SORE THUMBS - Video Game Review (DC)
Sega Rally 2 - "Slippin' & Slidin'."
by Charlie Baird

To insure that you, our faithful reader, are kept current in the world of automotive video games, the staff at Auto Insight endure great pains to research upcoming releases, analyze product viability, hunt and peck through an endless deluge of titles, and cipher the data mined through grueling hours of scrutiny.

Just ask any of the navy and khaki cadets manning their UPC guns, like sentries, at the Blockbuster near my house. If prodded just enough, I’m sure they could recall the hours I have hovered in the video game section, frozen in a death-grip of indecision. Well, you’d have to employ a liberal application of the ol’ cattle prod, but they’d come around eventually.

That aside, when I finally uncovered which two Blockbusters carried games for the Sega Dreamcast platform, I was, to say the least, more than a wee bit unnerved by the anorexic number of games they carried. There was a meager 25 titles (approximately), and only eight of those were still in stock.

The best of the litter was Sega’s own Sega Rally 2 Championship. I popped the game in and was disappointed by the lack of a trailer and a menu that offered only a handful of game modes. The latter includes “Arcade”, with championship and practice modes; “10 Year Championship”, each year with 4 tracks of increasing difficulty; “Time Attack”, race to set the quickest time; and “2 Player Battle”, allows for split-screen racing for two.

Regardless of what mode you opt for, you have choices for eight cars initially, with more appearing as you progress through the 10 Year Championship. In all there are 19 cars to choose from. Alas, achieving the luxury of all 19 cars involves more than just finishing 40 races. You have to finish well.

Regardless of what mode of game play you delve into, you have options on car models, car settings, race track, and track setup. The car choices are as you would suspect in a rally game: Lancia, Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc. The options for car adjustment are also within a range of predictability: gear ratio, suspension, steering, tire type, and one of the more innovative inclusions: co-driver.

Yes, for those of you who prefer a soothing feminine tone offering terrain tips and cornering advice to that of a sturdy male, you can select the sex of your navigator. Unfortunately, though, unless you are terribly fond of the sound produced by motorized dental instruments, opting for the female is out. And unless you’ve thought that a recording of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ Blue Ranger might help you concentrate, give up on the male voice as well.

Worst of all, this co-driver isn’t even helpful on a third of the turns. The road before you contracts into a blind turn. As with any turn, the co-drivers voice pipes in with, “200 long easy right.”

The 200 is the distance to the turn in meters, long refers to the length of the turn, easy illuminates the severity of the turn, and right is, obviously, the direction of the bend.

But at the next twist you hear, “100 long medium left maybe.”

The reference guide defines “maybe” as “supplementary information about the bend.” So by extension, when my better half asks me what time I plan to be home from work next Tuesday and I reply, “I don’t know. 7, maybe.” I suppose I’m giving her supplementary information about my schedule?

What it actually means in both cases is that the only certainty lies in the fact that the answer given is the wrong answer.

I’m not a big fan of inane patter while I’m trying to drive, so it would have been nice to see an option for no voice, switching instead to road side visual aids only. Then again, they would only serve as obstacles as I pulled a power-slide through turns. I suppose, foreseeing such a dilemma, Sega included an option to adjust the volume of these voices, but for me, part of the charm of the game was the comic relief offered by these idiosyncrasies.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Overall, Sega Rally’s playability hovers over the center lane. There are places where it could use a little improvement. In Arcade and 2-Player modes, there is no option to adjust the car’s settings. There is no reverse gear. There is no control to look behind you as you race (not even a rear-view mirror, ala Gran Turismo). Overall, the most disappointing aspect (or beautiful, depending on your skill level) is the game’s refusal to allow the cars to spin around backwards.

I tried, I mean really tried, to pull a 360. I thought, “Hey, I’m going 160 mph on dirt and mud. Spinning this bad boy around should be a cakewalk.” Not so. “Maybe, then, a delicate little 180.” Ha. Getting the car to face in the wrong direction was about as delicate a move as Louie Anderson playing hopscotch.

