V-Rally 3

"A pleasent surprise...."

Last year I purchased this game, I did not know quite what to expect as I only paid £10 and read bad reviews but I decided to go against them and buy it. Needless to say I was pleasently surprised. The game was brilliant in every way, except for sound. (See sound section) So lets begin.

Story 10/10

The story is much more advance than the previous V Rallies as in them ones you just aimlessly done races. But in VR3 you can create a driver then a career. This is the main option in the game. In the career mode you can test drive for companies and then win contracts with them to enter competitions. This is why I have given story the 10 full marks.

Graphics 8/10

The graphics appear to be lacking in this game, but the are still good. The car models are made wonderfully with the pointless option of inspecting the car interior and doors before a race. Also the real time damage in the game shows wonderfully and that is a feat Gran Turismo series could not accomplish. But sadly I will have to give 8/10 for the graphics as they are a bit blocky.

Sound 5/10

Sound will get the extremely low mark of 5, as the only sound in the game is some irish bloke telling you what way to go, although you can turn the sound off it is not advised as you will end up crashing quite quickly. He does seem to grow on you though. The reason why there is no music is because it is a rally sim. The car engine sounds quite realistic though so this added extra marks on, but the sound is still left with a mark of 5.

Gameplay 9/10

Gameplay gets 9/10. It would have got 10/10 but the controls are difficult to master. There are loads of options in the game and the career mode is amazing. It involves you getting a contract with a team then racing in rallies to try and achieve your season objectives. The game is extremely fun to play thus the 9/10.

Replay 7/10

Reply gets the mediocre score of 7/10 because although the game is great you will quickly become bored of repeating the season over again and when you do get round to playing it again you forget the controls so you decide not to play it. So Replay will get 7, despite this game being fabulous.

You should buy this game and take time to learn the controls so that you become the best Rally driver you can be, and if V Rally 4 is online, buy this as well, do not even read reviews just buy it out of instinct.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/03