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- RalliSport Challenge 2
RalliSport Challenge 2
- December 09, 2003 01:06 AM PST
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The creators of Battlefield 1942 and Midtown Madness 3 want you to drive...offroad and online.
Swedish developer Digital Illusions CE (DICE) has been on a roll recently. Between the highly acclaimed Battlefield 1942 and its various expansions on the PC as well as RalliSport Challenge and Midtown Madness 3 on the Xbox, everything that passed through the doors of DICE has been packed with gaming goodness. If the preview version of RalliSport Challenge 2 that we saw today is any indication, the company?s winning streak will continue on unbroken.Set for release in April 2004, RalliSport Challenge 2 promises to double the number of cars and tracks in the game, with the current count of cars at just over 40 and the number of courses topping out at more than 90.
All of the cars are fully licensed and feature damage modeling. Hit a tree, you might crack the windshield. Hit a fence and the damaged windshield might pop out. Visible damage will affect on your car?s handling and performance, however the severity will vary depending on the difficulty setting chosen. On the harder levels damaging your car could be a crippling blow.
In choosing the cars, Microsoft told us it only wanted the best, so it went back and looked at the history of rally racing. Every championship car from 1978 on forward has been included. If it was a winner, it?s here.
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Unlike the cars, the tracks in the game are fantasy, although they are inspired by real locations. By going with the fantasy route, the developer was able to design the courses for maximum gameplay value without regard for personal safety. After all, not many real life rally racers are going to want to take on an ice-covered track with a hairpin turn that bumps up next to a sheer cliff. Sure makes for good gameplay though.
New to RalliSport Challenge 2 is the ?crash cam? which is designed to show off the more spectacular crashes that might occur on the track. These usually consist of your car careening off a cliff into the great beyond, or flipping over and spinning like a top, but it is possible to trigger the crash cam and continue racing. We had one course where the car hit a mound of dirt, flipped over in mid-air and activated the crash cam, landed on all four tires and continued the race as if nothing had happened. To quote Yoda, ?Impressive it was.? So long as the camera only triggers for the more massive spills, it will be a welcome addition to the series.
In the build we played, control was still being tweaked, but even with the generic handling model in place all of the cars felt responsive. The arcade style controls from the original have been preserved, which means that the game is very easy to pick up and play -- just don?t expect to master it in a night. This is not a game where you can simply floor it and expect to win. Overall, rally cars are a bit looser than hardcore racers, which means a lot more brake usage and learning how to perform controlled slides on a consistent basis. If you get too far off the track the so-called ?Hand of God? will automagically move your car back into position. Right now the hand is still a bit touchy -- it activated a bit too quickly on some courses -- but there is plenty of time for DICE to tweak this before release.
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Game modes available for play include Rallycross, Hill Climb, Ice Races, traditional Rally races and the new Crossover races. The crossover races have two cars going head to head on a closed track with both lanes crossing back and forth. Imagine an old slot car track and you?ve got an idea of what to expect.
Visually the engine is shaping up nicely, with some brand new particle effects highlighting the game. Dust and fog look exceptionally real, especially when a competing car comes screaming past you on a dirt track and throws up a cloud that obscures your vision for a split-second. Many more items will be individually destructible, so expect to see boxes that you can crash through and piles of leaves that can be blown around.
With Microsoft?s recent push behind XSN, it?s no surprise that RalliSport Challenge 2 has online support. Live subscribers will be able to setup leagues and matches via XSN, as well as download ghost cars recorded by championship players. Support for up to 16 players is planned for Live, so on the online competition should get pretty intense. It will also give players an excuse to tinker with the car settings.
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In the offline mode tuning your car properly will give you an advantage, however many players never bother with it. After all, you?re really only competing against yourself. With Live thrown into the mix however, tuning takes on a whole new level of importance. By adjusting the car settings for both course conditions and your personal driving style, it is possible to give yourself an edge that other players using the default settings will not have.
Although the game is still quite early, RalliSport Challenge 2 has already raised some eyebrows around the office. Expect to see more on this one in the weeks to come.
