WRC 3 Preview
WRC 3
There has been a drought on quality rally games for consoles of late. Yes, Colin McCrae and the attached franchise are great games, but they seem to have lost their authentic, true rallying styles. So, it’s down to Milestone Games to have a third attempt at getting the Official WRC Rally licensed game right and ready to take on the big boys.
For those who may not remember, the WRC games started life many years ago on the Playstation console, progressed to the Playstation 2 (where they were pretty decent rally games) and moved onto todays consoles. However, they’ve always lived in the shadow of the Colin McCrae “Dirt!” games, and for good reason.
The first two WRC games on the PS3 and Xbox360 were not bad games, they were just not polished. The graphics were very hit or miss, no-where near as polished as this generation of racing games should be, and the way the cars handled was just not acceptable when compared to other racing games. There were problems with turning the vehicles, problems with braking, and the whole experience was ruined by twitchy controls that really should not have been there.
So it comes to the third instalment, WRC 3, and things this time are looking a lot more impressive than on the previous two games. The graphics engine (their “Spikengine”) has been totally reworked, and the game now looks like a current generation game, landscapes are crisp with plenty of detail and there is no slow-down or other such annoyances. As for the control, this has also been tweaked, and a few laps around some of the courses had me grinning with excitement as these cars actually handle well and allow you to enjoy the racing without being hindered by a lousy control system.
What have we got to look forward to in WRC 3? Well, for starters as its the official WRC game you can expect 13 locations around 83 stages. The game has the full 54 Official teams, so there’ll be plenty of choice to play with the team you want. They have also thrown in 5 Super Special Stages into the game. On paper it all sounds mouth-watering, and from my early plays with the game it really is mouth-watering!
The game will feature single player modes such as Single Stage, Single Rally, Championship, Hot Seat and a brand new Career Mode. The Career Mode is a mix of racing and management, and all this is set to a whole host of challengers that are set for the player. It seems that Milestone really wants to get this game right and offer a lot of options, and there are plenty of options. Most of the stages can be also be played in multiplayer online mode too. WRC 2012 also brings Brand new Career mode, Rallye Monte-Carlo, VW Polo R WRC – Exclusive!, Brand new routes for 7 Rallyes ,Brand new Co-Driver voiceover. WRC really gives you a lot of scope to play with, so let’s hope the final release lives up to its promises and we can enjoy driving the 37 officially licensed cars that are on offer.
Initial impressions of the game are very positive. Milestone have looked at the competition, looked at the previous two WRC games and really re-worked the entire game. The demo is available to download now to make up your own mind on what you think of the game. One tip for those who may have a little problem driving through the narrow streets, in the options turn on the “stability control”, and things are a lot easier to control.
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Mark Adams
@markyboyo
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