24-Nov-2002 Arcade or sim? Er... both? Arcade or sim? Er... both?
Fancy a bit of rubber-burning excitement in the sunshine? Well, Rally Fusion's selling point is its association with the Race Of Champions in the balmy Canary Islands, where the cream of rally talent gathers annually. Poor sods.
The ROC game mode sees you race against a competitor on weaving parallel tracks. On top of that, you get the usual timed rally stages, plus head-to-head modes that include hill climbs and Follow The Leader, where you have a health bar that depletes as you fall behind. Tense players are eliminated until only one car remains and is crowned the winner.
could do better Unfortunately, of all the modes on offer, ROC is actually the weakest. There's little variety in racing around the same parallel tracks, even if you do so in increasingly high-powered cars. You mostly can't even see your competitor. This may make a good spectator sport, but not a fun game. Luckily, though, there's loads of other stuff for you to unlock and it's this sheer number and variety of game modes that keep you interested.
The graphics, the only element that differs across the formats (PS2 version reviewed), show touches of real class. The snowy tracks have shiny dimples of ice that only show when the sun hits them at the right angle, and there are some excellent rain and fog effects on the Inca levels.
But it's Fusion's apparent identity crisis that stops it being a really great game. The handling of the cars is sufficiently difficult that, at first, you think it's a simulation, but after a while you'll wish the cars were a bit looser. The fun of rally games is the feeling that you're only just managing to tame a slobbering 300bhp beast. Here, the cars are almost docile.
Although the AI is very human-like, Rally Fusion's races just aren't as nerve-racking as the glitzy, high-tempo Shox or the grittily realistic rally stages of GT3. Other games, such as Sega Rally, attained the right balance between sim and arcade - Rally Fusion doesn't quite do it.
Jimmy Francis
// Overview
Verdict
Rally Fusion is a decent enough game that's
fun to play, but there is very little that allows it to carve a niche in the competitive racing genre.
The hard-to-rival Gran Turismo set the precedent for tests in racing games. Now Rally Fusion has taken up the gauntlet, following the trend with circuits that are a little more fun (not to mention easier) than the ones in the daddy of racers.
Reverse parking. Definitely the hardest manoeuvre of the bunch
360 degree spin. Difficult to do without smashing up your car
Forward parking. Not as easy as it sounds: lots of potential for time loss
Pass the slalom. If you hit the flags, time is deducted
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
