If there’s one thing that Microsoft seems to be able to do well its racing games, (make that arcade racing games (RSC 2). Project Gotham Racing 2 was a critical success, and now Rallisport Challenge 2 is poised to continue that pedigree. With a ton of features, and fun as hell gameplay MS has another hit title for the Xbox.
The single player experience is made up predominantly of the career mode which has you running through various courses of escalating difficulty, attempting to earn enough points to earn yourself a new license class, letting you continue that pattern in a much harder setting.
Each license class gives you the opportunity to race in differing types of rally experiences. The 4 types of racing you can go drive through are, Rally, Rally Cross, Ice Rally, and Hill Climb. Rally driving is what you mostly on TV, and is exactly the experience you can expect. Your navigator will shout out directions, and let you know what kind of turn, its difficulty, and what terrain you can expect as it comes up. Rally has you driving through mud, asphalt, dirt, and rain soaked conditions.
Rally Cross is probably the most exciting mode of play is RSC 2; you race on varying conditions through a course that has you crossing from one side of the track to the other (this mode is especially fun in multiplayer, as well discuss later). Rally Cross doesn’t come with help from a Navigator so it can be much more difficult since you’ll have to depend entirely on your ability to watch the map, and conclude the degree of difficulty of each bend in the road.
Ice Driving is definitely the most difficult mode of play in Rallisport Challenge 2 – you talking about the same experience as Rally Cross but this time doing it on ice. Your car becomes much less a controllable machine and much more a floating tank that has to be controlled using your gas, as opposed to your break. Braking is merely used to get your car pointed the right direction, which then allows you to hammer on the gas, and get you moving where you want to go. Trust me when I say that’s not an easy task; even the slightest twitch in your steering can cause your cars back end to shoot out. Hitting the gas coming out of a turn too hard is cause enough to get you running in circles. Ice Driving is definitely where the best of the best will be getting their rocks off.
Finally you have Hill Climb, which makes use of the most powerful rides in the game. Compared to the methodical way you play the other modes this one will feel like a speed freak accident waiting to happen. With cars so powerful it doesn’t take too long to get up to top speed and you’d be surprised how much distance these types of cars need to get set up for a turn. Flying off the edge of a cliff, and ruining a run is easiest to do in this mode – in fact if you’re not a tepid driver you’ll find yourself doing it a lot if you before you memorize each course.
|
|
Gameplay and the way you handle your car is entirely dependant on the type of course you’re on. Driving on asphalt will make you feel like you’re controlling a traditional racer, while the ‘rally’ conditions (these are anything other then ice/snow), will require you to slide properly into every turn. As mentioned before, driving on ice will be the most difficult task. You’ll have to use your gas as a brake of sorts, by trying to change the momentum of your car.
The multiplayer experience is fun both online, and offline. Setting up a match on Xbox Live was easy, and I experience very little lag – playing online with people more interested in creating carnage on a track then actually getting to the end of the course cleanly is still (and will always be) the most annoying part of playing online. That’s the greatest compliment you can give to Rallisport Challenge 2 I guess – because clearly I don’t have a beef with anything of consequence on any other topic.
Ryan and myself had a blast going against each other in split screen mode, and as alluded to before, we had a great deal of fun playing the Rally Cross mode. The main reason for that is the way the courses are set up – there are 2 portions to each track, the inside and outside ‘tracks’ if you will. Where it gets fun is that each segment has its down distinct difficulty, and in some instances length. So it’s not out of the question to see your opponent ahead of you, but still show up as the player in the number one position on the map. It’s also great for adding to the tension of each race, because you know certain portions of the track will slow you up compared to where your opponent is at the time. You’ll definitely be reminding yourself of the fact that you have to ‘nail this portion of the track’.
Rallisport Challenge 2 is arguably the best Rally racing game on the Xbox, and certainly fills any void people may now be experiencing with Project Gotham Racing 2. Besides being one of the best Xbox racing titles, RSC 2 is right up there with anything else currently on the market. If you’re looking for an arcade style racing game with plenty of replay value, and difficulty designed to match your progression, then you can’t go wrong with Rallisport Challenge 2 for the Xbox.
