Sega Rally Championship 1995 (aka Sega Rally) was undoubtedly one of the most prolific 90s arcade cabs, and along with it’s superb Saturn port, it is remembered fondly by many as a genre-defining masterpiece with lashings of that arcade magic that few but Sega are able to create. It was the game where Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez, Space Channel 5, Lumines) cut his teeth, and is still a blast to play today despite it’s early 32-bit graphics. The budget PC version can be picked up for a quid and is thoroughly recommended to the Saturn-less and the great unwashed.
Rosy specs aside, last year’s Japan-only PS2 release, Sega Rally 2006 was a huge disappointment. It didn’t take the game anywhere new, had shoddy visuals and its inclusion of a perfect port of the far-superior original game only served to show how lacking it was. That said, at least it didn’t tear apart the core Sega Rally formula which could have been even more upsetting for fans.
Last E3 SEGA announced that the awkwardly titled Sega Rally Revo is in development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, from Sega’s brand new UK-based Racing Studio. According to SEGA the game will feature “revolutionary dynamically deformable terrain”, so basically we should expect a lot of mud, gravel, snow and dust effects, with proper ruts in the courses on repeated contact with tyres, which seems like an obvious and justified design decision. The effects of different surfaces on your car’s handling and behaviour was Sega Rally’s most revolutionary aspect and has been important in every competing rally game since. It appears that this will be taken a step further in Revo, with the ruts created by both yours and your opponent’s cars actually having a physical effect on the handling. The effects of different weather conditions on the terrain and incredibly realistic physics are also being emphasised. If all this is pulled off well, every lap could turn out to be a little different to traverse from the last for a subtle but important increase in depth that an old game like this needs.
Online play on all formats is highly likely although so far only online ‘components’ are confirmed. Split screen is assured, thankfully. As far as single player game modes, little has been said but it can be expected that arcade and some sort of career mode will be available, alongside a wealth of authentic, licensed cars. With any luck the team will focus on perfecting a few tracks rather than churning out a lot of dull ones as was done by the 2006 team.
We have a very good feeling about this rendition, however little we’ve seen of it so far. The screens released are gloriously colourful and there’s even a helicopter swooping into one of them which speaks volumes about the direction the game’s development is going. With a good balance of fresh new advancements and nostalgia, solid online play and the classic jingles, this could potentially be the arcade racing event of the year.
Originally Written By: Edward
