SEGA Rally Comments by Kristan Reed

Yea and the US government blew up the twin towers.

/yawn.

Boring.

Sounds good, I remember playing the old Sega Rally arcade games where you sat in the bucket seat and went head to head with your best mate, great stuff.

I'm not a great fan of games like PGR or GT, and prefer the Burnout style of games, so this sounds like it could be suited for me quite nicely. Will try the demo out once I get a bit of spare time.

I've played the game for about 7 hours now, and love it to bits. The thing is, it only becomes really good if the AI is a challenge - and it definitely is a challenge in the full game, at least in the higher championship. This is where the game really, really starts to shine, where you can't afford to blink, and where exact knowledge of the tracks is vital. I can easily see how someone would think it's a bit shallow after playing only the demo, but the depths are hidden. Anyway, not every game is fror everyone. I personally found Outrun: C2C incredibly boring.

Fully agree with the review and score, and especially the sentence that it's the most original arcade racer since Burnout 2.

And I said it in the forum: it must be the first game since Pitstop on the C64 where I am leaning into corners. It's quite embarassing. :)

Any word on how the PSP version of the game faired?

After the hype and high score I was expecting this to be good.

What a HUGE disappointment.

I don't usually write reviews but I felt compelled to register here just to let you know how bad it is - it is the WORST racing game I have ever played - no word of a lie.

Yes, the graphics are gorgeous and mud sticks to the car and is washed off driving through puddles - very clever, but if the gameplay isn't there it's all for nothing.

The game is that bad that I don't even have the inclination to comlete one race.

The problem is basically this ... the cars twitch and slide like they're floating above glass - the only feedback is via the rumble pad. Basically you don't feel in control of the car ... which you need to be if you want to enjoy a racing game. The steering is extremely vague. To make matters worse, you'll just bounce off trees, rocks etc on the side of the road with a slight decrease of speed.
Shallow? ... like a puddle.

I just don't get it. I felt completely disconnected from the driving experience, thereby negating the point of buying a driving game.

I have always been impressed with the maturity of official reviews on this site and naively hoped that they weren't influenced by the sponsors ... but this is a huge exception.

To give this9 out of 10 is at best misleading and at worst, criminal. You should be ashamed of yourself - unless, of course, Sega provided you with a shiny new car in which case, I'll have your job.

Be warned, this game is AWFUL.

Oh dear.

After playing her for a few hrs i can safely say 9 is SPOT on this is fantastic the true follow up to the original classic,great review

I've played the demo, and basing the following on it: graphics are OK, handling is terrible, music horrible. I think you can tell that I don't like the game!

opinion was always going to be mixed on this, just look at outrun 2, and for me that really is one of the best games ever made...all us old buggers who loved the original "get" what S Rally is trying to achieve, but the kids / or those new to arcade racers just don't get it I guess.

According to some (NOT ME!) the bright colours make it seem "kiddyish" in the same way that mario is just for kids. The handling is simply stupid, PGR now that's an arcade racer...

I really want this game, I havent bought it yet, as I am fully expecting it to be bargain binned just like outrun was, I feel lame, like I should be supporting such a great product, but I supported both outruns on xbox (and even grabbed a third copy for my psp) and am going to try and wait out the price reduction storm (halo 3 helps).

I don't imagine that this has sold at all well, and I expect this will be sega's last forray in to arcade racing...I was suprised they tried again after outrun really. I wonder what SRS will do now, hopefully they wont all lose their jobs in a few weeks.

Well, I didn't care much at all for the demo (which I think I mentioned somewhere on the first page of comments), but I decided to pick the game up today anyway - mostly because the PGR4 pre-order box was sitting on the shelf right next to it, saying "nah, nah - I won't be in Europe till the 12th!" :p.

As much as I expected to dislike SEGA Rally and to just use it as a quick trade-in on the 12th, I have to say that it's starting to grow on me. And very quickly, since I'm only through the first nine races.

