a bit >pointless to those who have. > >Here's my PC's spec - getting rather into its dotage, as you can see: >snip<Rafe McAuliffe <[email hidden]> wrote on 28 Nov 2001:
> Nice review, you have a similar viewpoint to mine. A couple of
> points - the graphics on the V3 seem to be a bit messed up in
> certain areas, this is a driver issue I found at the time, as older
> drivers fixed things, but were screwy in others. My new GF3 has
> fixed all the graphical probs, not troubles generally.
That backs up what I've heard elsewhere. But I'm not particularly
impressed with that aspect of the game - if it's advertised as
supporting V3 cards (which it is), it should do so *properly*, with the
latest official drivers. If you have to go back to an older version,
then that's not true support IMO.
> - The menu thing you mentioned (the bluriness) is due to the lower
> resolution chosen. Once you beef it up to 1280 or 1600 the menus
> are very crisp and clear. However sims like GPL have never had a
> problem with this, especially since GPL's menus are all at 640x480.
Again, I agree, and again, I don't think it's acceptable. As I pointed
out in my review, while the V3 is undeniably an old card, it's still
very common, and much more effort shold have been made. It is simply
unacceptable for the text to be so unreadable at 800x600, no excuses.
> My biggest gripe was the fact that there was a delay on the mouse,
> it would take a second or so to actually move where you wanted it
> to go. Very annoying.
I've just got the full game, and so may not have found the bit you
mean, but if you're referring to the poorly-designed car setup screen,
I agree - it's completely unclear when you can and can't use the
keyboard instead, for example, and I hate the way the mouse
automatically jumps to where it assumes you want to go next (eg when
selecting tyres). This reminds me of a ten-year-old console game, and
it's extremely annoying.
> With a high spec system, it is fantastic except for one thing - I
> can't get it running better than 22 fps. I get over 120fps at times
> (if I go off track) but on the track it is REALLY slow. Very odd,
> yet to sort this one out.
22fps? I can get that on my system without trouble, so I have no idea
what's causing it. It does seem very low for a high-spec machine,
though. Odd.
--
Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which
deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense -- Carl Sagan
The GPL Scrapyard returns (slowly): http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com
Quoted text (11 lines)
>> My biggest gripe was the fact that there was a delay on the mouse, >> it would take a second or so to actually move where you wanted it >> to go. Very annoying. > >I've just got the full game, and so may not have found the bit you >mean, but if you're referring to the poorly-designed car setup screen, >I agree - it's completely unclear when you can and can't use the >keyboard instead, for example, and I hate the way the mouse >automatically jumps to where it assumes you want to go next (eg when >selecting tyres). This reminds me of a ten-year-old console game, and >it's extremely annoying.Quoted text (9 lines)
> >> With a high spec system, it is fantastic except for one thing - I >> can't get it running better than 22 fps. I get over 120fps at times >> (if I go off track) but on the track it is REALLY slow. Very odd, >> yet to sort this one out. > >22fps? I can get that on my system without trouble, so I have no idea >what's causing it. It does seem very low for a high-spec machine, >though. Odd.Rafe McAuliffe <[email hidden]> wrote on 29 Nov 2001:
<snip>
> What are the physics like on the full version? Any change from the
> demo? You seemed pretty pleased with them anyway, but other people
> mentioned that the physics in the beta release were much better
> than in the demo. Wondering if they reverted back or not.
They seem OK, but I haven't done enough testing yet to give you a
definitive answer, and in any case others have more knowledge of this
sort of thing than me. I'll post more when I've come to a conclusion,
but there is certainly a clear and well-defined difference between the
various cars' handling, beyond juts a FWD/RWD split.
--
Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which
deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense -- Carl Sagan
The GPL Scrapyard returns (slowly): http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com
Rafe McAuliffe <[email hidden]> wrote on 29 Nov 2001:
> The mouse delay thing I mentioned was the case in EVERY menu - you
> move the mouse, then wait for it to move on the screen a second
> later.<snip>
Nope, didn't have that problem at all. (I have a PS/2 mouse if that
makes any difference, and DirectX8.1)
--
Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which
deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense -- Carl Sagan
The GPL Scrapyard returns (slowly): http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com
