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 WRC
4PS2 Evolution Studios Since the introduction of the 'Colin McRae Rally' series a few years back the rally-racing genre has been flooded with products extolling their many and varied virtues and the ways in which they are different from every other game around. The truth is, many of these games have simply been pale imitations of the real thing, not providing gamers with even a glimmer of the adrenaline or frenzied atmosphere that makes rallying what it is. 'WRC 4', it pains me to say, is feted to join this queue of middle-ground mud kickers. Graphically and aurally, it teeters between brilliance and bone-headed laziness - while snow and ice build up in a reasonably convincing fashion on your car's body as you progress through the courses, other more obvious parts of the game's graphics shatter the good work achieved there. Rocks suddenly appear when the car is within metres of skidding into them; the background is constantly and conspicuously fading in as you speed along, and questions could fairly be asked about the malleability of the plants, barriers and people trackside, as it seems that they and speeding cars mix together rather swimmingly. I understand that there are always going to be limitations on how extensive game programming is, but the fact that games such as 'Grand Theft Auto' (particularly 'San Andreas') and the 'Colin McRae' series offer destructible environments and a larger degree of free roaming stands as an indictment to both the visuals and the gameplay of 'WRC 4'. That your co-driver's pace notes always seem to come through about five seconds too late is a nasty oversight as well, one that has the potential to easily frustrate until you work your skill level up. While mentioning gameplay, it must be noted that 'WRC 4' doesn't play badly. It's just not challenging enough by far, and doesn't bring anything new and revolutionary (or even evolutionary) to the rally-driving experience. The handling of the car and the design of the tracks seem to come more from the 'Sega Rally' arcade school of thinking than that of the 'Colin McRae' series - fun and mildly hazardous, but too easy to slide your car around, and too forgiving of what should be costly mistakes. The Championship mode offers nothing that plenty of other games in the genre don't already have, and 'WRC 4's one true claim to fame, the Pro Driver Challenge, only consists of standard time trials on test tracks that eventually evolve into normal rallies as you continue to play and move up the world rallying table. It offers nothing that you can't get out of playing through the game's Championship Mode, which leaves you wondering about its point. And really, that's how I was left feeling about 'WRC 4'. What was the point of releasing such an average product? Although it's not a horrible game, it does nothing that other rally games don't, and what it does do, it does in an uninspiring and lazy fashion. Don't bother with it.  |
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