Rallying is a motorsport built on fine margins. Whether it’s the seconds between victory and a second place finish, or the inches between a sturdy tree and the side of a car, you’re always on a knife edge. On one …
Rallying is a motorsport built on fine margins. Whether it’s the seconds between victory and a second place finish, or the inches between a sturdy tree and the side of a car, you’re always on a knife edge. On one side lies glory, on the other an awkward three-point-turn with the front of your car hanging off.
That’s something that Rush Rally Origins understands. No matter how well you’re doing, you can’t relax for a second. There’s always a sharp corner waiting, always a tree close enough to the edge of the track that a momentary lapse in concentration is going to ruin all of your hard work.
The game feels like a perfected version of the formula that the Rush Rally series has been working at for a few years now. It looks stunning, with dirt flying from the tracks, sparks firing from exhausts and rain and snow splashing down onto concrete and filth. There are two camera options – one that follows your car and the other that gives a shifting isometric perspective.
The controls are deceptively simple. You’ve got an accelerator and a brake, and two buttons to steer with in the default settings. You can swap this for a steering wheel or tilt steering, move the buttons around to suit your fingers and the screen, and even connect a gamepad.
You’ve got three different modes to choose from. Time Trial sees you trying to set the best time on a single stage and Race is all about taking on five other cars in a battle to the finish line. The heart of the game is the Championship, where you’re driving through multiple stages to get the best overall time.
The only real complaint we have about Rush Rally Origins is a lack of multiplayer. Being able to play asynchronous rallies with friends and strangers would have been brilliant, as would the chance to take them on in more straight-forward races. It’s a small niggle, and there are leaderboards and downloadable ghosts to challenge yourself against.
Rush Rally Origins is a polished, exciting, challenging driving game that balances you almost perfectly at the edge of your seat. After each session it feels like you need to pick the grit of the road out of your teeth, and that’s an achievement that deserves some recognition.
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