In this review, we receive caution before the jump in the GameCube game Pro Rally. We find out how well this racing game plays.
This game was released in 2002. For those who played this game on another system, it is known as Pro Rally 2002 on the Playstation 2.
The game doesn’t really have much of a storyline, really. You are a new driver and hope to win the races and impress the various driving teams. That pretty much it as far as story is concerned.
There are four modes in this game: Time Trial, Arcade, Championship, and Professional. Initially, all you have are Time Trial and Professional modes.
Time Trial allows you to race all unlocked tracks and get a best time in a single race. The game sets the top time to about 6 minutes, so beating the top time is no problem. You don’t really get anything out of it other than getting practice on the various tracks, though.
Professional is where you unlock a vast majority of things in the game, though. At first, you can’t even race in this mode either. Instead, you have a “school” mode which challenges you to complete two laps (or an event) with a set car with a set configuration. You have a handful of events to start you off before you can unlock the harder tracks. It’s unclear what the lowest threshold is to unlock the later tracks for us, but we have unlocked them with less than an 8.0.
When you race in a school event, there is a damage meter. This ticks up as you hit things, so ideally, you don’t want to hit anything at all. If it reaches 100, you are disqualified. Also, there are cones and other obstacles on the course. Knock any of those over and you “fail”. Additionally, you have a time limit to complete two laps or to get to the finish line. Run out of time and you fail. The gold trophy indicates how much time you have left on the clock to get a top score, though it isn’t actually necessary.
As you progress, you’ll prove your ability enough to be allowed to leave the parking lot. After that, you take on some more challenging events in the school. Same rules to apply, though you are just racing to the finish line. These events feature rainy weather, dirt, and other conditions you would normally find in a rally event. Given the limitations, they are much more challenging.
After you graduate, you’ll get your license to move on to the professional event.
There are three classes of vehicles in this event and they also represent the difficulty of the events. There is “private” (easy), “kit car” (medium), and “pro” (hard). Each class has a small set of cars each. The harder the difficulty, the better the car you can choose from. Also, each difficulty save for “private” is locked until you beat the modes in their respective difficulties.
As for the races themselves, you are largely racing against the clock. Throughout the race, there are a series of checkpoints you cross (with a couple of exceptions with circuit races towards the end of the game). As you cross them, you’ll be given a time of who is ahead of you and who is behind your. If you have the best time, you’ll be shown your time and the time split for second and third. If you happen to be last, you’ll be shown 9th and 1st.
When you make it to the end of the race, you’ll get a total time for that leg. If you do poorly for one race, it’s not the end of the world. There are multiple races in a given series. The winner is decided by the total time for all the legs combined. So, if you do well in three races and do somewhat badly in one leg, you can still not only win the series, but do so with time to spare.
At the end of the series, you’ll earn championship points. First place gets 10 points. The points go down with each respective placement all the way down to 7th. So, even if you don’t win a particular series, you still have time to come back. There are multiple series in a given rally. How many depends on the difficulty. So, it’s more than possible to ace the first few series and just coast comfortably into a winner or do poorly early on and pull off a come from behind victory after.
As for the races themselves, this game is much more closely aligned with the simulation style of racing. So, you need to pay attention to the turns in a very calculated manner. Start from the outside in a relatively slowed pace. From there, try and get close to the apex of the turn, then slam on the accelerator on the exit.
Of course, unlike other racing simulation games like Auto Modellista, you are racing in point “A” to point “B” races. Additionally, there are a large number of races you can play. As a result, you can’t necessarily just continue honing your skills on a small set of circuit races by taking corners at slightly different angles or perfecting your entry speed. Instead, this game is much more about feel. That is partly what makes the side seat driver critical. That driver tells you what turns are coming, the level of the turn, or any dangers.
