Reviewed: October 28, 2007
Reviewed by: Justin Nixon
Publisher
SEGA
Developer
SEGA Driving Studio
Released: October 9, 2007
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-2
Online: 6
5
10
6
6
6.6
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
The time has finally come. After months of seeing the breathtaking trailers SEGA Rally Revo has arrived. This game not only looked amazing but also introduced the idea of track deformation, which is a new aspect of rally racing where the track actually changes as you drive through it leaving your tracks in the mud. These two elements were enough to get me excited about this upcoming release and now it’s here. The box that the game comes in makes a bold statement itself. On the back are pictures of what looks like pre-rendered shots of cars racing, but at the bottom are the words “Actual In-Game Screenshots.”
Unfortunately, after playing through everything that the game has to offer I can’t help but feel disappointed. Yes, it does do everything that the demo promises, except to offer a good racing game.
SEGA Rally Revo does something new in the genre of rally racing and it’s called GeoDeformation. This new technology leaves your tracks in the mud making each lap more unpredictable as the last. Personally, I didn’t even need these tracks to make the laps more unpredictable. This leads me to my first and biggest complaint about Revo, controlling your car.
The controls for the PS3 version are so outrageously sensitive for a simple arcade racer. At times you may find a sweet spot but for the most part a simple nudge of the analog stick will turn your car sideways and hurling into a wall. This is an arcade game so the wall doesn’t really hurt you in any way but the other AI controlled racers never touch a wall and therefore always win unless you can find that sweet spot for the entire race.
If you think changing your control setup to Sixaxis will help then your wrong because the Sixaxis controls are simply impossible. They turn out to be even more sensitive than the default analog controls. If you really stick to it and try to master the controls it may take you a couple of hours before you really feel comfortable.
Once you ‘somewhat’ get the controls down then it’s time to have fun…right? Wrong! Even if you have spent the better part of an afternoon figuring out the controls then you’ll quickly realize that the racing still isn’t fun. Why is this? You don’t feel like your racing over rough terrain. It feels like your racing on a soft puffy cloud. This may be due to the slippery, no friction, controls or it may be the lack of rumble, which really hurts the game, but either way you will never feel like your racing a rally car through off-road terrain.
The AI in Revo is also irritating. It’s perfect…absolutely perfect. The AI controlled cars don’t make mistakes like hitting walls. They take each turn with great ease. They never crash, or get turned around. This makes winning even harder. I guess it’s not enough that controls keep you from winning. The AI has to be relentless too. These two elements, the controls and AI, make SEGA Rally Revo one frustratingly difficult experience.
The game offers a few different race types, which include Championship, Quick Race, Time Attack, and Multiplayer. I won’t go into much detail because the racing in SEGA Rally Revo is bad and every mode in the game contains racing. Using deductive reasoning we can conclude that since every mode contains racing and the racing is bad that the entire game is bad. It’s simple logic.
Championship is your simple tournament style racing. It can also be the most frustrating mode in the game. The tournaments contain three races that can range in time from 4-10 minutes. You can’t start the race over you can only start the entire event over. If you are on your last race and lose that sweet spot in your controls and hit a wall in turn losing the race you have to start the entire event over, not just that race.
Quick Race is a typical exhibition type race. Time Attack is where you race on empty track trying to beat the best times for that track. Multiplayer allows you to race against a friend via split screen or go online and race up to five other competitors.
If you still want to play Revo after hearing my complaints it is mostly because of the visuals that have been displayed in demos and trailers over the past couple of months. I can honestly say that SEGA Rally Revo lives up to the hype of being the best looking Racers on any home console. In the review that I did for DiRT I stated “DiRT is one of the best looking racers that you will ever play…ever.” Well, Revo is the next step up from DiRT. The final game looks better than any demo or trailer available. You really have to see it to believe it.
The cars glisten in the light as you drive down a snow-covered track. You can see the Geodeformation of the track as the tread of your tires becomes visible in the snow. All while the snow is building up on your tires and on the bottom of your car. This is SEGA Rally Revo. It has some of the most realistic environments in any game regardless of genre. The new track deformation adds a new level of realism as each lap creates new tracks in the mud, snow, or dirt altering the texture of the track not only visually but also physically. The lighting and reflections are absolutely stunning. It may not feel like your racing a real rally car but it will definitely look like you are.
SEGA Rally Revo is very limited when is comes to music. The menus contain the only music in the game while the actual races contain only the sounds or roaring engines and the sound of your co-pilot telling you about upcoming turns and there severity.
SEGA Rally Revo may be worth renting if you want to see one of the best looking games that the PS3 has to offer. There is no doubt that you will be blown away by the combination of amazing environments, stunning cars, and some outstanding lighting. Just don’t expect more. The tough controls and unforgiving AI account to make one impossible racer.
I had to race Revo in small doses. I could only play for a limited time every time I picked up the controller. I would get the sensation to throw my controller at my PS3 after about two hours of racing, so I would stop and pick it back up later. I would be on a role, winning race after race in Championship mode when one small mistake would send me into a wall and the ungodly AI would zoom past me leaving me with no option but to start the entire event over, simply frustrating.