Yep, it's the most blatantly simplistic arcade racer I've played since Outrun Coast 2 Coast (which I hated 20 minutes in and still a few hours later after trying to give it a bit of a chance), but it's just plain fun.
It looks great, if perhaps a tad too bright and colorful, it's blazingly fast, easy to control (a plus in this case) and the deformable terrain not just looks pretty amazing, but - as the review states - really does have a rather significant impact on handling on laps 2 and 3 of a race.

It's a bit too soon to say if this a game I'll pick up regularly just to do a few races or time trials (as I tend to do with many racing games, whether or not I've previously "completed" them), but so far I think it was definately worth the money - and if not a 9/10 score, then at least an 8.

From the review and the comments, this game is a marmite!

My 2 cents are that it's a VERY good ARCADE racing game, very well balanced, great controls, graphics and general feel.

Shallow? Undoubtedly yes but sometimes an hour's blast is what you need and if that hour is more enjoyable than a day spent in a simulated racer then long live shallow racers!

8.5/10 ;)

£ = 9

This is one fantastic arcade racer! My last Sega Rally purchase was on the Dreamcast, now its sitting on my PS3 :)

Is it just me sucking or does the AI get rather brutal really fast? I've done two attempts at the final rally in the Pro League, and the best I've been able to do is 15 out of 30 points.
I win the first race and then the AI pretty much leaves me in the dust in the last two. And damn I hate that Arctic 3 track :) - I more or less love all the rest, but I just can't get a proper line on that one. Try to go fast and I go way wider in most turns than the AI - slow down a bit more and they zip right past.

Anyway - the more I play the more I start appreciating the simple beauty of nailing this fairly limited amount of well designed tracks. There really is very little room for mistakes if you want to win - usually something I find rather frustrating, but so far I haven't been screaming much at my TV :p.

Even Flatout: UC is almost a cakewalk compared to this :).

when I do the time trials after I upload my ghost I get to a screen that says "A" to continue "B" to retry, no matter what I press it just stays there, I end up having to quit to dashboard...am I being a spas (shotgun from rainbow 6 not disabled person from mario party 8 or ubis DS mind puzzler)

as you can tell after my "I'll wait till it gets cheap" rant all of four hours ago, I now own the game.

and yes it does get hard quickly...but dang its good.

Didn't have any problems uploading a time trial ghost - my 360 did however freeze entirely right after it finished and returned to the leaderboards.

I've only had a console for a month (not counting my old, rarely used PS2) and so far it's been my distinct impression that gone are the days where console gaming could be counted on as stable, reliable and without technical glitches.
I swear I've had more freezes and "disc unreadable" errors on that 360 than I've had crashes to desktop or similar in my last year of PC gaming :). Fortunately no red rings yet.

9/10? Are you mad?

Krud, this is the 1st time I've ever not totally agreed with your review. I really hope it's the last time too. I would have bought this game based on your review, but thank god I played the demo first.

The guy who said he felt 'disconnected' from the car as it swam all other the place, twitching and floating got it spot on in my book.

Sorry mate.

"Krud, this is the 1st time I've ever not totally agreed with your review. I really hope it's the last time too. I would have bought this game based on your review, but thank god I played the demo first."

I hated the demo as well - it gave me bad flashbacks to Outrun C2C. As I mentioned though, I ended up buying the game anyway yesterday and I absolutely love it - utterly simplistic and (really) old fashioned as it is.
Flying around those well designed and deformable tracks, trying to nail the corners perfectly in order to keep up with and pass the AI drivers (they get rather brutal after the first handful of rallies) is way more entertaining than I ever imagined it would be after trying the demo.

I do have a feeling this might be one of the few racing games I won't go back to once I'm through with it - but until then I imagine I'm going to get at least 15-20 hours of fast paced fun, and that's not really half bad when I had expected to be sorely disappointed :).