The side seat driver can plan slightly ahead in the race. I there is a 1 left turn, that means there is a very soft left turn ahead. However, if there is a 5 right turn, then there is a sharp right turn ahead. While the levels might seem a bit blurry at first, it’s more than possible to get used to these instructions being barked at you in rapid-fire speeds. You can also be warned of a hairpin turn, jumps, or dips. All of these also come with various signs indicating what is coming up ahead.
Of course, there are a number of instructions the driver can tell you that won’t appear on your screen. This includes a gradient change (a gradual change instead of an instance change), “narrow” (narrow road ahead), or “don’t cut” (obstacle if you try and cut a particular turn). These instructions are vital for your planning ahead for better driving optimizations. It sounds very confusing at first, but you basically get used to it after a while and come to appreciate a lot of it after a while.
While you can get instructions, you also have to have a feel for the track as you go along. Is that chicane turn really a chicane turn or is it a cleverly disguised straightaway? Can you cut behind that tree on that 4 left turn into 5 right turn to save a second? It may not always be easy to see these shortcuts, but such short cuts can be vital to getting an edge on your opponents. The occasional risk can mean the difference between a 1 second lead and a 6 second lead in some cases. Naturally, if you chance a cut and that dip happens to send you flying into a wall, you could see your 2 second lead melt away into a 7th place position.
So, generally speaking, this game is about being cautious with your driving, but at the same time, encourages you to take the odd risk here and there to get that edge. This is especially true for the more difficult races.
The other thing to remember is that some races are very straight. As such, getting an edge can be difficult. At that point, the goal is to try and maintain as high speed as possible while navigating the subtle changes in the road. This can be easier said than done because you may have a near perfect speed through this section, but find out that you lost ground on the lead car anyway even though you maxed out your speed for most of that section.
If you beat the “private” class, you’ll also unlock arcade mode. Arcade mode features three separate series of races. The races are found on the rally event courses. The difference with this and the professional mode is that you have multiple opponents on the track. So, not only do you have to navigate the road, but also thread the needle to squeeze past your opponents. On the surface, this sounds pretty par for the course until you realize just how narrow some of those roads can be. Beat any of the three series of races to unlock additional teams.
If you beat the “Kit Car” event, you’ll unlock the championship mode. In this mode, there are four races. You square off against one or three other opponents in a standard championship bracket. In the case of a four car events, you have to finish in the top 2 to advance. Finish first in the final event to win it all. In events where you square off against one other opponent, winning is your only option in every race.
If you beat the “Pro” even, you’ll effectively beat the whole game, unlocking one last team in the process.
One thing I have noticed about this game is that some people expressed frustration with this game. Some people called the school portion “frustrating”, making the rest of the game virtually unplayable. For me, this type of frustration seems to come from people who are more used to arcade style of racing. This is because I’ve playing games like Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. If people think the school challenges are tough, I’d sure hate to see them try any of the Gran Turismo games that have this feature. It’s really not the hardest if you have experience with simulation racers.
As for the difficulty itself, it’s actually very reasonable. I’ve had instances where I’ve hit a tree head on or flipped the car only to finish the race first with plenty of time to spare. The game really only gets difficult in the ice and snow courses and continues to be be difficult in the very last events in the whole game. So, really, I found it to be quite forgiving and reasonable.
In the rally events, there is a feature that measures damage to the vehicle. After a while, a select part will begin to break down. Sometimes, it’s the engine. Other times, the gear shifter wears out. This penalizes players that take on excessive damage throughout the race. It loosely resembles the system found in Top Gear Rally 2 only much more reasonable. The damage also slows the vehicle down on top of it all. This does add a nice sense of realism even when vehicles themselves always come out without a dent or scratch.
These parts can be later repaired in the support vehicle area. You have 60 minutes for repairs for every race (resets between races). Each part that needs repair will show up orange or red. You can then spend “time” to repair it. So, it’s more than possible to make fixes after. With this system, I’ve never had to go over the time limit and, thus, the repair system is extremely reasonable.
