Dakar 2

"Surprisingly good... for a budget game"

For those who don't know, Dakar 2 is the budget-priced sequel to the awful Paris-Dakar Rally on PS2. Basically, it's your standard rally game, with two unique features. The first is the three different vehicle types - cars, truck, and bikes, each of which handles differently. The second is the off-road stages, which have no set track, but challenge you to trek across the desert to a few checkpoints before time runs out. It was these two features (and the price) that persuaded me to buy the game.

I'm assuming that the publisher, Acclaim, didn't want to put a lot of money into this game after the mess the developers made of the first one, hence the budget price. It's this lack of money, in my opinion, which prevents Dakar 2 from being the great game that it could have been, because this rally outing definitely shows promise, if nothing else.

Graphics - 4/10
In most cases, the quality of the graphics is directly related to the amount of money spent in development. That's why games such as Final Fantasy X look amazing, and why Dakar 2... um... doesn't. Actually, that's a bit unfair. The graphics are clear and crisp, if not very detailed, but overall they look pretty good. The draw distances are huge, and the real-time damage to the vehicles good. The first main flaw with the graphics is the framerate. It's all over the place, constantly switching from 60fps to 30fps and vice-versa. However, despite it being very noticeable, it never affects the gameplay, and you get used to it after a while. My second gripe with the graphics is the attention to detail, or rather, the lack of it. For example, the motorbike riders get dirtier as the race progresses. Realistic, yes? Not quite. They just change colour over time, with a muddy bit of track not dirtying the rider any more than tarmac. Also, they change colour uniformly, and the bikes don't. Now, I might be wrong, but does it not seem a bit strange for a rider to finish a race covered in mud, but the bike to be clean? Eh? Okay, so it's a minor gripe, but the game is full of discrepancies like this, and it does detract from the game overall.

Sound - 7/10
Sound in Dakar 2 is generally good. End of race commentary sounds professional, while shouts from your co-driver are clear and actually quite helpful. Obviously, if you're on a bike you don't get a co-driver. Engine noises sound realistic, allowing you to tell when there's a problem with your gearbox just by the sound (although there's an icon in the bottom corner of the screen to inform you of this). As far as music goes, it's usually pretty quiet and barely noticeable, and on some races not there at all. That's all there is to say for sound, and I have no complaints with any of it.

Gameplay - 8/10
It must be said, that despite all the flaws of Dakar 2, it is great fun to play, more fun than many better racing games such as WRC2 and Colin McRae 3 on the PS2. To some people, this is all that matters, and they may well buy the game on the basis that it's great fun, and rightly so. However, as I am trying to be the fair reviewer, I have more complaints, mostly with the bikes. To be fair to the developers, bikes are much more difficult to animate than cars or trucks, because of the rider. In Dakar 2, the bikes don't seem to lean much when turning, while the rider remains almost upright.In addition to this, the riders seem to ''jerk'' as you turn from one direction to another. These problems are minor, graphically, but they affect how you play the game, as the response from the bike is not as you would expect. Upon racing on a bike for the first time, many people will oversteer horribly, and have difficulty aligning the bike along a straight due to the ''jerking'' that I mentioned. Eventually, you do get used to this, which is good. My second gripe (yes, another one) is the difficulty. It's far too easy, even on hard mode. The other drivers act as if they've borrowed the car from a friend and don't want to get a scratch on it. They're far too slow, and don't take risks. Overall, there are about 170 competitors in the rally, but there's only ever six random cars on the track with you. Fair enough, but even the times of the 170 other drivers are too slow, and too predictable. They nearly always finish in the same order, while only the top 10 or so ever beat the qualifying time (if you don't beat it you have to restart the race), so there's no competition. You either finish at the top or you try again. It makes you wonder why all the other drivers are even there. However, none of this detracts from the fun of just racing round the track and winning anyway. Dakar 2 is fun, and that's the bottom line.

Lifespan - 3/10
This game won't last long. You can finish the campaign mode in under an hour, and unlock vehicles for your trouble. There's plenty of reason to keep going back to Dakar 2, but not much reason to keep playing for ages when you do.

Good / Bad Points

The Good
*Fun
*Good variety of tracks
*Trucks and bikes in the same game
*Sound is pretty good
*Um... it's still fun

The Bad
*No attention to detail
*Framerate problems
*Lousy competitors makes for easy game
*Bike handling a bit suspect

Buy or Rent
Normally I'd suggest renting a game like this, but at such a low price, it's worth the purchase. Or just leave it and hope that Acclaim decide to give Dakar 3 a bigger development budget.

Overall - 6/10
I can't help but think that Dakar 2 would have been a fantastic game if only the development team had been given more time and money to work on it. It could easily be as good as (if not better than) other great rally titles such as Colin McRae 3 if it wasn't for all the flaws, because Dakar 2 is really very fun to play. It just lacks the polish and refinement, and that's what cripples the final score.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/03, Updated 07/29/03