Jonathan Origan // Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
// Printable version 
World Rally Championship PSP review
So is Codemasters latest entry in to the rally circuit enough to tear ye away for the delights of Colin McRae? Read on and find out….
WRC has been quite a progressive franchise over the years on the PS2 and has been the main competition for the lucrative Colin McRae instalments. Also to many a rally fan the WRC offerings are considered the best out of the two stables..
Presentation is fairly snappy, with the familiar rally montages rolling in the background. So it will be familiar territory to anyone that has played its predecessors. There are a number of gameplay modes available on start up which include; Quick Rally, Time Trial, Single Rally, Championship and Multiplayer.
For a quick taster of what is in store for you the more impatient of ye will want to have a go at the quick rally mode. This does exactly what it says on the tin, you are a given a car and have to compete in one stage of a rally. Time trial is self explanatory, and single race is pretty much like quick race, except you choose the car and a stage in which to rally.
Champions
The real meat and potatoes of the game lies in the championship mode. Hardcore fans of the sport will be delighted to know that it is an exact reproduction of the real life version. So once you have picked your car and driver you are then set loose to kick up some gravel in sixteen countries in your bid to become champion in a full WRC season.
Locations from Sweden to Japan will delight all rally fans here. The introduction of the ghost car makes an appearance here as well. This may prove distracting at first, but when one gets used to it, it becomes quite a valuable asset. The attention to detail comes across well in various tracks, such as the numerous jumps in Finland, or the snow and rain effects that are present in a lot of the locations.
Physics 101
The handling of the cars feels great, but for the uninitiated with the sport it may be a bit too daunting at first try. The illusion of speed is handled well but feels choppy for want of a better word, there are times when you appear to be going slow, but actually you speedometer has flatlined. Grant it these occasions are few and far between, but all the same its worth mentioning. . Cars feel appropriately heavy and react accordingly too.
Graphically, obviously some corners had to be cut, but generally the game looks great throughout. I did find that some of the darker locations in the game were a bit too dark and after a while starts to hurt your eyes. The turns sometimes come up on you to quick as well.. An amazing amount of scope was shoehorned in somehow. This is especially apparent in the Finnish stages or Australian locations, so hats off to Codemasters for that feat of technology. There are also nice little aesthetic touches such as cracked wind -screens and muddied up exteriors etc.
Sounds Good
On the sound front there is nothing to complain about either,. Car engines sound great and screeching tires will be a petrol-heads symphony. The actual music has not been skimped on either, artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Radio 4 and The Walkmen, all make an appearance.
Overall WRC is quite a good game and all round performer. Codemastes have done their best to throw in everything they could think of for the fan and newcomer alike. If you have played the PS2 version do not expect the same thing as its not. Definitely worth the purchase for lovers of rally and WRC games.
Channels
I checked Metacritic.com after seeing the high score that Game Informer gave this game. I thought I remembered it being a lowly scored game, but when I read GI's review I thought, "Wow, I mustve been thinking about another game! I love rally racing. I cant wait to pick this one up. But first, let me double check and see if there are other reviews/scores."
I know, I know. Thats a lot of thinking, right? Well, my main query/comment, has to do with the disparate scores. Mostly the scoring is very mediocre and in the range of being an 'unpurchaseable' (MY word!) However, way at the other end (or thereabouts) of the scoring spectrum/universe, there lies much...MUCH...higher praise. What do you suppose it is about this game that garners such a complement of expressions?
There's not multiple versions, are there? Also, do you still hold this game in such high esteem or do you now realize that you overrated it?
Any comments by Mr. Boom and anyone else purusing my eloquence would be most graciously and well-manneredly (my word?) savored.
Thank you and good day from a great American! ;)
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