Assembly Section #DriveRally very good.
It won’t unseat the sims that currently occupy the top spot of the niche mini-game genre from their thrones – due in large part to WRC’s inability to properly recapture the zeitgeist as it did in the early ’80s, late ’90s, and early 2000s. But, after about five hours of play so far, I can tell you that the game’s arcade-style cars zipping around muddy tracks at the kind of speeds usually reserved for people who think they forgot to refuel after going away on vacation, is a lot of fun.
You’ll be plunging down a narrow lane in a variety of cars that are either nearly original or “someone bought a body kit from NASA” – the latter in a positive sense – while some poor passengers yell at you to prepare for the turn so they don’t get too familiar with the foliage.
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The game has four distinct regions that offer different environments and challenges, and help achieve the whole turbo-sighting vibe that’s been a part of rallycross for so long. While they’re limited by a lack of varying weather conditions, the German forests, Arizona-style deserts, Scandinavian snowfields, and Southeast Asian-style coastlines all have enough unique landmarks and challenges to feel distinct.
From the stage design, you might find the turns a little hard to come by when you’re driving the slowest cars, but when you’re behind the wheel of the fastest cars you’ll find a good mix of flowing sections and tight loops full of brakes. While the visual distinctions are nice, with many using the same stock engine despite being quite different vehicles, it’s a little disappointing – the hulking 4×4 sounds like a supercar, for example – the wheels on offer represent a nice range of rally classic emulations and slightly unexpected choices. A not-quite-Lamborghini Countach might not look as suited to the dirt as an almost-Audi Quattro, but both feel like they belong in the world of Drive Rally.
That world is a bit more complex, though. The game’s main mode is the tournament, which sees players compete in four different tournaments across the four locations I mentioned earlier. The stages get longer and longer as you initially unlock three new base cars, and then two faster enhanced versions of each. It sometimes feels like you’re racing against yourself, as you never see or hear your rather faceless opponents, and there aren’t any big trophies to be won at the end of a race, but the game at least handles the challenges of the competitors you’ll face well.
While I rarely hit difficulty, and when I did I didn’t feel it was a big deal because there was always progress, things do get gradually better as you progress. Faster cars require a more deft touch to steer at full speed without ending up crashing into roadside furniture. Generally, each car variant can be played through about three stages at a time, with the first few stages giving you cosmetic parts – rims, bumpers, spoilers – that you can use to customize your ride a bit. The options for each part are limited to two variants, locked specifically to the three different versions of each car, so it doesn’t require a ton of personalization, but it’s enough to make it a worthwhile addition.
Each championship has its own team with a unique co-driver, usually designed to match where you’re zipping around in the stage. For the Hotzbergs in the Alps there’s an Austrian lad called Hans who sounds almost identical to Arnold Schwarzenegger or Toto Wolff, the American desert has a real cowboy, and then – for some reason – Scandinavia has a California Valley girl. Yeah, I didn’t understand that last one either, but at least she didn’t make me uncomfortable.
The final co-pilot in the Southeast Asian region is named Jack, and his dialogue and delivery sometimes feel like a borderline offensive stereotype. He speaks with an accent that sounds like he’s imitating someone else, which you’ll chide him for, occasionally skips words in sentences, and compares what’s going on to ninjas, dragons, and kung fu. You could argue that Hans has a similar style, often referring to things like German precision, but Jack’s characterization feels a bit problematic in comparison. I’m all for trying to create straight-faced characters, in contrast to the rather faceless drivers and co-pilots in many racing games, but you can do that without having to boil down different nationalities/creeds to this extent.
It’s a shame to be honest, because in theory I like the idea of having a co-pilot with a lot of personality, and in practice it works well with the rest of the game, even if it can get pretty annoying after a few hours of playing. As a game I’d probably recommend to people who don’t feel like they’re ready for the kind of in-depth rally sims that require you to have a steering wheel and knowledge of real racing, this is a less dry game that falls in line with what I’d expect from a game like #Drive Rally.
At its best, the game feels like a simple, refreshing game that you can just pick up and enjoy driving, with the co-pilot acting like the kind of weird passenger you might have if you were playing some kind of Colin McRae-esque Crazy Taxi. In its current form, there’s just enough content and customization to keep you playing for a long time, which is exactly what an indie game like this should strive to achieve.
It’s a big step for the developers at Pixel Perfect Dude, who are gradually emerging from a primarily mobile-centric background. With further refinement, it could be a great addition to the mini-game genre that’s been proven through games like Art of Rally – while that game has a very different vibe than #Drive Rally – it gives space for smaller studios to deliver quirky experiences that help maintain balance in the current sea of hyper-realistic racing.
However, if it’s going to reach those heights and build up a core of fun during its early access run, there’s some work to be done, and perhaps some lessons to be learned.
