The career continues on in this manner, alternating rallies with practice days, challenges, rest days and trips to the garage with an almost overwhelming amount of content. While it is far more accessible than comparable rally racers, this is still a game for patient players that are willing to take the time to master a difficult challenge. Too much of one and the other goes out the window, and finding the sweet spot in the middle is deeply challenging, but also greatly rewarding. It turns out that the racing in WRC 8 is a wrestling match between speed and navigation. Gut check: It took me five tries to place out of last place. ![]() It is here that the real meat of WRC 8 becomes apparent, as the player races through four stages, placing for time out of 12 competitors. The first rally begins the next day, and after the extreme racing challenge, this snow-laden course is a welcome relief. I finally managed to beat it, but it took about fifteen tries. The game asks the player to navigate a series of difficult turns in a savagely brief amount of time. The car you are driving is damaged beyond belief. The player is placed on a winding road in the dark, with rain pouring on the windshield and the headlights only lighting the smallest bit of the road in front of you. These occur throughout the game, but this first one is probably the most memorable, due to the shock value. I managed steering by resorting to a series of taps on the left DualShock stick, realizing that if I tried to steer with smooth motions I would invariably steer off the road.īefore the first rally begins, WRC tortures the player with an “extreme racing challenge”, which is hilariously difficult. I finally settled on a more measured approach to the gas, relying on the brakes far more than I ever have in games past. This, of course, results in miserable failure in WRC 8. My instinct in any racing game is to jam on the gas, only letting off a little to go around curves. You can circle around endlessly if you like, so I did. The career kindly starts the player out with a few practice days, letting you take your car around a series of basic tracks to get the feel of things. And even with all of those meters and doodads turned down to “Easy”, I still found WRC to be very, very challenging once I got behind the wheel. I opted for the “Junior WRC” career path, as the more advanced option was entirely too intimidating. ![]() In other Rally games (ahem.DiRT…ahem), the complex structure of teammates and employees and schedules caused me to bounce like a shiny nickel, but WRC 8 takes the time to explain how these mechanics are important to the overall experience in a way that actually makes the proceedings feel accessible. The game walked me through the beginnings of the career mode, taking the time to explain what exactly was going on. The first time I logged into WRC 8 the game presented me with a series of options, allowing me to crank every setting down to “Easy” or “Beginner”. ![]() What hooked me into WRC 8 was the fact that the game allowed for me to be a noob without taunting or punishing me. ![]() Attempting a standard handbrake turn in WRC is buying a cheap ticket for a quick trip off a cliff. I much prefer arcade racers that let me jam on the magic handbrake and drift for miles on end. The “racing on ice skates” gameplay typically rubs me the wrong way, as the lack of decent control seems at odds with the goal of going fast. It is important for me to point out that I have very little real-world knowledge of rally racing and have traditionally steered clear from rally video games. It is the Dark Souls of racing games, but I hate it so much less than Dark Souls. No matter how soundly WRC 8 kicks my ass, I keep coming back for more. I have no idea what magic is hiding underneath the hood of Kylotonn’s rally racer, but whatever it is, it has me hooked in a strange masochistic cycle of videogame punishment. Frankly, I am lucky to finish an event at all, because my OCD need-to-succeed has me constantly quitting and restarting halfway through, as I just know that “I can do better than that”.Īnd yet, I have had a great time with WRC 8. I don’t mind admitting that over my 25 or so hours with WRC 8, I have improved only incrementally.
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