Jamie C
Reviewed on PC
Review Code Provided by Publisher
At Caiminds we tend to avoid reviewing early access games, especially from games from lesser-known publishers and developers with the understanding that lower budgets can mean games will take a little longer than others to reach their full potential. Well, I’ve spent months dipping in and out of #DRIVE Rally and I can confidently say, this game’s potential is nowhere in sight and I don’t think it will ever be there.
Out of the gate, #DRIVE Rally’s has gone with a quirky low polygon art style that does wonders for this game. It really does give you a sense you are about to play a game that been taken right out of the mid 90s. But that is unfortunately where the charm ends.
When I first received a review code for the game, the co-pilots, didn’t work as intended but I am happy to confirm the voice ques are now mostly working. Occasionally, I would get a wrong call but that doesn’t matter too much anyway as it is very easy to see far ahead of you. In fact, I would argue with the design choice they were going for, the occasional wrong call adds to the game’s charm and I hope they keep this in to some extent. Having a punny and snappy sounding Co-Pilot was a great idea on paper, but the execution does come off as borderline offensive. Featuring an airheaded bimbo personality who talks too much and an Asian man who speaks with a stereotypical Chinese accent with references to movies. I know they were going for a retro games feel, but some quirks should remain in the past. Thankfully there is a way to turn off the co-pilots “unique quirks”. In the options menu you can change the co-pilot to “emotional”, “Standard”, or Off. With emotional being the default option, I feel this leaves a very bad first impression and of the opinion they should scrap these voice lines entirely.
It should probably be worth noting that this is the 2nd game in the #DRIVE series. With the first, simply titled “#DRIVE” and is a mobile exclusive. With this 2nd entry, you can tell this is a mobile game at its core and that is made apparent with how the game handles. For an arcade style of rally racing game, the controls are perfectly serviceable, however it just feels cheap. Long bends are where the game shines and actually feels very satisfying to see and feel your rally car go round a dirt bend.
When it comes to breaking or crashing, the car just stops… as in, stops dead. It feels very unnatural and to make matters worse, if you crash in a particular angle, you have to perform a 50-point turn just to get out of the clipped through barrier. It’s actually faster to just reset the car back onto the track but we shouldn’t need to rely on this feature. I understand with the budget and even the art style they were going for, they never intend to go for a realistic rally sim, but there is a point where polish should be here, even at this stage of Early access.
Cars need the feeling of weight behind them and everything here feels too light and fragile. Using SEGA Rally as an example, every turn and break felt natural even in an arcade environment. You felt that if you took the corner at the wrong time or speed, the car would kick out too much, or not enough. With #DRIVE Rally, it’s as simple as breaking dead to make the corner every time, even tapping the break to try and simulate that loose grip you are looking for in a rally game, it sandly doesn’t work out as you hope.
As you progress through the game, you can unlock more cars at higher speeds and the handling begins to feel more like what you would expect. Unfortunately, the first impressions that the basic handling offers, doesn’t drive confidence that the rest of the cars is worth the short grind. If anything, the lower tier cars should be over/understeering all over the place to make the higher tier cars, worth the grind to get more speed and better handling. There is car customisation but this only changes the design of the cars, which this is a welcomed addition even if it doesn’t allow changes to the gameplay.
The Championship is the meet and bones of this game, with the usual quick play as an option too. I would’ve liked more variety to the layout of the game, such as hazards like water, jumps and terrain changing the car’s handling. Right now when cars move from gravel, to dirt, to tarmac, the cars don’t feel any different and is off putting. The developers are still working on the game and constantly new content to the game, so there is hope hazards and terrain handling changes will be added at a later date.
While I will not be providing an official score due to it being an Early Access title, I can confidently say; in its current state, there isn’t much I can recommend at this point. For a similar price, there are much better titles out there that fill that retro rally racing itch and this unfortunately isn’t it.
