SEGA RALLY REVO – 360 – Review

Much like Formula 1 racing (or even soccer for that matter), Rally car racing is
one of those sports that is huge across the pond in Europe, but never achieved
much footing here in the US. It’s a shame too, since the sport is an exciting
one, offering up a good helping of speed and off-road skill. SEGA is looking to
change that, giving the sport some love with their recently released off-road
racer, SEGA Rally Revo.

The first off-road racing game to be released by SEGA in the US since the
Dreamcast’s salad days, SEGA Rally Revo aesthetically brings the series to the
next-generation with gorgeous high-def graphics, great looking car models and
excellent terrain deformation. However, what the game has in technical prowess,
it lacks in gameplay features, feeling quite shallow especially when held up to
other next-gen offerings in the off-road genre, namely DiRT. Still, if you’re
looking for a fun off-road racer that wears its arcadey leanings on its sleeve,
SEGA Rally Revo might be just the ride you’re looking for.

The terrain deformation is one of the factors that will draw you into the game
and is done extremely well. While simply having the tire-marks and mud tracks
remain on the track through the whole race would be a nice addition, the
developers have done one better and had the terrain actually affect your diving.
If your opponents on the track leave the road torn up in front of you, you’ll
feel it in the car, meaning that you’ll want to steer clear of your opponents’
tracks in order to keep ahead.

Being an arcade racer, SEGA Rally Revo falls into some of the same situations
that are common among arcade games. There are invisible walls surrounding the
tracks, meaning that no matter how badly you spin-out, you won’t go careening
off of the set path. Another trapping that the game suffers from is the lack of
features. There are only five different areas in the game, and while they do
vary quite a bit in terms of environment, there are only three courses in each
one, making the overall number pretty slim when compared to other racing games.
Repetition is pretty apparent in the Championship mode, which is the main career
mode in the game.

Additionally, the game can be frustratingly tough at times, due to the
unforgiving AI. Oftentimes, making a single mistake will cost you precious
footing, knocking you back into last place, a position that’s very difficult to
get out of. There is no push when trying to get ahead of your opponents, and
they’ll often successfully be able to block you and you’ll be unable to do
anything about it.

The cars handle in an arcade-y way, with the terrain often being the mitigating
factor in keeping the overall feel of the racing mechanics from being too
“vanilla” feeling.  Aside from that, though, the game handles a bit shallowly,
with floaty turning and a simplistic feel akin to old-school arcade cabinet
racers. Those looking for a more intricate approach to rally cars will likely
want to check out DiRT, as SEGA Rally Revo is more suited for the casual
audience in terms of gameplay.

Graphically, the game is very impressive. While the framerates don’t move quite
as smoothly as other racers like Forza 2 and the environments feel perhaps a bit
too “cartoony” in that certain SEGA way (with effects like jets with colorful
smoke trails flowing behind them in one stage), the game looks extremely
polished with some fantastic environmental distortion effects and great looking
car models that get covered in mud and dirt depending on what you drive through.

Soundwise, the game is done in the generally cheesy way that many SEGA games
are. While the soundtrack is fairly devoid of the wailing rock guitars of
other SEGA racers, the music isn’t anything that you’d necessarily want to crank
through your surround sound system. There is some voice work, namely a co-driver
that tells you if you’re coming up to an easy or difficult turn. This can get a
bit annoying and superfluous, considering that a warning icon pops up on the
screen before turns anyway.

SEGA Rally Revo won’t really be a game for rally car enthusiasts, considering
how the game doesn’t handle terribly realistically and doesn’t give you much in
the way of depth. However, for the rest of us the game can be quite fun at
times, and could be worth a look if you’re a fan of arcade racers.

Review Scoring Details for SEGA Rally Revo

Gameplay: 7.5
The
game features some great terrain deformation that actually effects the way that
your car handles, which is a nice touch. However, the rest of the driving
mechanics don’t feel terribly realistic, and the game lacks a fair amount of
depth.

Graphics: 8.5


The environments have some hokey situations, to be sure, but the car models and
terrain details truly shine.

Sound: 6.5


The score is typically cheesy SEGA stuff, and the voice acting can be pretty
annoying.

Difficulty: Hard
The
floaty racing mechanics take some getting used to, but the frustration factor is
exacerbated by the unforgiving AI.

Multiplayer: 7.0
SEGA
Rally Revo offers up some fairly run-of-the-mill multiplayer options, with
ranked and unranked races for six players online, as well as two-player
split-screen.

Concept: 7.0
The
game offers some truly fun and exciting moments, but doesn’t offer much in the
way of extra features.

Overall: 7.5
SEGA
Rally Revo is a fun arcade racer, but those expecting something with the depth
of DiRT will be disappointed.