Pro Rally (GC)
After the obnoxiously difficult driving school it’s a pretty good rally game. Perhaps a little easy after all that! Until you unlock and use Pro cars.
Collisions between cars are quite broken, particularly in Arcade mode which I guess is why they keep that locked for a good while?
Stage design is very good. Varied and no repeating patterns of track I could see. Locations are very different and have nice attention to detail with villages, train yards, harbours etc. Roadside objects are nice and varied enough, roadside cars and people are limited and do repeat. No water splash effects. Minimal destructive scenery. Would benefit from more environmental sounds. And more rumble. Looks good in 480p, 60fps, quite low resolution textures and polygons.
Driving School is a lot easier after extended play. But still way too strict. When I hit a cone give me a time penalty rather than instant fail.
There’s a bug where sometimes the menu doesn’t load after a race. Save often and don’t mute music (just have it low volume) seemed to help for me.
I got to 100% and it was thoroughly enjoyable, particularly the later half of Championship mode using a Pro car. Some of the most fun rallying I’ve had on any console.
Returning to diving school after completing championship was a lot more fun. I managed to get 10s and pass the target times in all events. Rain and Ice were a real challenge. But it was actually fun.
Somehow I have one unlocked car, Citroen II, and no idea how to unlock it. Probably multiplayer mode?
Anyway, I really enjoyed this game.
