GAME ON!

A Bumpy Ride V-Rally 4 Review Arcade racer/Retro gaming

V-Rally 4 feels like a game that is gloriously out of time in the current generation of gaming platforms

In a world where racing sims like Forza and Gran Turismo seem to dominate, an old-fashioned, straightforward arcade racer feels like something of a throwback.

The only arcade racing franchise a Triple A publisher has been producing with any regularity in recent memory is EA’s Need For Speed, and thanks to developers plugging an open-world structure, and unnecessary plot and pay-to-win mechanics into it, the wheels came off that series.

The cars in V-Rally are lightweight when compared to vehicles in other games; they’re more prone to bounce all over the track than hug the road and thanks to the aggressiveness of the AI, races can sometimes feel more like sword-fights where players parry and look for an opening rather than hone their skills behind the wheel.

The core of V-Rally is its campaign, and while it’s a fairly lengthy affair, it also feels pretty listless in its design.

Split across five different disciplines, the mode sees players start off with a rally car and then over a series of races they earn enough money to start unlocking cars – allowing them to compete in different disciplines. It’s a formula that’s been used before but rarely has it been handled in such a pedestrian way.