User Rating: 7.6 | V-Rally 3 XBOX
This game is somewhat bittersweet for me. I love realistic Rally games that have long stages and great handling. For the past couple months I have been really getting into Colin McRae Racing 3, so this game was going to have a large hurdle to clear and it has, sort of... This game has so much potential and unfortunately falls just a little short. The career mode is awesome, the fact that you get offers from different teams and can choose who you go with goes a long way toward making you really feel like you are in a rally champs shoes, which is something that CMR3 completely failed at. CMRs career mode consisted soully of driving for Ford, who Colin was driving for. But even before the game was released, Colin left Ford for Citroen, fired Nicky Grist and Ford even changed the Focus to a more aggressive looking car so CMR3 is already out of date (which is probably why CMR4 is going to be released before the end of the year). So VRally has Colin in the "feel like your there" factor, but that is where the greatness ends. Unfortunately Vrally has many problems that hamper that realism factor. the cars are WAY to floaty feeling, like you are driving on jello and the Force feedback doesn't seem strong enough to notice, so you don't really feel the road under you. The handling is very difficult to get a grasp on and you are never far away from a mistake that will take you into a 360. In comparison, Colin McRae Racing has handling that is difficult to master, but once you get it, you can really get into the groove of the tracks, whipping through hairpins and drifting around corners like a pro, on that knife edge of control. The graphics in VRally are good, but somewhat cartoony looking. They have a sort of smeary vasoline look, but they do look good and some of the weather effects are cool, but once again, they are outdone buy CMR3s amazing weather effects. CMRs weather effects shine, especially from the "in the drivers seat" view The ****pit veiw in Vrally shakes and turns whenever you touch the joystick. It is COMPLETELY disorienting, and makes driving in the ****pit useless. They should have included a head bob on and off switch. CMRs ****pit is the first ****pit view on a console that is fully functional, and it is awesome. Vrallys tracks are mostly wide open affairs, even in the forest, and never give you that tight squeeze feeling you get in CMR. Having watched the WRC for several years now, the tight squeeze is what makes rally so amazing, and Colin Mcrae's forests seem almost real. You hardly have room to breath, but in Vrally you have more than enough room to breathe easily, killing that so important realistic feeling. But all said and done, if you are a true rally fan like me, this is still a great game and should be purchased, especially considering it can be had new for about 20 US dollars! Nothing about it makes it a bad game, but some things could have been done to make it truly great.