Sega Rally Championship

"Don't you ever dare to play this game"

I remember Sega rally as a fun game to play, and it was really popular at the arcades here, then, on the DC it was good to spend some time. Fast arcade racing is always good... But lo and behold as Sega's attempt to bring Sega rally to us N-gage owners fails miserably.

Graphics:

Ok, so you can say... whoa, 3D graphics on that little thing? Yeah, well, yes, it's impressive from a technical view, but ouch... the popup is horrible, there's almost no track details, meaning you actually don't see the 'yumps' or anything, just generic brown/gray/whatever color the surface you're driving on is, and that's all, with the occasional puddle of water and such.

The car graphics are horrid too... in the menu the 2D models look very nice, but then you jump to the track, and wonder why your beautiful Lan Evo VII transformed in a horrible red matchbox.

Sound:

Honestly, there's not much sound in the game... just a very very generic menu music, typical of Sega and that's all on the music department.

The sound effects are terrible, your car's engine sounds like a dying bee or something similar. The only other 'sound' you'll listen is tire squeals that sound like... anything but tire squeals, it's terrible... All of this accompanied by the most annoying co-driver voice ever, the 'generic-arcade-wow-i'm-so-super-cool-voice-from-Sega' that will call in that damn annoying voice 'very very very long easy right' for a turn that's quite tight, and not very long.

You have, of course, the option of turning the sound off, or listen to the radio but...

Control:

If there is a thing that makes and destroys car racing games, it's control, and this game has been destroyed by it. Don't think it's because of the N-gage's control layout, nope, it's just because the controls are downright awful. No matter at what speed are you entering a turn, you will crash to the side of the road, and if you let go the controls, your car magically straightens itself, like it was being pulled from something ahead, not to mention all the time you feel like you're driving on oil... or ice... or something very very slippery, like if the principle of friction didn't exist anymore.

Gameplay:

After reading the review up to this point, are you optimistic enough to think there's something that could save this? Certainly it wouldn't be the gameplay, you WON'T have fun playing this game... all the problems it has make it a torture rather than enjoyment.

So in the end, Sega rally is a big disappointment, there are no redeeming features in this game at all. If you're like me, and love racing games, forget about sega rally and get crash nitro kart for your mobile racing needs.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 10/04/04