One of our unanticipated annual traditions on et geekera is the review of some annual sports franchises in the fall. In the next little bit, we’ll review Football Manager 2016 (the third entry we’ve reviewed in our under three years of existence) and Franchise Hockey Manager 2 will be the latest addition to the lineup of sport reviews. But the one I’ve been doing the longest between etg and The Lowdown is WRC. After a year’s hiatus, the World Rally Championship game is back. While much has changed, a lot still stays the same.
World Rally Championship
WRC 4 FIA World Rally Championship Review: Getting Sideways
The great danger of having an annual franchise, and especially one where licensing fees eat up a significant portion of the budget, is that the developer and publisher will pump out a new game every year that features only minor tweaks over the previous year’s effort.
While Big Ben Interactive and Milestone’s WRC series isn’t the biggest or prettiest racing game on the market, you can’t argue that they’re willing to change the formula every year.
WRC 3 FIA World Rally Championship Review (or Dirt Road Anthem)
Short of jumping out of a balloon from some 23 miles above the ground, being a professional rally driver is one of the craziest and most dangerous things that you can do for a living. They drive through forests on narrow dirt or snow-covered roads only feet from sideswiping a tree or sliding off a cliff. It is the ultimate demonstration of driving and car control.
This year, developers Milestone and publishers Black Bean Games are back with their third installment of their WRC series. I thought last year’s game had some promising gameplay but needed some work to bring graphics and sound up to the standard set by its competitors. Were they able to leap to the top of the class this year? Continue reading
Video Game Review: WRC 2 (FIA World Rally Championship)
There was a short period of time when the Speed Channel would air one-hour recaps of each World Rally Championship event. These shows would show highlights and results of most rally stages and would have interviews and technical features. I always thought these guys were sort of nuts to try to thread the needle of a 300 HP race car on a dirt/snow/poorly paved road that’s maybe a car-width and a half wide with trees or a cliff or a large drop on either side of the road. Fortunately, my dreams of being a rally driving lunatic can be fulfilled virtually in WRC 2. But how good is this game at recreating the rally experience? I review the game after the jump. Continue reading
The Lowdown 