Aw, the joy of driving during the sunset…Īside from career mode, where you drive against A.I controlled drivers’ times in order to have a chance at the podium, you can also pick individual tracks to race in time attack where your times will be tallied up with your friends’ and online rivals’, as usual. The driving itself has plenty of depth on its own to keep you coming back for more, and that’s even more so thanks to the sheer amount of customization options you can pick from to race in, like different weather settings, racing sections, and of course, the ridiculous amount of vehicles to choose. The arcade part comes from not having to worry a lot about any sort of pre-race setup other than fixing up your car in case you crashed it too much during a race. The actual racing in Art of Rally feels satisfyingly responsive and somewhat loose, as you’d expect in a rally game. For as abstract as the levels might look initially, they’re brimming with personality thanks to the lush nature that permeates on the side of the road, and the close to real life period brands displayed in totems and gates, and of course, the groups of blocky people huddle and move out of the way as you drive through more populated areas of the map. It’s clear that the people behind this game care deeply about the sport just from seeing the amount of detail that went behind representing the aspects that really make rally different from all other types of racing. Not only do they look damn close to the real things for as simple looking as they are, but they also sound and drive a lot like I remember them, too. Get outta the way, people! Move!įan favorites like (chef’s kiss) the 1979 Rali de Monte Carlo winner Lancia Stratos, including its famous Alitalia liveries, as well as the 1997 Subaru Impreza WRC and the 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, all of them made famous by the Sega Rally games during the 1990s, are all present and accounted for, as are a bunch more you can unlock by finishing Art of Rally’s multi-decade spanning career mode. You’ll be able to zip around in all manner of rides, from normal cars that range in a number of categories, to 3-wheelers and even trucks. In terms of tracks, you’re able to choose from a number of key locations like the very warmly colored region of Sardinia in Italy to the snowy slopes of Norway and cherry blossom lushness of Japan, each with its own road conditions and sections for you to pick from.ĭeveloper Funselektor Labs masterfully dodges having to pay for vehicle licenses thanks to Art of Rally’s distinct graphics and how close to its selection of cars look close enough to the real things to be recognizable, but with no actual brand names attached. Controls are very arcade-like and incentivize you to make heavy use of the handbrake to fishtail in and out of turns while feathering the accelerator. You race around in a tiny rally car from a pulled back top camera angle. Art of Rally came out of nowhere and caught my attention at first with its unique art style, and then quickly took my heart with its absolutely delicious gameplay once I finally got my hands on it.Īt its core, Art of Rally is deceptively simple. Since then, very few games if any have sparked such a feeling, even counting Sega’s own follow-ups to Sega Rally 2. It’s been decades since Sega Rally 2 hit the Dreamcast and instantly became one of my favorite arcade rally racers ever.
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