Hi, I just wrote a review of RRRR for a forum that I visit and figured I'd post it here, too. I've been pretty broke lately and also in the middle of a move, which is why I put off getting the game for so long even though I was really looking forward to it, but I finally decided that I better get it before it becomes unavailable, and sure enough the very same day I got my copy in the mail Redspot announced that the regular edition was sold out. I'm not sure if that means that my copy was the last one or if more copies got sold between my order and the announcement, but it was quite a coincidence. And I'm very glad I placed my order finally, not only because I would have been incredibly disappointed to miss out on a game I had been following during development (well, I guess I could have still ordered the DX edition), but because I'm really loving the game.
I compare the game to Power Drive Rally on the Jaguar and the Neo Geo racers like Thrash Rally and Neo Driftout instead of Micro Machines, which seems to be everyone else's main comparison, since those games are familiar to the people on the forum where I originally posted this and because they're better comparisons in my opinion.
My review:
Rush Rush Rally Racing is great. The main thing I was worried about was the controls. A lot of top-down racers can't seem to get the steering right so you're endlessly tapping back and forth left and right just to hold a straight line. Like Power Drive Rally (on the Jaguar, at least--the 16-bit versions actually have some of the worst controls) or the Neo Geo's top-down racers, though, RRRR manages to handle the steering very well so that even cornering is usually smooth. Though some turns do require (or at least strongly suggest) some quick dpad tapping and there's always a lot of brake tapping, this somehow feels totally natural to me, maybe just because the handling is well done throughout the rest of the game and honestly there's no other way it could be done digitally anyway.
The concept is a pure and simple arcade racer, the controls are loose, collisions don't slow you down much, there's no damage to your car, there's no tuning or upgrading parts, there's not even any shifting or any of that other mumbo jumbo. The goal--the whole game in fact--is just to muscle your way through opponent cars as fiercely as possible and fly through the tracks on the cleanest line you can manage. Or well, that's the goal for the single player mode, at least. The fact is, RRRR seems to be somewhat oriented towards multiplayer and I haven't had a chance to try it that way and probably never will, which kind of sucks. There's only one single player mode, but three multiplayer modes including one with items and weapons that are never available in the single player game. A single player item mode would have been nice (though I'm sure I would have still preferred the regular race mode), but what I really feel is missing is a time trial or preferably a ghost lap mode. That would have been an easy addition in terms of programming so I can only assume that they just didn't think of it, which is kind of inexcusable considering how long the game was in development. Still, there's four difficulty modes and five cars each with different handling (there's a few humorous unlockable cars like a tractor or a UFO, too, but apparently they can only be used in the multiplayer modes...), so I feel like there's enough replay value for me even in the one single player mode. I'm someone who just doesn't demand a lot of "content" from my video games if the gameplay is fun, though. I think most people these days would probably say the game doesn't offer a lot. It definitely does feel like an arcade game more than a console game, despite unlockables and achievements and some secrets and stuff. I'm just not very bothered by that.
Aside from the good controls, what really makes the game stand out for me is that it has good character. For instance, like any memorable racing game, the announcer has a speech impediment ("Fwee...Two...One...RUSH!"). Plus, it's got silly animated cut scenes, the bumpers on the side of the track say odd stuff or little in-jokes, the music (which is totally top-notch, by the way) gets muffled when you drive through a tunnel, there's shortcuts here and there which are usually well thought out (for instance, one involves a jump from a sand dune to a rooftop and then back onto the track). This kind of humour and attention to details really pushes the game ahead of the Neo Geo racers--which are quality, but lacking when it comes to the details--and even Power Drive Rally.
The graphics are really nice, too; simple and clean but still extremely lush and detailed. Everything is really bright and colorful and so well done that it just really pulls you in and makes you want to be in the game. The nighttime tracks are especially beautiful with really nice luminous lighting. The environments aren't quite as varied and interesting as Power Drive Rally, but they're nothing like the bare bones of Thrash Rally. There's often little groups of people off to the side of the road or wandering cows and even non-racing cars driving on some of the city highway sections. Like I said, with all that the world still still doesn't feel as populated as Power Drive Rally, but what's cool is that everything in RRRR is interactive; if you hit a person or a cow, you they scream or moo and get splattered across the road (actually, sometimes you just wing the pedestrians and then they'll be lying there in the road where you'll probably hit them again on your next lap--there's this one guy on one of the tracks that I always just wing every lap, so he lies there yelping in pain every time I go past him...it's fucking horrible and hilarious) or if you run into a parked car, it will roll off in whatever direction you hit it, the flower boxes and oil drums can be moved or broken up and so on.
My only other complaint besides the lack of a time trial mode is the fucking Dreamcast controller. What a piece of shit. In fact, while of course I love the Dreamcast, at this point I wish the game had just been released for PC. I hadn't even planned on hooking my Dreamcast up in my new apartment before I remembered about and got Rush Rush and while I love the game I'm positive I won't play it as much as I would if it was on my laptop with the other games I play all the time. Hell, I've been looking for a PC game exactly like this for the past couple years and there's just nothing (if only I could emulate the Jaguar version of Power Drive Rally). |
