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Dec 22 2005
World Rally Championship Review
PSP Game Review | Racing
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| Summary: A great rally addition to the PSP
87
WRC is a PSP version of Sony's first party rally game for the PS2. The game includes 16 official rallies around the world, 30 rally cars from 6 manufacturers, and all 17 WRC drivers from the 2004 season. The manufacturers include: Citroën, Ford, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Škoda, and Subaru.
After the initial startup and short intro movie, the main menu comes up with several game modes: Quick Rally, Time Trial, Single Rally, Championship, and Multiplayer. Quick Rally takes you to a random location with a random car for one stage without any opponents. Time trial is what you think it would be: a time trial on a selected stage. One ghost car will accompany you on the TT which denotes the fastest time for that stage. Single rally is a stage to stage rally with opponents. Championship allows you to compete for the WRC crown against all the other drivers across the 16 rallies. Multiplayer is ad hoc for 1-8 players. Multiplayer game modes include: wireless time trial, turn-based time trial, turn-based single rally, and turn-based championship.
The first thing I noticed about the game was the amazing graphics. They are on par with Ridge Racer. The game has a very steady framerate. The stages where it is snowing really show off the power of the PSP. I did notice a few times when there were some problems with displaying the pavement, but this was limited to only part of one stage out of the 64 total stages.
There is not much in terms of presentation for the game, but if you are in a hurry to get in a few stages you won’t mind the absence of an intro or anything. The stage loads, displays what place you need to advance and then you’re off. While on the topic of loading, the loading times are very manageable. I have not timed any loading screens but I would guess in the neighborhood of 10-15 seconds before and after each stage.
The gameplay is the real meat of the game. Regardless of everything else the gameplay is what makes you come back to play a game, and this is where WRC shines. It is very fast paced and enjoyable. It also is a great pick up and play game; the longest stage is no more than five minutes. There’s nothing revolutionary about the gameplay yet I always find myself drawn towards it. My only gripe about the gameplay is that you can only use an automatic gearbox. While this wouldn’t be too much of a problem if it worked all the time, I usually find once or twice a stage I will be driving up hill and the gearbox won’t downshift. I’ve found sometimes you can release the X button and press it again to help initiate the downshift. The inclusion of a manual gearbox would be nice but with the control scheme and two less buttons than ps2 it is understandable that a manual gearbox was left out.
If you are interested in the controls, they are as follows:
X: Accelerate
Circle: Handbrake
Triangle: Change View (bumper, bonnet, behind)
Square: Brake / Reverse
R: Handbrake
L: Look Behind
D-pad / Nub: Steering
Start: Pause
Select: Change Background Music
There are four difficulty settings to choose from; Novice, Professional, Expert, and Extreme. When you start the game only Novice and Professional are unlocked. To unlock Expert you have to complete a championship on Professional difficulty and to unlock Extreme you have to complete a championship on Expert. When racing on Novice or Professional there will be visible damage to the car but it will not affect handling. However, on Expert and Extreme difficulties the damage will affect handling. To advance to the next rally on novice you need to place 5th or better, 4th or better for professional, 3rd or better for Expert, and you have to place 1st for Extreme to advance.
The sound of the game is good but by no means great. Each car has a different sound which is nice and realistic. The music is where it falls flat on its face. There are only six songs and they do not automatically change while racing. So if you want to change songs while racing you have to press the select button. I ended up just turning the music off. The game offers downloadable content, of which there is not any yet, and I think the music would be a great place for the developers to add to. Ideally, I wish the game would support custom soundtracks but alas it doesn’t.
Overall, I would definitely recommend WRC to all rally fans and racing fans in general. Since it is an import title for US users, it makes it a little tougher decision since it will be in the neighborhood of $55-65 USD depending on where you buy it from. If you’re appetite for racing games hasn’t been washed out yet and you’re looking for a great racing game look no further than WRC.
I rated WRC a 87. With custon soundtracks and a manual gearbox, we could be looking into the high 90's.
REVIEW IT
PRODUCT INFO
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Comments
12/28/05
19 
tyrus
| Washington USA
Wow 279 views and no comments. Was my review that bad?
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12/28/05
31
tubtak
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| Illinois USA | XBC: Mowkus | KAI: Hopps | SOCOM: tubtak
Yes, it was. Haha no just kidding. It is a very good review.
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12/29/05
30
Chance
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| Florida USA | XBC: Chance | KAI: Chance | SOCOM: Chance2
Nice review! I'd like to play this now.. But I don't want to buy ANOTHER racing game The screenshots make it look fun. Do you slide around on ice and dirt..are the physics realistic? Does snow fly up when you round a corner..do you leave tracks? Tell me more
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12/29/05
19
tyrus
| Washington USA
Chance said: "Nice review! I'd like to play this now.. But I don't want to buy ANOTHER racing game The screenshots make it look fun. Do you slide around on ice and dirt..are the physics realistic? Does snow fly up when you round a corner..do you leave tracks? Tell me more "
Yep, you slide on the dirt and ice. The ice is noticeably more slick than dirt and when it's raining the mud is more slick than dirt. It's not a true sim like Gran Turismo or Colin McRae. I would say it's in between Colin McRae and Rallisport Challenge 2, if you've played those. If not, it's between a sim and arcade. You also leave tracks. I know you do but I'm too sure on how many tracks you leave (I use the bumper cam so I don't see behind me). There are some particle effects for snow/dirt flying up from the tires but it's nothing amazing.
+
12/29/05
1
wshwe
| USA
Sony is hurting the PSP in the US by withholding good titles like WRC and delaying GT4 Mobile.
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01/04/06
tempestx
| California USA
This game is awesome, it's too bad there is no online play. Also, has anyone heard when the downloadable content is going to be released?
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01/06/06
19
tyrus
| Washington USA
tempestx said: "This game is awesome, it's too bad there is no online play. Also, has anyone heard when the downloadable content is going to be released?"
I don't think there has been any word on when/if they'll be releasing anything. Hopefully soon. You can check yourpsp.com for content.
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04/17/06
8
mdhegs
| Utah USA
tempestx said: "This game is awesome, it's too bad there is no online play. Also, has anyone heard when the downloadable content is going to be released?"
ummmm ... When there is just one car on the road how would you pull off on-line play? That is the joy of rally racing. It is just you, your car, co-pilot and the road vs. the clock.
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04/19/06
jonathan2108
| Texas USA
What you can do is race a rally or random stages from rallys and then just take everyones time and put them on a scoreboard. That will keep the rally feel of running by yourself, and at the same time putting everyones time up. Also you could get 1extra point/ fastest split.
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