GAME: 		V-Rally
PUBLISHER: 	Infogrames
SYSTEM: 	Playstation (PAL)
PLAYERS: 	1 or 2
MEMORY CARD: 	2 blocks

Long  ago  Infogrames released some fantastic games on the AMIGA.  Among
them  was North & South.  Undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable games of
it's  time.  Who can forget the cheesy sounds, the cartoon graphics, the
arcade style action and the highlight, tickling the photographer.  Don't
get me wrong.  I'm not a pervert.  It was just quite amusing hearing him
chuckle  away.  Once again they have come up a genre smashing title that
wipes the floor with it's competitors.

V-Rally is one of the greatest racing games I have ever played.  I don't
like to admit this but it is better than Rage Racer.  Yes Rage racer has
fast and smooth graphics, yes there is a huge amount of gameplay and yes
it is easy to get the hang of but V-Rally is all this and more.

The  graphics  in  V-Rally  are  better  than those seen in F1.  All the
buildings, cars, trees, fences, you name it it's beautifully rendered in
3D  with  realistic  colours, unlike Rage Racer which I thought were too
cheerful.  (Thats NAMCO for you.) The amount of detail they have managed
to  get  into all of the objects is just amazing.  And unlike Rage Racer
there  are  very  few  lines  in between the polygons on objects.  (Rage
Racer has a major problem with this.) The horizon in the game is quite a
considerable  distance  away.  This usually causes problems in games but
in  V-Rally there are none of the tell tale signs.  Popup of the objects
is  almost  none existent which is quite impressive considering the game
runs  at a steady 30 frames per second.  Even in two player split screen
mode the game still runs at 30 frames per second and there is still very
little popup.

The sound isn't too bad.  There are the usual turn left, hard right sort
of  speech  you would expect from a rally game and the obligatory engine
sound.   The only problem with this is every now and again in two player
mode  the sounds can sort of sync and get very irritating.  The music is
quite  good.   None of this pathetic rave shit that Namco seem to put in
all of it's racing games.

No  matter  what  anyone  says to you the playability of V-Rally is what
makes  this  game  amazing.   Rage  Racer  was  too  easy.  There was no
learning  curve.   Once  you  had done one lap you could finish the game
given  time.   V-Rally  though  is  rather difficult to get the hang of.
When  you  first  start  the steering seems to be to sensitive.  You can
adjust  this  on  the options screen so you have no oversteer.  However,
after  a  while  you  will  be cursing yourself because you can not take
corners tight enough or fast enough so you will find yourself increasing
the oversteer.  Once that has been mastered you are halfway there.

The  next thing to master is the tracks.  This can be a bit of a problem
as  there  are 42 of them.  (Yes, I said 42 tracks.) Not all of them are
sunny  daytime  racers either.  You will find a mix of rain, snow and my
favourite,  night  stages.   In  single player mode the night stages are
absolutely unbelievable.  You race in the dark with only your headlights
to illuminate your course.

V-Rally  also  has the pleasure of being one of the first games to allow
the  driver  to  actually go off track to a certain extent.  Unlike Rage
Racer where you clipped the side of the road even if you weren't near it
in  V-Rally  you  can  slip  of the road and career down hills.  This is
quite  a  regular occurrence when you first start as you can easily flip
your car over.  The crashes are another great feature of this game.  You
don't get the usual stop or slight spin you get the full hog.  Spins and
crashes of the A-Team type.

V-Rally  has  a  two  player split screen racing.  The unique thing with
this  is  you  can  have either horizontal split screen a la Lotus Turbo
Challenge or vertical split screen.  I recommend the vertical as you can
see more of the track.

The  Spanish  coders  have done a most fantastic job.  V-Rally has to be
one  of  the best games of the year.  I you only buy one game this year,
buy V-Rally.


Review : NumberSix



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