- Plenty of “real world” cars and
tracks to race
- Really good car visuals including impressive damage and
“dirty” effects
- Xbox Live and XSN tournaments
- Career mode provides plenty of practice for online play
- "Familiar" controls
- Arcade-style racing means this
isn’t a true rally racing sim like the Colin McRae series
- Camera when you fly off the road can get distracting when you
try and get back on track
- You don’t always feel you’re in full control of the car
- Pedestrian sound effects and music
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Rallisport Challenge 2
Score: 9.0 / 10
Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s flagship
racing title sequel Project Gotham Racing 2 (PGR2), the newest member of
the Xbox first-party racing club, RalliSport Challenge 2 (RSC2), proves
that Microsoft knows how to make great racing games. You realize a
developer has done a great job when you enjoy playing a game even though
you wouldn’t normally be interested in the game’s subject matter, and
that’s where I fall: a rally racing game would be the least likely racer
I would think of purchasing and playing, but RSC2 is such a great game,
even a non-rally racing game fan such as myself totally delighted in the
solid overall quality of RSC2. That’s in no small part due to the
addition of the Xbox Live and (just as importantly) XSN support, which
spins around a complete 180 degrees the lonely nature that comprises the
heart of true rally racing.
To many racing gamers, enjoying rally racing may be a little hard to
comprehend, much like an American baseball fanatic trying to figure out
the appeal of English cricket. After all, rally racing isn’t a driver
versus a field of other drivers all
contained in a single track. No, rally
racing is a driver (and sometimes a navigator along for the ride) racing
not against other vehicles at the same time, but rather racing solo on a
race course located on real roads (on and off-road) and competing
instead against other driver’s best times on each courses. You’re not
worried about checking your rear mirror to see who’s gaining on you.
Instead, you’ll be checking your watch to
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see if you are completing the race course race in a faster time than
your opponents. That’s the core gameplay at work in RSC2. But unlike
RSC2’s chief rally racer competition Colin McRae 4 from Codemasters,
there are a few events where you will actually compete in traditional
races against other drivers on a track. Still, most of RSC2 is the
standard rally racing of time competition.
While actual rally racing is very popular in Europe, the American
audience prefers track-style racing such as NASCAR or even Indy Racing
League. Taking that even a step further, street racing titles are the
video game genre’s most popular style with Need for Speed Underground,
the Test Drive series, and PGR2 being much more popular than rally
racing. But that didn’t discourage Microsoft from developing the first
RSC last year and following that up quickly with a sequel. Now, coupled
with PGR2 (and soon to be joined by Forza Motorsport, which could
possibly overtake Sony’s powerful Gran Turismo 4), RSC2 gives Microsoft
the undisputed crown of first-party console racing game superiority over
both Sony and Nintendo.
The single-player RSC2 has a solid career mode that progresses from
relatively easy to win every race to supremely challenging to your
racing skills. As you get further and further into the single-player
game, you will unlock more cars, car skins, and the tracks themselves to
play online. What breaks the monotony of RSC2’s rally racing is the
smorgasbord of types of rally racing you can play.
Not only do you get to traverse across deserts and dirt-filled off-road
tracks and courses, but there’s a heaping helping offering of tracks
with plenty of tarmac, closed courses with plenty of mud pits, and ice
races, the toughest trials in the game that will have you slipping and
sliding all over the road. Fortunately, RSC2 provides the occasional
break from the monotony of time racing to give you either head-to-head
or four-player races. There are also plenty of cars of varying styles
and performance levels from manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Ford,
Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Saab, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Suzuki (among
others) to use. Some cars are much better handling for the more
twisty-turning courses, while others may not handle as smoothly but are
killer speed demons on straighter courses.
The biggest payoff from a well-developed single-player game besides
unlocking vehicles and tracks for online gaming is that you will learn
the intricacies of the cars and tracks themselves that you will
definitely need to know if you want to challenge the top online RSC2
racers.
There are times when you don’t always entirely feel you are in complete
control of the car, almost s if you’re caroming down a hill with a cut
brake line. You can adjust your car’s settings before a race to be
better suited for a particular track, but that really doesn’t factor
into the game much and almost seems wasteful to include it because the
game can automatically set your car to the best conditioning for what
you’ll face in an upcoming race.
RSC2’s basic car controls will be intimately familiar to veteran PGR
drivers, which is to say get prepared for a whole lot of power sliding.
Like the PGR series, RSC2 definitely leans away from simulation racing
evident in the Colin McRae series for a more arcade-style racing
experience. With plenty of hairpins and sharp 90-degree turns, being a
good power-sliding driver is absolutely crucial if you aspire for any
kind of success in RSC2. There is a navigation system to help you, but
it changes from race-to-race, which can be a bit disconcerting. At times
you’ll have a navigator in the car with you telling you when to turn (in
a monotone voice that really defines bad gaming voice-over) with the
assistance of a colored turn indicator. Other times, there’s a map that
shows you the upcoming roadway layout, and others, well you’re on your
own trying to figure out what’s around the next bend in the road.
It is Xbox Live support that takes the usual singularity of rally racing
and throws it out the side door by providing a high-octane online racing
community. Here, the laws of multiplayer racing again apply. No more
solitary driving here. I encountered a few lag issues that I hadn’t met
while playing RSC2’s big brother, PGR2, but usually it was minimal lag
and most online racing played out smooth. Additionally, there’s an
online ranking system based on the points you garner in different types
of races. You can also download or upload race times too in case the
individualistic driving lifestyle really is more your thing.
Another online bonus with RSC2 is the Xbox Sports Network (XSN)
tournament support. Just like all the other XSN sports titles, you can
set up or join a race tournament, wait for the race date and time, and
get down to some competitive rally racing.
A strong feature of RSC2 is its excellent visual presentation. This is a
gorgeous game, with plenty of little details that give the game a sense
of realism. The cars are painstakingly recreated bumper-to-bumper and
actually show serious damage including losing the engine hood, doors,
and busting out windows. And the courses all have a photorealistic
quality. But RSC2 goes the extra mile with amazing lighting and weather
effects that you’ll encounter when you race at night or during snow and
rainfall. Your vehicle will noticeably and gradually pick up dirt and
grime if you are racing in muddy or dusty conditions. The game does have
some perceptible aliasing issues at times and a completely confusing
camera placement that occurs if you crash or fly inadvertently off the
beaten path, but that’s still not enough to detract from the five-star
graphics on the whole.
One not-so-great facet of RSC2 is the sound department. The sound
effects of the car’s engines revving up and down is okay, but doesn’t
provide the high-decibel wow it could. I’ve already mentioned the
terrible voice-over work, and the game’s music is pedestrian at best.
Suffice to say, RSC2 won’t be winning any sound awards anytime soon.
The newest RSC improves on its predecessor’s already-impressive showing,
with the real clincher of its racing game greatness being the Xbox Live
support, especially adding the ability to utilize XSN tournaments. While
many non-rally racing fans may not completely acclimate to the
lonesomeness of rally racing that happens to be the majority of the RSC2
single-game experience, the community-building nature of RSC2’s online
play is a more than adequate replacement for the social butterfly racer.
While PGR2 offers a more challenging single-player game and more
exciting multiplayer online play, RSC2 is a reasonable alternative to
the fast-and-furious nature of today’s multitude of street-style racers.
