Amazon.co.uk Review
There seems to be a host of rally-driving games available on the Playstation. Rally Championship is the latest offering and is the official game of the Mobil 1 British Rally Championships, so comes endorsed with and sporting all the genuine rally cars and sponsors. With a choice of 21 different cars you won't be stuck for a set of wheels.
With driving games, control is everything and the controls in Rally Championship are relatively well balanced. You have the option of setting the gear ration, suspension, brake balance, tyres and the steering sensitivity. You can also play manual or automatic transmission, which at first sounds like an easy choice, but with experience, a manual transmission offers more power and direct-driving control. But even equipped with these options, the controls don't seem to be as refined as Virtual Rally II or the popular Colin McCrae Rally games.
The graphics are not breathtaking, but the overall visual effect is original and worth a mention--the rays of sunshine scattered through the woodland tempts you to stop and take a closer look, if it wasn't for the Skoda Octavia jostling your rear end. The weather effects are also very impressive, as is the mud that accumulates on your bumper as you skid around the track.
Rally Championship is a worthy rival to the competitors on the market and does need practice and some skill to win. Gone are the days of holding down the accelerator--Rally Championship demands the use of brakes. If you are searching for a new rally game, with an impressive two-player option, Rally Championship is a serious competitor. --Chris Hall
Manufacturer's Description
Mobil 1 Rally Championship is renowned for its stunning graphic effects, including the most photo-realistic display ever seen in a game of this type, with full weather effects and advanced car physics.
36 stages of the British Rally Championship are recreated with over 420 miles of Ordnance Survey licensed roads laid down to give a spectacularly accurate visual feel to the game.
Not only is the game sharp on detail, but it also contains many superior features such as: advanced light-mapping, environment mapping, MIP mapping, alpha blending and texture animations which all combine to build a world where you can drive almost anywhere as you explore real life stages of the British Rally Championship.
With 6 camera angles, fantastic special effects and 5 game modes: simulation, arcade, time trial, single player, and network (for up to 8 players), you'll find yourself racing in day and night, morning and dusk, sunshine, rain, snow, under bridges and through water.
