art of rally

art of rally was reviewed on a PS4

Shred up the tracks in Funselektor’s spiritual successor to the highly entertaining Absolute Drift. A racing game that’s so wonderfully crafted it leaves most other AAA racing games in the dust. Racing down Kenyan dirt tracks while getting lost in the heart pumping electronic tracks is an engrossing way of experiencing the fast-paced art of rally racing.

What is art of rally?

art of rally is obviously a rally game, featuring a large roster of cars to unlock, a large number of tracks to unlock and a free roaming mode that lets you sharpen your corner turning skills to your heart’s desire. The game’s high camera angle is the perfect middle ground between the traditional behind-the-car camera angle and the top down camera.

It allows you to appreciate the game’s cel-shaded and low-poly vibrant art style while at the same time providing you with a wide enough view of the upcoming corners. As such, the lack of a mini-map doesn’t hinder your ability to prepare for the next corner. Any upcoming turns or curves are clearly visible for you, allowing you to concentrate all your efforts into handling the car.

Trees are not your friends says the looming Buddha-like figure at the beginning of your rallying journey. art of rally doesn’t waste any of your time as it immediately throws you in Finland for a bit of free roaming so you can wrap your head around its controls and the cars’ physics. Unlocking the next free roam map requires you to collect the letters R A L L Y that are spread out in the map.

Easy to learn, hard to master

art of rally Retains most of what made Absolute Drift entertaining, and just like Absolute Drift, it takes quite a while to master the controls. Don’t let the low-poly art style fool you. Despite being accessible to any novice racers, art of rally is in no way an arcade racer. There’s plenty of difficulty options to tweak and customize, so even an amateur racer will find it enjoyable. Removing each of these options adds a new layer of challenge for any players that are brave enough.

The controls are tight and requires you to handle the controller with a certain nuance, as you often need to make slight adjustments to prevent your car from spinning out. It’s easy to overdo it when turning around a sharp corner. The game does require some patience and a lot of skill, but it all pays off in the end when you’re sliding around corners with the pumped up electronic soundtrack blaring into your ears.

There’s no licensed cars but the roster presented here are in fact inspired by real life rally cars so it doesn’t really detract from the overall experience. Each car has its own stats and handles differently. Driving the notorious Group B cars (that were never banned in the game’s world) is exciting. Handling so much horsepower has never been more entertaining.

I never knew what a Group B was before playing art of rally. Thankfully, though, I learned all about the history of Rally in the game’s lengthy career mode. Sadly, though, because of the game’s minimalistic style, most of the tracks do end up being forgettable. The lack of any memorable landmarks in particular can make the design of the roads a bit bland.

It might seem like I’m nitpicking, but one particular thing that I disliked about the game is that art of rally isn’t as seamless as Absolute Drift. What I mean by that is that there’s no way to access the events in free roam mode. I for one loved that Absolute Drift had all of its modes separated with one large hub area instead of having to go back to the main menu to switch modes. In art of rally, each time you want to do a time trial, or switch the map in free roam, you have to go back to the main menu, which can honestly become frustrating during longer sessions.

Overall,

It’s easy to get lost in the stylish presentation of Art of Rally, the synth heavy soundtrack and the minimalistic low-poly visuals with the bright vibrant colors really makes the game pop. I’d be doing a disservice to the game if I don’t mention as well its glorious photo mode. It enables you to take some of the most gorgeous screenshots you’ll ever see in a videogame, effortlessly.

Six Free roam maps, plenty of cars to unlock, a lengthy career mode, and a time trial mode all make art of rally a hefty package that more than deserves your hard-earned money. Not to mention the slew of difficulty options that makes the game accessible to any rally fans, whether they are total amateurs or pro racers, art of rally is sure to please any rally fan.

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Special thanks go to Funselektor Labs inc. for providing us with a review code.

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You should play art of rally if you

• Are a fan of rally racing
• Love the game’s low-poly visual style
• Don’t mind the repetitiveness of some of the stages
• Love to try out a large assortment of rally cars
• Love an accessible yet challenging racing game

art of rally Score

8.5/10