Rallisport Challenge

"What a PHENOMENAL Game!"

I always wanted Rallisport Challenge when the Xbox first came out. I always found myself buying something else, though. Now I finally have it and I have been blown away!

STORY:5
Racing games usually don't have a story and Rallisport Challenge falls under this category. Racing games don't need them either. The ''story'' that the game does have is that you are a rally driver racing around. Wow...what a great story. It is just so amazing(sarcasm). There are a few racing games with stories, but you just don't need it in a racing game like this. Most over-the-top games have one,though. Even if Rallisport Challenge had a story, you wouldn't be paying attention to it anyways. You would be too busy enjoying this awesome game.

GRAPHICS:10
The graphics in the game are just stupendous. The frame rate never drops. The environments in the game are some of the best I have seen in a video game. I think they are even better than Grand Turismo 3's. The cars look almost as good. The graphics on the car are good, but they could have some more detail to them. Overall, the graphics are some of the best to hit the Xbox. This gorgeous game is just a wonder to look at.

SOUND:10
The sound in Rallisport Challenge are just as good as the visuals. They have a great set of pre-made music to listen to while you are playing. There are some good bands like Fear Factory in the game game. You don't necessarily have to listen to the music already selected. You can use your own tracks on the Xbox's hardrive. This is one of the better features of the game. The sound of the engine and everything else about the cars sounds real. Just like the visuals, there is one little mistake. The passenger telling you which direction to go can get very annoying. Thankfully, there is an option to lower the sound of the dude's voice.

GAMEPLAY:10
This game has so much depth to it. There are tons of different modes. Each one is a lot more fun than the last one. There are also some cool stunts that your vehicle can perform. There are tons of different races unlocked from the start. That is especially good for people who may not be good at racing games. The game is at a perfect difficulty level. It's not too easy, but it also not too hard. There is also a large variety of vehicles. There is also make for some good replay value here. The game just makes you want to restart the race until you place first so that you can get that new car. There are tons of different racing options to let you just mess around with. This is by far one of the best racing games to this date.

CONTROL:9
The game's controls really put you in the shoes of this driver. The cars handle absolutely perfect. They simulate what driving a car is like. The buttons' response time is perfect. Rallisport Challenge has a bunch of different controller settings to fit your needs too. However, despite all of this praise, the game's controls would have been perfect on the PS2's controller. You can buy a thing-a-ma-doodle to let you use your PS2 controller on the Xbox. Though I don't think everybody wants to do that.

OVERALL:10
This is a gaming experience not to be missed. I don't think that everybody will like this game a whole lot too. This really isn't an arcade style racer. It is more of a simulation like Grand Turismo, but Rallisport Challenge is definitely worth a rental.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/03, Updated 04/27/03