Rally Championship 99

By: Uros "2Lions" Jojic
Date: Sunday, February 20, 2000

Even though Rally races are not as popular as they used to be some ten years ago, some software developers still seem to be inspired with the topic. A lot of time has passed since the last Rally game was published; yet wild cars defying nightmarish bends still attract the attention of players all over the world. Europress tried to quench their thirst for petrol and speed.

Nice sky!

Into the sunset...

Rally Championship games were never really popularbecause their main objective was to faithfully represent the tracks.Both the quality of graphics and realism were completely disregarded. Fortunately, Europress realized its mistakes and engaged a number of Rally experts, mechanics, and drivers who were given the task to help the Magnetic Fields team in creation of the "ultimate rally game". A lot of people think they succeeded.

After endless loading we finally reach the main menu. Though the menus themselves are badly devised, the way to the desired options is relatively easy to find. The menu is keyboard controlled - like in all PC renditions of console games. The first pleasant surprise to all car fans is the car selection menu. In front of you stands a wide selection of cars, from A5 class cars (the smallest ones) like the tiny Nissan Micra or the cute Ford Puma up to the A8 class (which is yet to be unlocked) containing beasts like Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, Peugeot 206 WRC or Subaru Impreza WRC. Some other popular cars like WV Golf IV, Peugeot 106, Opel Astra are also included in the selection.

These cars have been included slightly modified; they are masked and tuned up to show their real face once the race commences. The next pleasant surprise comes with the track selection. All rallies driven in Great Britain have been made available in the game with six sections each. Certain sections are driven for incredible 25, 30, or more minutes! Magnetic Fields say that more than 480 miles of track have been realistically rendered into the game, which promises enough material for a lot of playing.

The drive itself is very interesting. First impressions are usually bad. The wheel seems to be too sensitive, the car flies about the road that looks like it's narrower than the vehicle; the car has a poor response, and acts like it has no more than 50lbs. This impression soon wears off. After some time you get used to the engine, and what bothered you now seems quite natural. The problem with the game is that it is TOO REALISTIC! That is why the driving here is much different than in Collin McRae or some other race simulations.

Rally driving is actually all about precise balancing of the multitude of forces that influence the car, and in this game you can really feel that. To achieve the famous "power slide", the trademark of rally driving, it is necessary to turn and at the same time slow down so as to transfer the weight point of the car forward. The wheels start sliding because there is now much less friction on the rear wheels, and the center of balance moves to the front of the car. The handbrake is used only in serious "hairpin" turns, and running into any serious bend with no braking and power sliding causes the inevitable under-steering (the car turns less than it should concerning its front wheel position), throwing the player off track, or relieving him of a couple of precious seconds, or even his hood. The breaks are not too powerful, and the effect of losing control when all four wheels lock up was done perfectly. You can really feel the acceleration and at speeds about 95 MPH the car is flying on the road almost out of control. The incredible feeling of speed (for a rally game) induces adrenaline-rush and keeps your eyes locked on the screen. There is a relatively realistic car damage model, like in all games of recent date. Apart from the visible damages, misuse of the car has an effect on the drive so it is possible to breakdown the engine, gearbox, or even burst a tire. Imagine what it is like to loose the second and third gear at the very end of a perfectly driven race. The only reproach here is that you have to hit the car rather hard in order to damage it, but that can be fixed with a simple intervention on the .cfg file.

The road is so foggy, foggy.

UT map rally racing.

The game has one of the best force-feedback supports ever seen in this genre; it can even be compared with some new arcade machines. Every bump or hole on the road is felt, and the feeling of friction and centripetal forces in long bends help the player stay on the road. You can feel the difference between a drive on a paved road and a drive on bumpy macadam. Snow and ice were also done great. One of the most interesting feelings in the game is transition from the snow covered to iced section of a track. The wheels almost completely lose friction so that the steering wheel has no more resistance, and the car just slides on in an unknown direction. Concerning Murphy's laws, probably towards the nearest tree.

The graphics are basically decent. Publishers say that the tracks are exact replicas of the tracks in Great Britain. The dynamic lighting looks very pretty on cars and the shadow has gone a long way from the black square, typical in the games of previous generation. All the holes and bumps on the road are visible, and beautiful effects like sunrays in the forest, cold English morning mist and red sunset, make a great impression and add to the games vividness. For a moment one really feels that he is driving on a real road. The weather effects are good as well. Rain and snow change their falling angle depending on your speed from vertical fall to almost horizontal movement, leaving highly realistic drops on your windscreen that your faithful wipers mop away, as the landscape withers in the distant fog. Car damage effects are also very interesting. They range from tiny dents on doors to torn off hood and broken windshield, which can really make driving a lot harder. It is very inconvenient when the last tree damages your headlights on a night ride and you remain on an obscurely lit track. The headlights are one of the best in a video game ever. But do not think that the graphics are flawless. Dust and snow clouds and exhaust smoke are very ugly and long surpassed. Distant texture filtering is also very bad and spoils the realistic atmosphere. The sky could also have been done better, with at least a bit bigger texture, or several layers of clouds like in Unreal Tournament.

The sound is somewhat average considering the game has been released just a few months ago. There are no revolutionary innovations, the music consists of common "pump-up" themes, but the engine noises are of much higher quality. It could be compared to the sound in Collin Mc Rae, yet Rally Championship 99 would still be a bit better. Irregular explosions coming from A8 machines exhaust pipes sounds very powerful and adds to the atmosphere. There is also A3D support, and even though it is not of any importance for car races it does leave a good impression.

At the beginning of the game you can participate in British Mobile 1 championship and classes from A5 to A7. Victory here will unlock class A8, the cars from WRC races and four-wheel-drive, but that will be a difficult task even to experienced players, and it will take quite some time if we consider the aforementioned 480 miles.

In a Nutshell

All in all, there are few objections that can be given to this game. To some, however, it may be too realistic. It is too hard to damage the car, and the only thing that really bugs me is that when I crash into a wooden fence at 100 km/h I just stop, and the fence remains intact. Very long loading times can also be irritating. Anyway, everyone who is into cars and loves driving should try this game out. The acclimation period has to be sustained for real enjoyment in the game later.