Rallisport Challenge 2

It's not going to win any awards as a simulation. But if you are looking for a gorgeous, fast, smooth and rewarding arcade racing game, then look no further than Rallisport Challenge 2.

There are few games around these days that look as good as Rallisport Challenge 2. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The UK rally stages in particular, with their golden autumnal trees, leaves on the road that are kicked up by passing cars and rolling fields are breathtaking. One might argue that Colin McRae 4's car models are better, but the overall look of RSC2 is streets ahead of its Codemasters rival. Each stage is packed with detail and lush vegetation, swaying grass and trees and even wildlife. The weather effects are good too, both fog and rain aren't simple graphical effects but appear as rolling mist and sheets of water respectively. The representation of muddy rutted track ways is the best I've seen in a rally game, with puddles of water featuring reflections. Coupled with the very strong joypad vibration these muddy sections are very convincing.

Nighttime races can be problematic due to the weakness of the car headlights. They certainly don't illuminate much of the road and if they are damaged the player has to struggle along in near dark. This isn't helped by a co-driver that calls too late, sounds uninterested, and a lot like Richard Burton reading Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. Thankfully the graphical options allow for some tinkering with the HUD, the player can choose to display a course map that makes it possible to drive fast in near dark and win some otherwise scary stages.

Should events go awry and the car leave the road the player is treated to an excellent real-time damage system. Big crashes automatically shift the view to an outside camera so the player can see the car rolling, door flinging open, windows smashing, pieces falling off etc. More could have been made of the damage system, as it is more of a graphical effect than something that has an effect on progress. It's possible to wreck the car to a state of undeniable uselessness, yet it will drive pretty much the same. While we're on the subject of leaving the road, the game is harsh when it comes to resetting the play on the track once they've gone off-road. Many a time I would be in the situation where I've gone slightly the wrong way and was just getting my bearings, only to be forced back onto the track. I can understand why this is the case, to prevent online cheating and the taking of short cuts. But I can't see a reason for this to be the same in the single player game.

As one might expect from Microsoft Game Studios this is another game with a really solid implementation of Xbox Live, just as good as Project Gotham Racing. In fact, despite the different developer, RSC2 feels like a companion game to PGR2 - PGR Goes Country perhaps. You might wonder how multiplayer races work on very narrow rally tracks. Well it's pretty simple. Up to four cars can race on one circuit with the ability to clatter into each other. However, for races up to 16 players the other cars exist as ghost vehicles that can be driven through, with the overall aim of each player to post the best time with no ability to knock rivals off the track. It sounds odd but it works and even the races with just four solid cars are great fun. RSC2 is one of the best games I've played in terms of Live integration. One can check the friends list or tune the car even while a race is loading. It's little touches like this that make Rallisport Challenge such a great game.

It's not going to win any awards as a simulation. But if you are looking for a gorgeous, fast, smooth and rewarding arcade racing game, then look no further than Rallisport Challenge 2. Yet again, we are treated to a game that takes full advantage of the Xbox's graphical horsepower and delivers thrills aplenty in a rather gorgeous package.