After playing Sega Rally for a spell, I thought that a little Gran Turismo 2 would put things into perspective. When the race-time graphics came up, I was immediately stricken by the notion that there was something gravely amiss within the inner-workings of my ocular relay system. Relief came shortly with the realization that the problem was not eye-related, but platform-specific.

Sega Rally has taken steps to utilize the Dreamcast’s graphics engine and it shows, with graphics that are giant steps ahead of Playstation and Nintendo 64. Some enhancements are much more subtle than others, and are likewise hard to catch as you haul ass through digital bogs and burgs. With neat little additions such as gallery flashbulbs, roadrunners flitting across desert roads, and safety cones that scatter, holus-bolus, as you plow through the Riviera, Sega’s attention to detail is evident.

Another feature that increases the game’s realism is the environmental effects that periodically pop up. Rain, snow, fog, and the spray lifted behind speeding cars can drastically affect the drivers reaction time and ability to plan a course of action.

By far the most disappointing feature was the sound. I don’t expect a lot by way of accompaniment, but what I do expect is to not be annoyed. I touched on the navigator voices earlier, but a larger problem is the background music.

To say that the music is a study in droning melodies is to pay a great disservice to industrial engines, ceiling fans and Ben Stein. As if scored by Porky Pig, Sega Rally stutters through what seems like a mere eight bars of electric guitar whammy bar trills followed by another eight bars of variations on the same. Think about a cartoon version of Eddie Van Halen, a little less virtuosity and a little more boring. Now divide the quality of what you’ve imagined by two and cut and paste it to form a mind-numbing continuum of banal fret board doodling. I know, “Why not just adjust the background music in the game options?” Because they are all similarly insipid and without fail resemble the product of a Yngwie Malmsteen/Judas Priest/Phillip Glass collaboration.

Sound appealing?

It isn’t. At least it is lower in the sound mix than the navigational “helper,” but that’s no bonus either.

I know it sounds like I hate the game. I don’t. It’s enjoyable and is sure to draw me away from more important work for months to come. But at the same time, it isn’t as satisfying as other racers. Richard S. K. Bachman has a term for this situation: “All hat and no cattle.” That pretty much sums up the game. It’s challenging, for the most part well-executed, and has long-term draw, but it needs a few more passes on the whet rock before it’s sharp enough to cut through its competitors’ leading products.

 

