art of rally Review

Art of rally is a racing simulator where you can drive around across 72(!) different stages including Finland to Sardinia, Norway, Japan, Germany, and Africa. The game features racing-sim like mechanics for a close to life realistic experience.

The game offers a decent variety of cars ranging from the ’60s to the ’80s divided into different classes: Group S, A, B, 2, 3, and 4. Career mode will feature a different year and event. Each period will contain a handful of events to complete and as you accumulate wins, you’ll unlock the next one to unlock new rides and areas.

Once you’re done with Career mode, or you simply need a bit of a change of pace, the game also offers a handful of additional game modes. You can try to beat your time in Time Attack, do Custom rally events, take your skills online, or simply drive around with no pressure in Free Roam mode. The latter does have a Tony Hawk Pro Skater-esque aspect to it as you’ll be required to collect various collectibles such as the Rally letters and specific photos. You can also take advantage of the game’s Photo mode to create beautiful art.

The game does have a unique visual design that looks like everything is made from paper; which is actually refreshing in terms of presentation. The oblique, Diablo-like camera does feel a bit odd for a racing game, a genre where the camera is normally set behind the vehicle. The driving feels stiff and slippery. While I’m not a huge rally fan, I don’t recall racers having to come to a near dead stop to take a curve.

The game’s main issue is the steep learning curve. While the developers were aiming for a sim experience, the cars are still incredibly stiff to drive and when driving on anything other than roads/dirt, it feels like you’re driving on ice. It also forces players to constantly replay the same tracks over and over for practice. This can make the experience overly tedious. The soundtrack is soothing synthwave like score that feels a bit contradictory to the game’s racing experience.

art of rally is a beautiful, unique looking racer that’s perfect to gawk at; the environments are beautiful, color and lush. However, the gameplay is a mix of stiff and slippery; roads feel fair, but any other surface feels like ice making sliding out of control too easy. The steep learning curve my drive away a few players, but those who stick with it, will find a rewarding experience. Or you can also just spend hours away in Photo mode.