World Rally Championship

Written by Tom Clare in PS2 Game Reviews, Thursday 22 June, 2006

A Bit Of A Mud-dle?

With a bit of shrewd advertising, it seems Sony managed to rekindle gamers' interests in the rally genre with their 2001 release of World Rally Championship (WRC), to the kind of levels not seen since the original Colin McRae Rally caused such a storm back in 1998.

I was intrigued as to why this was, and encouraged by the high scores the press were lavishing upon WRC. After the wonderful-but-short V-Rally 3 had perked my enthusiasm for the rally racers once more, I decided to take a look under the bonnet of Sony's own dirt devil, which promised to be just as good and last a fair bit longer to boot.

Released back in 2001, WRC is one of the PS2's elder statesmen - indeed, it was perhaps the first major rally game to appear on the format. The emphasis is very much on arcade accessibility; you'll not need to spend time fiddling with car settings or even worry about excess handling characteristics such as oversteer - just follow the co-drivers instructions and avoid crashing!

As well as the usual Single Race and Time Trial modes that you'll feel obliged to ignore, there's a Championship that acts as the games main hub, featuring a full compliment of 14 events. Each of these is in turn made up of 5 stages, making for a far less-brief set-up than V-Rally 3's silly 6-rally season, though similarly you'll find that despite WRC's arcade leanings, there are no on-track opponents to battle against in the game - you've just got to focus on topping the time lists. Being an officially licensed game, it contains the real teams and drivers from the 2001 campaign; so you can drive Tommi Makinen to an elusive fifth WRC title if you choose; pilot the Ford Focus of 'El Matador' himself Carlos Sainz, or continue the legacy of recently-deceased Richard Burns, back in better times before his illness. The only major driver seemingly missing-in-action is a certain Mr McRae, who had of course already sold his soul to Codemasters.

Anyway, what's it like to play? Well, initially it's a bit bizarre. Playing with the analogue sticks (as was preferable with V-Rally 3) gives the strange sensation of the car rotating on the track but having little actual purchase. Fortunately, a quick switch to the D-Pad rescues the day as a more pointed, direct cornering method seems the order of the day here - it's simultaneously quite realistic and also reassuringly forgiving, which will please many who are accustomed to holding their breath when taking corners in rallying titles. What WRC provides that many of its rivals have failed to is an access point straight into the action, where for once even rallying novices can get to grips with things in no time. There's no doubt that the vast majority of players will find some enjoyment in the opening few minutes.

However, there is a downside to this too. To play, World Rally Championship is fun, but ultimately far too lightweight for its own good. There's none of the thrill or danger that comes with Colin McRae Rally's narrow country lanes or V-Rally's demanding physics and blind-corners, as you rarely feel tested here - the roads are always comfortably wide, the crash physics are generally quite forgiving (even at high speed) and even at maximum velocity, it can feel slightly pedestrian. The handling becomes so easy to grasp and the road surfaces offer up so few surprises or variety, that you'll be winning stages and rallies at your first attempt. In fact, even the unlockable 'Professional' difficulty (upon which I was pinning my hopes) proved to be embarrassingly easy - I managed to win 13 of the 14 rallies on this setting first time through, and even piloting the 'inferior' cars doesn't present you with much of a challenge. The learning curve lasts for all of ten minutes as you discover that, beyond memorising the course layouts for slightly better efficiency, you'll be as good as you are going to get after just a few stages - this is fairly remarkable and not something I recall happening previously in gaming. The Championship itself is well-presented and structured, but without so much as a hint of competition, you participation will be simply for a bit of fun and gaining the unlockable bonuses.

And now to the lunacy that is the Challenge mode - surely if the PS2 had a 'Bad Planning' award it would have to go to Sony for this turkey. Having taken (and passed) a simple 4-stage test, you are awarded with a simple code and told to input it on the wrc.com website (yes, your guess is good as mine). Only now it seems the website has changed, and there is seemingly nowhere to type said code and gain the access code for the Challenge itself. Of course, you can always locate the required codes from tip books or walkthroughs, but it all seems an unnecessary fad to be honest.

Let's focus on the good stuff again for a time though. Visually, WRC is really quite excellent - not just in-game but as an overall package. It's streaming of footage and information on the menu-screens would make ITV proud, showing-off with its dark blue colour scheme and slick, modern typeface. The in-game engine is just as good thanks to some marvellously-rendered cars (complete with animated driver and co-driver) and some truly impressive draw-distances, allowing the player to view great expanses with no slow-down or glitching in the backgrounds. The cockpit view is magnificent also, as you'll see realistic activity from both driver and co-driver (changing gears, movement of the wheel, heads bobbing) and the view out is also realistically cramped too. To top it all off, environment effects are first-class with some really nice fog and rain effects carried off with the minimum of fuss.

Sadly the sound lets the side down a bit - there's nothing wrong with the engine notes of the cars, though the humdrum co-driver is uninspired and the music that plays on the menu screens is horrifically repetitive and frankly murderous on the ears. Mute!

WRC has a grand total of 81 circuits, which on the surface may sound impressive, but that total soon seems far less when you consider there isn't a mode of notable substance within the game. I bemoaned V-Rally 3's lack of courses, but what it did provide was at least brilliant to drive on, diverse and challenging - WRC's are almost all samey and bland in terms of design, with precious little to remember them by individually, and only the Rally of Great Britain right at the very end of the season offering up anything like a challenge to the player. Considering the scenery rarely contains anything especially eye-catching, the loading times are also rather shocking. One thing's for sure, you'll be staring at a black screen for long periods of time, and in this high-tech age, a minute of waiting around for 2-3 minutes of driving isn't great.

Nevertheless, as it doesn't carry any age restrictions, it's rather a good choice for racing beginners out there. Obviously, if you've played and mastered Gran Turismo, then this isn't likely to hold a great deal of a challenge to be honest, though there's certainly some fun to be had even if it is a rather leisurely experience.

Overall, World Rally Championship is an average example of its genre. It looks fine, it's well-presented and has all the licenses that rally fans could wish for, though its simple handling and complete lack of A.I. opposition leaves few mysteries to unearth in terms of the gameplay, and racing game veterans will find little to sharpen their skills on here. Most of what it does, it does well, though its all been done better elsewhere. One to buy if you're an easily-pleased rally-buff (it is at least cheap nowadays), or a cautious rental if you're anyone else.

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