In addition, I found the fact that this game has plenty of events to be nicely done. You can go off and beat the game in different orders (or, at least, rack up completion percentages). You’ll definitely have the ability to have variety, though the unlocking system can be a bit too strict at times. The fact that almost the entire game is locked down when you start is a bit annoying.
Probably the worst aspect of this game is physics. While the vehicles themselves drive reasonably well, it’s when the cars interact with opponents is where the physics goes right out the window. There were moments during the race when the opponent hit the brake, causing me to gently rear end them. As a result, the opponent sometimes almost comes to an instant standstill. This instant stop at any speed can happen when the opponent steers into you as well. This can cause the lead car to get a further advantage over you. In a game that always places you in the last position, this can be quite irritating.
What’s worse is that almost every other collision causes the opponent to fling far ahead of you. In one instance, I had an opponent rear end me. The resulting collusion caused the opponent to scrape the rear end, up the side, then scrape the front bumper and fling into the road ahead of me. Even worse is that the opposite physics can apply to you. In a couple of races, I managed to race down the road for about 5 seconds or so. Unfortunately, the opponent collides into me just right. As a result, my car flung backwards so hard, I sped past the start line before I could reduce the speed and practically restart the race. To add insult to injury, the side seat driver reminds me that I’m driving the wrong way.
So, while it seems a bit bland to be racing down the road with only the clock and side seat driver to keep you company, the physics in the game makes you grateful you are racing such a boring race. The physics and AI of opponents in other events can make for a rather frustrating gaming experience.
Another problem I found with the game is that some of the times can be a bit suspicious at times. There have been stretches where I basically drive the top speed. In the previous checkpoint, I had a comfortable 3 second lead. When I reach the next checkpoint, I found myself in second place with the lead car having about a quarter of a second lead on me. Other times, I found myself performing poorly on a section. My lines are awful and I even spin out partially at one point. I figure I had pretty much lost the race because of it only to discover that I not only taken the lead, but obtained a 3 second pad on my time. This doesn’t happen all the time, but there are occasions where I question whether there is some time adjustments happening behind the scenes from time to time.
Generally speaking, this is one of those games you play to pass the time. It’s not something I would really call “amazing” by any means, but it’s not a terrible game to play either. If you want something slightly different to play, this is not a terrible one to play (assuming you are comfortable with a racing simulation style game). While the events throughout the game does add a nice amount of variety, the game is a bit too heavily locked down. The physics to leave a lot to be desired when other cars on the road and the single player racing can be a bit bland at times. Also, the checkpoint times are a bit suspicious to me as well.
Graphically speaking, the game is pretty average. The thing to keep in mind is that this game was released in the same years as Medal of Honor – Frontline, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, and Ratchet & Clank. On the one hand, the tracks are very large, so you can’t exactly expect miracles. At the same time, this game does occasionally utilize 2D sprites – a practice I thought went by the wayside a console generation ago. What’s more, the props and scenery can be extremely low poly even though the racing cars are actually well modelled. It’s passable, but nothing miraculous.
The audio is also pretty average. The music is OK, but nothing spectacular. They give the game some audio variety, but beyond that, it doesn’t really do that much beyond that. The sound effects are decent enough. The voice acting is alright. So, an OK effort, but nothing to get overly excited over.
Overall, this is one of those games to play when you want something different and have nothing better to play. The racing is decent enough, though the style of the game may be limited to specific racing players. The features are a bit too heavily locked down for players at the beginning. Additionally, the physics between cars is pretty bad. Also, the times for checkpoints are a bit erratic. Still, it’s got a good amount of variety and quantity. Additionally, the difficulty curve is reasonable. The graphics and audio are OK, but nothing amazing. Overall, the game is playable, but if you haven’t played it, it’s not as though you are missing out on an amazing experience.
Overall
Furthest point in game: Got an 8.6 global score in school after beating every event. Beat every event in professional, arcade, and championship modes.
General gameplay: 16/25
Replay value: 7/10
Graphics: 6/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 64%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
