A Gaming Diary
Posts tagged sega rally
Sega Rally (360)
Jan 27th
Testing out different cars. It’s a shame that the first car seems to be the easiest to get good results in. In later cars, the pack just pulls away from me when I think I’m driving well.
Oh, and did I mention that this game is astoundingly good? Because it is.
Sega Rally (360)
Jan 26th
Looking at my Achievements list, it seems I’ve not played this since October 2007. That’s far too long, because this is a brilliant game. It’s rock hard, but brilliant. I’ve been getting enough points to unlock new series, but I’m not troubling the winning cars. It’s exhausting, because there’s absolutely no time to relax, even on the straights, which are few and far between. The feedback is amazing. The graphics, sound and – crucially, the rumble all come together to let you know exactly what’s going on. And talking of the graphics, it still looks very lovely indeed. And it handles wonderfully, with the different cars all feeling very different. It’s a great, great, great, great, great game.
Just rock hard.
Online, though, is a different story. There were no ranked matches being played, but I found a player match. Had to sit in the lobby for ages waiting for more people to join, but once we got five people together it was brilliant. Just like single player, but with cars that made mistakes and reacted to me. Also, I wasn’t awful. I came second in most of the races, behind someone called Landofspring, who came first every time – but not by miles. It was even fun when I crashed into a wall near a jump and had the cars behind me land on my roof and zoom off into the distance.
Sega Rally (PSP)
Sep 14th
Oh, yeah, I played a bit of this yesterday while waiting for OSX to install. Not much to say, mind. Car goes fast, car crashes, car goes fast again.
Sega Rally (PSP)
Sep 3rd
DS charger broken, so I’m having to use the PSP until a replacement arrives. Normally wouldn’t be an issue, but I’ve got N+ and Bangai-O on the go. Anyway, Sega Rally is a good alternative. It’s really not as nice as the 360 version, but it’s still very good indeed. I’m getting better now, too and have been winning some Expert races.
Sega Rally (PSP)
Jul 15th
Lunchtime bonus game!
This really is very good, you know. The feedback is exceptional, given the lack of rumble. You know when you’ve slowed down too much, when you’ve let the back end go too far, when you’re using the wrong tyres for the road surface, etc.
It’s hard as nails, too.
Sega Rally (360)
Oct 26th
Possibly the best racing game ever? Well, I think it’s probably up there with OutRun 2, based on the hour or two I’ve spent with it so far. No great surprise, given that I’d played the demo, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. It’s fast, gorgeous, it sounds wonderful, has perfect handling and the track deformation makes a far bigger difference than it does in Motorstorm.
It also seems to be rock hard. I got thirty out of thirty points in the first event on my first try, but haven’t been able to in any of the other events so far.
I’d have played it more, but I’m sick at the moment and after a few minutes it makes my head want to explode. Annoying, that.
Sega Rally (PSP)
Sep 30th
I’ve made my way through a few championships now and my first impressions seem to be pretty much spot on.
I’m still not entirely sure how to maximise my speed around corners, especially in the Apline stages. I really think I need to play with sound on for a while, because the tyre sounds will probably give a little bit of extra feedback.
The PSP really has some great racing games. Ridge Racer, OutRun, TOCA and now this. (I still dream of a re-release of OutRun with a decentg framerate, though.)
Sega Rally (PSP)
Sep 28th
I’ve just spent half my lunch hour going testing this out. At first it felt very odd, as the handling isn’t the same as the 360 version, leaning very slightly further towards the real world than that version. If it rates an eleven out of ten on the ridiculous-arcade-handling-meter on the 360 then it gets a nine on the PSP.
It also doesn’t seem to have the same track deformation technology as its big brother, but it’s still a great achievement. The framerate seems solid, the pop-up is limited to objects a very, very long way away and there are even some persistant objects that can get spread out over the track during the race, such as tyres, rocks and fenceposts. (Well, it is a Bugbear game, after all.)
I started off doing a few races in Quick Race mode, getting used things. I found that the d-pad works better than the nub and the wobbling bonnet-cam view is better than the default chase-cam view and was ready to get stuck in, so it was on to the first Championship. I won the first two races with ease, but the third and final race was on ice and snow and I only managed to finish third due to a terrible first lap.
Overall, I’m very happy with the game. I probably should have waited until this evening to play it, because now I’ll be itching to get back all afternoon while I’m working. Somehow web design has lost its allure.
Sega Rally Demo (360)
Sep 25th
I’m playing this demo far too much, you know. I really don’t like how much I like this game, if you know what I mean. It’s starting to feel dangerous.
