World Rally Championship Java-Spiel

The show must go on

World Championship Rally 3D comes from Firemint, the same development studios as the recent 3D Fast and Furious game. WRC takes the game from the streets and onto dirt tracks from all over the world.

This game is heavy on license which should please rally fans. This year's current top drivers and teams are fully represented and even come with a little general knowledge for each team. The game is spread over 10 locations from Monte Carlo to Great Britain across a variety of terrain.

The graphics and speed of the game are impressive. The game has two driving views; in-car or the standard behind-the-car view. In games of old the behind the car view would play a little slower but that is not the case these days; both viewpoints play as fast as each other. The animation is pretty good with full 3D effects with winding and rising tracks with the obligatory jumps.

There are two modes, Championship and Arcade. Both are essentially the same and take place over the same courses. Championship sees you racing against the clock as you try and complete the course faster than your competition and earn as many points as possible. In this mode, your car can only take so much damage. Smash into the sides too much and watch the car icon in the corner get progressively more red. Arcade mode involves overtaking other cars, who are given a head start. You also have to get to each checkpoint before the clock runs down. The overtaking feature makes the mode quite different and it makes a change to get the opportunity to overtake in a rally game. Both modes have 'crowd pleaser' bonus points. Speed past the crazy fans to earn loads of these points. These are automatically used to upgrade various car attributes for the next race.

The graphics may show the snow in Finland and the dust of Mexico but we couldn't feel much difference underneath the tyres. Another niggle is the lack of a speedometer. It's difficult to judge your cornering skills if you cant see how fast you took it. The car upgrades are done for you and there is also no preset difficulty levels. This is not really a problem as you should be able to complete the tour very quickly; but finishing first will take practice and does require a high level of skill.

Even though this does feel like a trim offering, there is plenty to drag you in for a few more races. The highscores have preset fastest races and championship point tallies to conquer. You also have the chance to race against your ghost. Rally is an unforgiving sport and the ghost can show you how one bad corner can cost you many seconds of lost time.

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