"The guy who said he felt 'disconnected' from the car as it swam all other the place, twitching and floating got it spot on in my book."

The cars are very easy to control in my opinion - the hard part is getting them around the tracks fast. And while they might feel a bit too light (and obviously full on arcady), I don't feel "disconnected" at all, at least not playing from the hood cam. I haven't a 3rd person cam - I pretty much can't drive like that in any racing games with the exception of Burnout and Flatout.

"the only feedback is via the rumble pad."

They would add electroshocks, but the technology to do that wasn't really there yet.
I picked this up on monday and even though I only played for a few hours, I really like it.

The game is pure feel-good, exactly like OutRun 2 was. And I'm not at all surprised to see it polarizing opinion. It's arcade through and through and probably if you never played the arcade original, maybe there's a barrier you need to get over. I'm playing the PS3 version and not actually missing the rumble: it's so blisteringly fast that you just don't have time to worry about anything except getting through the next few seconds.

The PSP version is an entirely different game. It's not as fast, but the gameplay feels more... solid. Physics seem weightier and it takes a more delicate approach to handling. Handling is superb though, working very well on the PSP's D-pad. It looks sort of old-fashioned, but they've managed to get the same feel of mud, dirt and SEGA vistas. I'm probably going to rate these as equals.

Anyone else finding all the negative comments almost making them more interested in the game then the review. I was concerned Sega would follow the crowd and make it too realistic but thankfully they haven't. Bouncing off walls and such is what's supposed to happen in an arcade racer and I like the fact the graphics seem to have that lovely bright Seganess about them too, I've missed that.

Anyway I'm off to try the demo.

"I just don't get it. I felt completely disconnected from the driving experience, thereby negating the point of buying a driving game."

It's not a driving game, it's an arcade game about driving. That's why your kids will find this fun as opposed to Forza, but at the same time you will never ever meet anyone who has 100% completed the game. Fun but tough as nails. The review reads as a classic Sega experience.

I picked this game up last night after having played the demo. It's everything I personally want from a game - easy to pick up, but challenging to play and constant fun even when I'm getting my ass kicked. The graphics are glossy and colourful just like the arcade originals, but now with a layer of added realism.

If you want a rally SIMULATOR then this game is definitely not for you - if you want an arcade racer thats fun to play and doesn't take significant time to pick up, then give it a try - you might like it.

Remember, not everyone out there has the time to spend weeks perfecting the perfect line through every single corner, some people just want to be able to pick up and play, have a bit of a giggle and come back later. Sega Rally is perfect for that.

In a day and age where games are getting more and more complicated, Sega Rally is a refreshing game of simple racing - nothing more, nothing less.

My score: 9/10 (I'm with you eurogamer!!).

I think that we can conclude you either love or hate this game, no need to try to make a fact out of your opinion.

For me, hitting the dirt with the bumper cam is pure arcade goodness. And the great XBOX 360 controller support for PC is a welcome addition.

Finally - a review where someone actually gets it!!

I can understand why the hard-core driving fans might not like it - but its really not supposed be that type of game - This isn't your Gran Turismo or Forza style racer.

It's exactly what it should be - a cracking arcade racer that you can just pick up and play. Its not about exact racing car physics or getting the absolutely exact driving line and braking - its just way Over-The-Top power-sliding fun!! They've really managed to transition the Sega Rally arcade game over - gotta say I absolutely love this game!!

this the crappiest review ever. a 9/10 for a shit game. fuck.

This game is definitely no 9/10. The graphics are Xbox-level with muddy textures (no pun intended), poor lighting and uninspired backdrops. This game could have run at 60fps but it barely pushes 30fps. The level deformation is a gimmick. The controls are overly simplistic and the game lacks challenge. A 6/10 at best.

Just ordered this for £2.75 brand new on Play with free delivery! Can't wait for some old-school arcade racing action.

Edit: have now got it and it's brilliant.