Panel	Graphics	Sound	Playability	Replayability
Eric Schofield Editor-In-Chief	9	5.5	7.5	7
	The Dreamcast certainly provides a feast for the eyes! Chocolate - chocolate - chocolate... oh yeah, that’s really mud you’re sliding in! The graphics in SR2 are rich with detail, the animation provides great frame rates with no slow down and the attention to detail is top notch. Rain and snow looked realistic and bystanders even pop a few flash photography shots as you go zooming by! What a smorgasbord for the eyes!	Sound & music are certainly the Achilles heal of SR2. The music was blasé and was not any better than the original Daytona USA game for the Sega Saturn. The cars sounded almost identical to each other and the crashes emitted a dull “thud.” With as much sliding and mud slinging that goes on in rally racing, Sega should’ve spiced up the sound track with better music. At least the theme song from the NFL( would ad some drama! (grin)	Overall, the playability of SR2 was very good. I liked using the triggers on the controllers to control acceleration and braking. The fact that the triggers are analog allows you to be very precise with how much you stomp on the gas and brake. The game babys you too much though - you can’t lose control of your car into a 360 degree spin and if you really turn your ass sideways into a rail, there’s no reverse so you just have step on the gas & keep slamming into the rail while turning the wheel hard.	SR2 kept me captivated for several weeks and it’s certainly fun battling a friend in 2-player mode. You’ll want to have a memory card handy though. Playing the “10 Year Championship” is a lot of fun but if you ever fail to qualify for a race, you’ve got to start over again and that’ll drive you whacky in no time! There’s enough customization to keep the casual racer happy but once you’ve conquered the game a few times, the limited car and track selections will send this title to the shelf for a long time.
Gary Briddle Account Manager	9	6	8	7
	The graphics in SR2 are detailed and vibrant. I may venture to say that they border on awesome. Attention to detail such as adverse weather conditions, spectators clicking off a flash bulb, wildlife fleeing the race track and a totally ass whooping frame rate make SR2 stand out!	The sound could definitely use some juicing up. The music is boring, and the cars in general all sound the same. There was nothing special about the sound. A fast game like this needs a little hard rock and roll.	The playability of SR2 is somewhat of a roller-coaster ride. The cars are extremely responsive (which is great) but the game doesn’t allow you to make too many mistakes. Just bump and slide – bump and slide. I’d prefer to be penalized more for my pigheaded refusal to let up on the gas! High risk maneuvers deserve great rewards if performed properly as much as great failures deserve spin-outs and crashes.	The replayability is average. I seem to be drawn more to the 2 player battle as I am always searching for a new victim to race. The replayability would be much improved if SR2 had a wider array of cars from which to choose.
Troy Parrott Marketing Manager	9.5	6.5	7	7
	Even though this was the 1st racing game I’ve played since my days at Chuckie Cheese, I was extremely impressed with the graphics in the game. The approaching scenery had a very realistic effect - I only wished I could have peered into the cars that I passed to see their reaction as I threw mud in their path. This newer generation of game system provides great visuals with little pixelation.	There is definitely some room for improvement in this category. Other than the occasional shriek of ‘Oh No!’ by the co-driver voice (I myself was yelling 4-letter expletives) when I crashed into yet another guardrail, the music and sound effects were very bland. It would be nice to hear a few screams from the bystanders that I nearly took out, or the occasional engine explosion after a wreck.	Is it just me or am I just a bad driver? Driving in mud was never meant to be easy though so my struggles to advance through the later rounds of the “10 Year Championship” may be typical for many players. The controls were responsive but I struggled to keep the car on the road.	This is a game that showcases the graphical improvement over previous generation game systems - and it’s only going to get better. This game makes you want to play ‘one more time’ so that you can finally master that snowy track in Sweden or the sand in the Sahara. My wife enjoyed witnessing my frustratoin but now that she is asleep in bed, I may just sneak back in there and try it again. SR2 doesn’t allow for enough customization for my liking but there are numerous settings that will keep the game interesting for quite some time.
Lane Singletary Design Editor	9	4	6	3
	The graphics in Sega Rally 2 are pretty awesome. The sharpness and unpixelated quality really stand out in this game. The detail in the tracks and their environments are portrayed quite well. Racing in snow, mud, rain or desert keep the game interesting and challenging. The number of racing vehicles are limited to only a few manufacturers but each is well equipped with different parts and individual modifications.	To be honest, the sound effects suck a big one. Most of the cars sound alike and do not have any individual character. It is missing the loud, forceful, high reving sounds that most race cars make. The sound track is ok, but could be better if they used more mainstream music.	I have played many racing video games and this one ranks pretty low. I was a little disapointed in the fact that Sega Dreamcast would put out such a crappy racing game. The graphics are great put I just got bored with it. It seem like each race on the 10 year championship mode was just alike. The tracks and environment were different but the racing in each one felt the same. Don’t get me wrong, the game is not easy, it just felt like I was drivng a boat with wheels. Finally, forget using the brakes just powerslide your way around the tracks.	I really had to make myself play this game again and again. Maybe it was the lack of cars to choose from or I was judging it against the playability of another racing game that we recently reviewed(GT2). The graphics are great to look at and make it easier to play but in my opinion the game was boring and it didn’t keep me up all night with “sore thumbs”.