I am just going to jump right into my review without an intro for this game. But I guess this is kind of an intro, so.........
Gameplay: 9/10Very nice controls, very simple. RT for Gas, LT for Brake, B button to power slide around and a corner and the A button activates your Power Ups The Y button is used for re-spawning your car if you flip over or go off track for some reason, but the game will reset you automatically most of the time anyways.
The controls while you are driving are very responsive, almost to the point where they feel twitchy and the slightest move is amplified in the game and can be slightly annoying, especially if you are going around a turn and you get hit with a power up it can cause some serious spin outs or crashes trying to correct your car.
There is also a list of the racers and their positions in the top right corner that shows what power ups they have, which is nice because it gives you a little heads up on what might be coming your way. One thing that is really annoying is when you are racing, there is a name tag above all the vehicles. It is a big black rectangle that you cannot remove, which doesn’t really matter, but it is annoying. You can also change the difficulty of the other drivers (Easy, Medium and Hard), and you can turn off collisions and power ups if you don’t like them as well, but you will need them on if you want to get a few achievements.
If you are playing this just for achievements I would say put the difficulty to easy and take off the power ups and collisions after you get the power up achievements, because you can fly through the game fairly quick that way. If you really enjoy racing games like me, I suggest setting the difficulty to hard and turning off collisions and power ups, because then it is just pure racing and much more fun in my opinion.
Power Ups
Lightning – Targets the 1st place racer, and hits them with a lightning bolt that stops them momentarily.
Hailstorm – Targets all racers and hits them with a cloud of hail and slows them down momentarily.
Cloud – Releases a cloud behind your car and obstructs other racers view.
Nitrous – Gives you a momentary speed boost
Horn – Launches a shock wave that stops the first car it hits momentarily.
Extreme Pace – Makes your immune to others attacks, and increases the speed of your vehicle.
Graphics: 9/10For an arcade game this looks amazing. The cars are very realistic, and you can even see damage happening to the car during the race, which is really cool. The tracks are really varied and all have their own unique feel and I really enjoyed every track they have in this game. The dirt effects when you are driving look good as well, and change color and density depending on what surface you are on, which keeps it realistic.
Sound: 6/10The cars sound pretty realistic, and the crash effects are not too bad. Compared to full retail race games like Dirt, the sound is obviously not in the same league, but for an arcade game it is well done. The menu music is kind of annoying, as it is lots of rock songs, which isn't really up my alley, but it does fit the game nicely.
Multi-Player: 5/10You can chose to either join a Quick Match, Search for a Custom Match, or Create a Match, which allows you to choose what car class you want to race with, which stage you would like to race, whether collisions and power ups are on or off, and the privacy settings can be set to public or private. I have raced a few races online, and have had no problems with lag or anything like that, so I would say it is a pretty good multi-player, even though there are no modes other than the racing which is identical to the single player mode. There is also a lack of people playing this online, as it took me quite awhile to find races. For those reasons I would have to score it low.
In conclusion, I would give this a 4 out of 5. Very nice graphics and the gameplay is fun. THe amount of vehicles and tracks is awesome too for an arcade racer. The only issues I have really with this game are the lack of modes in the multi-player and the short amount of time it takes to complete the game. As I have only been playing for maybe 2-3 hours and am already about 60% complete the game and achievements. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes racers and is looking for a quick and fun game with some easy achievements.
I have also included an Track List and a Car List to show how many options there are for an arcade game.
Track List: (Difficulty in brackets)Rallye Monte-Carlo (2/5)- Col Di Turini (3/5)
- Luceram (2/5)
- Moulinet (2/5)
ADAC Rallye Deutschland (3/5) - Dhrontal (3/5)
- Moselwein (2/5)
- Arena Panzerplatte (3/5)
Vodanfone Rally de Portugal (3/5)
- Loule (2/5)
- Tavira (3/5)
- Ourique (3/5)
Rally Italia Sardengna (3/5)- Sa Conchedda (3/5)
- Monte Lerno (3/5)
- Sa Linea (3/5)
Rallye de France – Alsace (4/5)- Vallee De Munster (4/5)
- Hohlandsbourg (4/5)
- Salm (3/5)
Rally Guanajuato Mexico (4/5)- Guanajuatito (4/5)
- Comanjilla (4/5)
- Los Mexicanos (4/5)
Acropolis Rally (5/5)- Klenia Mycenae (4/5)
- Thiva (5/5)
- Pissia (5/5)
Wales Rally GB (5/5) - Dyfnant (4/5)
- Gartheiniog (5/5)
- Great Orme (5/5)
Car List:WRC ClassFord Fiesta RS WRC (M-Sport Ford WRT)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Julien Maurin)
Mini John Copper Works WRC (WRC Team MINI Portugal)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Brazil WRT)
Citroen DS3 WRC (Van Merksteijn Motorsport)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Eyvind Brynildsen)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Go Fast Energy WRT)
Mini John Cooper Works WRC (Prodrive WRC Team)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Jari Ketomaa)
Mini John Cooper Works WRC (Prodrive WRC Team)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (FERM Power Tools WRT)
Citroen DS3 WRC (Qatar WRT)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Czech Ford National Team)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Go Fast Energy WRT)
Mini John Cooper Works WRC (WRC Team MINI Portugal)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (M-Sport Ford WRT)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (M-Sport Ford WRT)
Citroen DS3 WRC (Citroen Junior WRT)
Volkswagen Polo R WRC test Car (Volkswagen Motorsport)
Mini John Cooper Works WRC (Prodrive WRC Team)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (ADAPTA WRT)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Ford WRT)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Ford WRT)
Citroen DS3 WRC (Citroen Total WRT)
Citroen DS3 WRC (Citroen Total WRT)
Class 2:Ford Fiesta S2000 (Marius Aasen)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (Pontus Tidemand)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (ME3 Rally Team)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (Volkswagen Motorsport)
Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 (Albert Llovera)
Proton Satria Neo S2000 (Proton Motorsport)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (Volkswagen Motorsport)
Proton Satria Neo S2000 (Proton Motorsport)
Ford Fiesta S2000 (Castrol TRW Motointegrator)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (New Zealand WRT)
Skoda Fabia S2000 (Volkswagen Motorsport)
Ford Fiesta S2000 (Yazeed Racing)
Proton Satria Neo S2000 (Proton Motorsport)
Ford Fiesta S2000 (Craig Breen)
Class 3:
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Andis Neiksans)
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Rifat Singkar)
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Yuriy Protasov)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X (Ramona Karlsson)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (Mentos Ascania Racing)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (Lorenzo Bertelli)
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Gianluca Linari)
Ford Fiesta ST (Louise Cook)
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Ricardo Trivino)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (Nicolas Fuchs)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X (Lotos Dynamic Rally Team)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (Mentos Ascania Racing)
Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (Marcos Ligato)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X (Benito Guerra)
4.0