Beyond the WRC: A New Contender in the Dirt
Both EA (EA SPORTS WRC) and Nacon (WRC Generations) have tried to conquer the dirt tracks, but ultimately fallen short before pulling the plug on the official WRC license. But if we’re honest no rally game has really hit the mark, at least not in the way the world wanted, and certainly not on a level last seen with Colin McRae Rally way back when.
So why on earth is a much smaller team in the form of NETK2GAMES (yeah, we’d never heard of them either) taking it back to the old school with Rally Arcade Classics? Surely they are destined for failure?
You’d think so, huh? But you’d be wrong. In fact, Rally Arcade Classics is a good solid rally game. Yes, it’s a little bit quirky, and it’s very much rough and ready. But ultimately that is what we want from a game of this type, especially when there is much fun to be had. Oh, and it’s chock full of content too.
Old School Thrills
Rally Arcade Classics is about as old school as you can get. It immediately draws up memories of some of the best, most simple of rally games from years ago, forgoing any need to delve deep into mechanics, tuning or running a tight ship. Instead it sticks you behind the wheel of a car and tells you to let rip.
It does so over a number of events too. Sitting pretty as your first port of call will be the Licenses, tasking you from completing some reasonably easy tests of driving skills. Basically, you need to wait at the start line, hammer the throttle and hope your skills allow you to pass the finish within an allocated time. Do so, and you’ll be rewarded with stars, which in turn help unlock other events.
With the licenses starting off in C Class, working up to B to A and through on to S1, these are short, sharp events that can mostly be completed in a matter of seconds. And that means going at them multiple times, as you look to upgrade your bronze medals to silver and gold, never brings boredom.
From there Rally Arcade Classics really opens up, with Cups and Stars obtained as you race, future events unlocking as you go.
Diverse Events and Endless Content
Those events come in a few forms too. The Tour will play host to the majority of your time in this classic racer, as you work through various car categories (FWD, R spec etc), partaking in overtake races, time trials against the clock, drift events and VS races. Ploughing your way through each event, gathering up the odd bit of in-game cash to buy and unlock new cars is good fun, with Rally Arcade Classics never getting above its station of delivering a humble rally game to the masses.
Various Tour chapters await, as do more stages and difficulties in the Rally mode, with similar present in that of Arcade. We’ve been massively impressed by the sheer depth of events found in these sections alone, with what could easily transpire to be tens of hours of rally racing within; more if you want to go all-out for the deceptively tricky Gold times that tease.
There’s more though, in the form of Chrono events that allow you to pick a race from a variety of locales – Finland, Catalunya, Greece, Montecarlo – and then jump behind the wheel of any car in the game. There are also some rotating, time limited Events too, and as long as NETK2GAMES continue to ply players with these limited events, this could well be a rally racer that just keeps on pounding the dirt tracks forevermore.
Classic Handling and Recognisable Rides
Grinding away, powering through events, unlocking further options and gathering up those rewards is the name of the game with this one. But no rally game would even be worth considering if it didn’t play well.
And whilst we can’t sit here and tell you that this is mechanically a better game than anything that the big dogs have created with their huge budgets of recent years, we can tell you it is at least on a par with those in terms of enjoyment.
Much of that is found in the old-school handling of the various cars, as you settle in behind the wheel (or in bonnet or third person views if you prefer), listening out for the ‘Easy Left, Hard Right’ calls of your navigator and co-driver. Playing with the throttle, easing through bends, slamming on the anchors when required before blasting off back down a dirt track brings some real joy in Rally Arcade Classics, all as we have looked to shave milliseconds off PB times in hope of medalling up.
We’ve enjoyed driving a variety of cars too; some 44 from the 1970’s up to the 2000’s are ready for action. None are licensed, but each and every one of them is instantly recognisable, from the humble Mini, to Renaults, Scoobys, Peugeots and more. For us, we think NETK2GAMES have tackled the license subject reasonably well too, with names like Wolf (VW Golf), Fourtto (Audi Quattro), and others that I’ll let you work out for yourself – Selicka, BWV, Lander and the likes – present. Perhaps the lack of real names may bother you, but it doesn’t us. In fact, it just adds to the enjoyment.
Retro Aesthetics and Minor Quirks
Of course, this is a retro racer, and it looks like it too. Whilst the cars are fine, cleverly crafted, there’s a real lack of detail when you go pixel peeping, and the stages you race along do feel pretty are similar; browns and greens smooshing together to make up the vast majority of the colour palette on offer. And if your skills do give out on you, as you smash headlong into a sign, barrier or other car, you probably shouldn’t expect the most pristine of collision detections. Again though, fairly swift stages and quick car resets do allow for those oddities to be pushed to the background.
A Content-Rich Rally Experience
But frankly, we don’t care about those issues for Rally Arcade Classics is just good fun rally racing; super smooth as it goes. Whisking us back to the proper all-out racers from decades gone by, this is a simple rally affair that does what it says on the tin. With a ton of content included, and a huge ‘one more go’ feel to the stages available, should you be looking to usher up memories of the good old days, get Rally Arcade Classics installed immediately.
Important Links
Lights Out, Wheels Dirtied, Race Won – Rally Arcade Classics Launches on Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/lights-out-wheels-dirtied-race-won-rally-arcade-classics-launches-on-xbox/
Buy Rally Arcade Classics on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/rally-arcade-classics/9nmhsf7z0h9n
