The graphics have been overhauled, the horrible pop up of WRC4 does not exist. Rocks on the road now fade into view nicely. The weather is dynamic so halfway through a stage it starts to rain, snow, or fog over and all the weather effects look great. The co-driver is now much more personal. Instead soundling like a pace note feeder, he will shout out criticisms, encouragements, he will tell you what you damaged and give you updates on the retirements of the other cars. Get too close to the spectators or head into a hairpin at high speed and he will scream in terror. He will also scream out "BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!" if he senses you are heading into a turn much too fast. His notes are also a lot more descriptive such as telling you that a turn is after a house.
There is now a slider system to adjust the driving aids such as a steering aid, traction control and a braking aid which will brake for you if turned on to 100%. I found that the game starts to feel more like Richard Burns Rally when turning all the aids off but keeping the steering aid at about 20-40%, now the game is an absolute blast to drive.
You now get to see cars crashed out on the side of the road, marshals will stand out in the middle of the road and wave you down just before you come up to the car and when you do come up on it you might see the driver helping his co-driver limp across the road or they are duking it out. Your co-driver will let you know if they were in-front or behind you on the leader board or he will just make fun of them. Dogs, horses, sheep, elk and kangaroo will cross the road but you wont be able to get close before they disappear. No more unbreakable spectator section, they will now try to run out of the way but if you do catch one you are stopped and reset to the road. Logs, boulders and barrels will now roll out into the road, fallen trees and road construction are dynamically placed on the road to help keep the tracks from feeling repetitive.
The damage system is improved with more things to brake and the car is more fragile but the game seems to give you a pass on your first collision of the stage after that wheels buckle, steering arms brake, pistons snap, coolant leaks and gear box hangs.
Now for the WTFs!
Evos has finally figured out that the DFP has a multi turn option but they still have yet to figure out what True Force Feedback means so all you get is on and off spring back force with some vibration. This might confuse the senses for those used to games with better TFF like GT4 and Richard Burns Rally. Turning off the the force effects still leaves you with a solid spring back force.
Now here is the real kicker, WRC:RE is devoid of more than two thirds the amount of competitive track for the championship. Instead the 6 stages per rally of WRC4 we now have only 3 stages per event. Not only are there fewer stages but they are MUCH shorter, none are run in reverse and Super Special Stages are non-existent. The stages are over before they start, ranging from less than 2 to 3 minutes long. WRC4 had about 663km of competitive track with 4 original stages, two of those reversed and a SSS stage, versus WRC:RE that only has 221KM for the entire 16 events. Each event only takes between 5 to 9 minutes versus 20 to 30 minutes in WRC4. The entire championship can be run in just two hours while WRC4 should take you over 6 hours. The SSS stages seemed to have been replaced for 16 rally cross circuits which are not run in the championship because you know, rally cross has nothing to do with the WRC.
All and all its an amazing rally game demo of what should have been had track length and count not been severely reduced. Maybe Rally Evolved is just a WRC5 Prologue though its not priced as such. :\ Its good for a casual romp through a championship but the lack of content means it wont last you as long as the previous versions.
Here is a clip from Turky which is my favorite country in the game. WRC5: Turkey
There is now a slider system to adjust the driving aids such as a steering aid, traction control and a braking aid which will brake for you if turned on to 100%. I found that the game starts to feel more like Richard Burns Rally when turning all the aids off but keeping the steering aid at about 20-40%, now the game is an absolute blast to drive.
You now get to see cars crashed out on the side of the road, marshals will stand out in the middle of the road and wave you down just before you come up to the car and when you do come up on it you might see the driver helping his co-driver limp across the road or they are duking it out. Your co-driver will let you know if they were in-front or behind you on the leader board or he will just make fun of them. Dogs, horses, sheep, elk and kangaroo will cross the road but you wont be able to get close before they disappear. No more unbreakable spectator section, they will now try to run out of the way but if you do catch one you are stopped and reset to the road. Logs, boulders and barrels will now roll out into the road, fallen trees and road construction are dynamically placed on the road to help keep the tracks from feeling repetitive.
The damage system is improved with more things to brake and the car is more fragile but the game seems to give you a pass on your first collision of the stage after that wheels buckle, steering arms brake, pistons snap, coolant leaks and gear box hangs.
Now for the WTFs!
Evos has finally figured out that the DFP has a multi turn option but they still have yet to figure out what True Force Feedback means so all you get is on and off spring back force with some vibration. This might confuse the senses for those used to games with better TFF like GT4 and Richard Burns Rally. Turning off the the force effects still leaves you with a solid spring back force.
Now here is the real kicker, WRC:RE is devoid of more than two thirds the amount of competitive track for the championship. Instead the 6 stages per rally of WRC4 we now have only 3 stages per event. Not only are there fewer stages but they are MUCH shorter, none are run in reverse and Super Special Stages are non-existent. The stages are over before they start, ranging from less than 2 to 3 minutes long. WRC4 had about 663km of competitive track with 4 original stages, two of those reversed and a SSS stage, versus WRC:RE that only has 221KM for the entire 16 events. Each event only takes between 5 to 9 minutes versus 20 to 30 minutes in WRC4. The entire championship can be run in just two hours while WRC4 should take you over 6 hours. The SSS stages seemed to have been replaced for 16 rally cross circuits which are not run in the championship because you know, rally cross has nothing to do with the WRC.
All and all its an amazing rally game demo of what should have been had track length and count not been severely reduced. Maybe Rally Evolved is just a WRC5 Prologue though its not priced as such. :\ Its good for a casual romp through a championship but the lack of content means it wont last you as long as the previous versions.
Here is a clip from Turky which is my favorite country in the game. WRC5: Turkey
