"After struggling to run Daytona USA, is there any hope that the Saturn can handle the more visually intense Sega Rally?"

After struggling to run Daytona USA, is there any hope that the Saturn can handle the more visually intense Sega Rally?

As the last of the much vaunted Big Three of 1995, Sega Rally came as a huge shock to the gaming public. Mere months before gamers had seen how much the Saturn was struggling to run Daytona USA, a game much more inferior to Sega Rally in the visual department. When Sega announced a conversion of Sega Rally for the Saturn, most people didn’t have any hopes for the game. It was such a surprise then, that the Sega Rally conversion went on to become the best racer the Saturn would ever see!

Where Daytona USA would struggle to keep up a constant 25 frames-per-second frame-rate, Sega Rally totally blitzes along at a silky smooth 30 frames-per-second. This means that the game plays a lot smoother, and adds to the more realistic style of control and gameplay, making for a much more enjoyable game.

In fact, the entire visual experience of Sega Rally is wonderful to behold. Compared to the coin-op there is little difference between the two, except that the coin-op runs at 60 frames-per-second, and runs at a higher resolution. There’s also a slight difference in the amount of details displayed in the Saturn version, but once you see this game in action, you won’t complain about it at all. The rich, vibrant colours really show off the prowess of the Saturn when programmed properly, and make the game look so much better.

There is some pop-up here and there, but most of it is well hidden and disguised that it won’t bother you at all. It is a little more evident on some of the more open tracks, but the draw-in distance for it is pretty far back into the track, so it’s not really a problem at all.

Speaking of tracks, Sega Rally contains four of the best designed tracks around! Each is set in a different terrain – Desert, Forest, Mountain, and Lake Side, with the later being a hidden course that you earn during the course of the game. These different terrains give each track a unique feel, adding to the great atmosphere of the game.

Each track contains three main types of corners – easy, medium, and hard, which your co-driver will read out to you as you approach them. Each type of corner is again split into different types like long, short, hairpin, and tight corners, all of which require different methods of approach and technique to master. The tracks are split into 4 types of difficulties, with Desert being a fairly basic course to navigate, through to Lake Side which is damn hard to master!

That’s one of the differences with Sega Rally next to other racing games. Whereas the key to success in other racing games is knowing only the basic course structure, and overtaking vehicles to get first place, Sega Rally focuses more on properly mastering the tracks and learning the correct cornering techniques. This is turn will help to better your lap times, which is the game’s main focus – precision rather than the glory of first place. There are still the same old thrills of taking first just before the finishing line, but these take a back seat next to mastering the tracks and cars. This is a more in-depth approach to racing games, and adds a lot of lastability to those willing to put the time and effort into mastering the game.

Other features that add to the game’s lastability are the basic set of modes – Arcade (which features both a Championship, and Practice mode), Time Attack, Two-Player Battle, and Car Settings.

The basic idea of the Arcade Championship is that you play all three of the main courses trying to make your way through the pack of fifteen cars, and trying to get the best overall time. If you manage to place first, you will then proceed onto the secret course - Lake Side, a rather difficult course indeed.

The Practice mode puts you against another car over a two or three lap run of the course of your choice. This is a good mode to learn the course layout, and still have some competition at the same time.

Time Attack is very similar to Arcade Practice mode, in that you do a two to three lap run of a particular course, but here you have no competition, and its just you against the ever ticking clock. This mode is the best for mastering the courses as it’s only you on the track, which enables you to find the best racing line without any interference from other cars. This mode also has a Ghost option, which allows you to record the best run you’ve had on the course, and race against a Ghost car for that extra challenge.

Two-Player Battle puts you against a friend in a split-screen race. While the draw-in distance is a lot closer than it is in single player, it’s still decent enough so that you can see where you’re going. And you’re probably not going to notice with the huge amount of fun you’ll be having with your friend.

The Car Settings is more of an option than a mode. Basically it allows you to take any of the existing cars in the game, and modify certain aspects of them such as the front and rear suspension, the type of tyres and brakes on the car, and the sound of the muffler. The cars created with this feature can only be used in Time Attack and Two-Player Battle modes, but they can help to shave seconds, if not milliseconds, off of your lap times.

To begin with there are only two cars available, a Toyota Celica, and a Lancia Delta, but the Lancia Stratos can be earned as well. All cars are available in both a manual and automatic capacity. Whilst a few more cars would have added to the lastability of the game, the three that are featured in the game are so well suited to the play mechanics and tracks that you won’t really care anyway.

The final aspect of the game is the audio. Thankfully all of the big, beefy engine sounds from the coin-op have been perfectly replicated on the Saturn. Along with the other sound effects, this creates a very accurate aural experience of rally driving. The music, which is mostly rock, is well suited to the game and adds further to the rally atmosphere. A few of the music tracks are a little odd, but can be changed in the options menu to more suited music. The co-driver speech samples are alright, but some of them sound a little muffled and some words like “maybe” can sound like something totally different. But it doesn’t really effect the gameplay.

Overall Sega Rally is the best racing experience available on the Saturn, and arguably the best, if not, one of the best 32-bit racing games. The few problems it has – small number of cars, tracks, and modes, are more than made up by the depth of the gameplay itself, and the overall quality of the game’s design and playability. If you’re a racing fan then this game is seriously recommended, and if you have a Saturn, then this is an essential purchase, even if you don’t like racing games! A classic!

Visuals: 9
Audio: 9 / 10
Gameplay: 9 / 10
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 9 / 10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/02, Updated 07/17/02