Sega Rally games are no stranger to arcades; bringing a fun and easy driving experience that almost anyone can just hop into. SEGA brought that experience to consoles in 2007 with Sega Rally Revo, which was released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3. Also developed consecutively and released in 2008 was Sega Rally 3, which was released in arcades. The newest installation is a combination of the best of these past two games brought to Xbox Live Arcade (and soon coming to PSN).
Minutes into starting the game, you will immediately feel the arcade-like vibe that this game gives off. Cheesy metal music plays in the background of the menus, and is also present during every race. The music is varied between the menu and each race so that it does not feel repetitive. The single player mode of this game is broken down into several different modes so that if you can not play online, you will not immediately get bored. In Championship mode, you will race on 3 different tracks starting in 22nd (last) place. Within the 3 races, you have to reach first place in order to unlock the 4th level to race on. While this sounds hard, it is easier than it seems as you start in whatever position you placed in the previous race.
The 5 tracks that you race on are the same tracks that are present in Sega Rally 3: Tropical, Canyon, Alpine, Lakeside, and Desert. Tropical is mostly jungle, and has mostly easy turns. There are portions of this track that have sand, and your car will slide appropriately on these areas. The Canyon track has harder turns, but there did not seem to be any terrain that affected the car adversely. The Alpine level ups the challenge significantly with sharp 90 degree turns that will send you into the side of the track if you are not prepared. Lakeside has you racing beside a serene lake, and Desert is a throwback level inspired by it’s Sega Rally 1 counterpart. These last two levels are not any more difficult than any of the other levels, and the terrain does not present a challenge but they will inspire a feeling of nostalgia to fans of the series.
Besides the Championship mode, single player offers Time Attack and Classic modes. Sega Rally Online Arcade also offers multi-player modes that support local and online play. Local multi-player lets you race against one other person, and Xbox Live pits you against 5 others. The only problem I had with the online mode was trying to find people to play against. If you create a race it will just add computer players to any empty slots, so you may end up racing against only one or two actual people. Trying to just “Quick Race” was a disappointing experience though, because “no game sessions available” became something I saw rather often.
There are 13 different cars in the game, with some of them being locked when you start. I tried out several cars throughout playing the different modes of the game, and none of them really felt any different as far as handling or acceleration. When picking a car, it actually does not list the specs of any of the cars. After a while I just stuck with one car because it felt like it did not make a difference, so I chose the Subaru STi. The chief aspect that stands out in this game is the superior handling of the cars while you are racing. Each turn comes very naturally, and the controls are extremely responsive. There are a couple difficulties in the game, but I usually played on casual because it was the most fun. The AI is reactive to your performance in the races, and will respond when you are not doing well by slowing down. On the other side of this, they will also speed up accordingly if you are starting to outmatch them.
Visually, the game is only slightly improved from the last console release. For those that did not play that, the environments and cars are slightly better looking than a PlayStation 2 game. The aspects of the environments that were farther away in perspective from the actual track, such as mountains, looked pretty nice. The part of the level where you were actually driving looked really rough and was especially bad close up. Dirt, sand, and snow will accumulate on your vehicle as you race and will wash off when you go through puddles. The dirt looked more detailed than the car though, which just at times looked a little strange.
Sega Rally Online Arcade is an enjoyable package, encompassing the best of the last two releases in the series. It may seem like a lazy rehash to some fans, as the “online” aspect of the game was present in the last console version. Despite its visual shortcomings, the game is enjoyable to play and is worth its price. There are a lot of features that will keep you busy, and plenty of un-lockable cars. The only thing I was hoping for was car customization. You can not change anything about your car, not even the tires. Despite this, I recommend this game to fans of arcade racing games.
