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V Rally 3, smells good, but the worst in rally simulation | | Brad Felizardo from Angola, Luanda says (16/Jan/2004): | _ Graphics _
Good, great graphics. It's amazing how this game still can be compared to games like Colin McRae 4, because it's old but still can be compared with that recent game. Why? Because those graphics are cool, and they apply some blur like effect on those tracks, and some cool car physics, that makes the game good on it's own when it comes to graphics. Cool menus, and previews too. You can really explore cars, but there are some errors, like almost everytime the front and rear part of the car is trembling, a critical attempt for realism.
_ Sound _
There isn't too much to talk about the sound, since almost all the rally games just take care of the sounds coming from the car. But there are some points, the co-driver is kindda annoying, and he isn't that accurate like the the 2 co-drivers of Colin 4, and a female co-driver could make the game greater. Hey, but V-Rally 3 smells good, i loved that preview with Stuntman's, if someone knows the title of that music please, email me at brad< remove me > at mundo-b.tk, and that one when you're choosing a car on time attack.
_ Gameplay _
Here comes the pain, when your car is on the road on V-Rally Mode prepare yourself to have sucessive headaches. But of course, the first ones are easy, but as you go far you better have in mind this things:
1. Better fix the steering sensisomething, and get used to the style of steering that you use.
2. Choose pain: re-insert memory card or ps2 reset button, you'll have to deal a lot with one of these, or maybe both...
3. Better get some wings.
It's easy, 1: Yes, you must fix that, because we all know how funny it is to steer in V-Rally, i mean we enjoy it, but at the same time gives us a great headache, and if you're searching for a rally game where cars are close to real, buy Colin 4, just compare the MG and other cars, drive MG on Colin 4 and V-Rally, you'll sure notice about the great differences. 2: But what they think? They think we are wisdoms or something? Not even the most maniac gamers are capable of finishing the game making all those sectors just green at the first time (some sectors are even impossible in real life, with critical and unreal design), if you fail a single route prepare yourself to reset the game or remove the memory card (a dangerous choice, but i'm sure you already made it...) to restart all the track, since Start+Select+L1/L2/R1/R2 doesn't work. 3: You're driving hitting 150 Kmh, you touch a simple ground elevation or a stone and watch how your car simply goes to the sky!! It makes sense since they are the makers of pathetic games like Stuntman where previews are better than the own game, but i hope they remember in next V-Rally editions that rally isn't for flying cars. And another thing, it's time to start to know Africa, Africa is big and not only made of deserts and things like that, so they make a stage of what they think of it and call it Africa! (The whole Africa is like that? How ridiculous!!), sincerely, they could call it Dakar or something. I'll give it a 8 because it is, like, original i think, whatever then.
| WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!! | | A gamer from Cuttingsville, VT USA says (2/Apr/2003): | This game is SO COOL!!!! once you get to 2.0L cars in carrere mode. The only really bad thing about this game is the jumps they are not very realistic. Right now i have a toyota ans it feel really fast, even though you only go about 110mph. Any way the corners in this game are cool. And if you are a redneck this is the game for you because if you are going fastenough you can actually hit a deer or anythis else that is in africa (i fliped my car is the championship so i dont know what is there.) Just buy it i give it a 9. Also this game has really good graphics the game play is allso really good if you are really good at the game and it doesent skip or freeze. this game follows another game i have World Rally Championship this game is alot better. So Cool
| It's Classic!!!! | | Unknown from Unknown says (13/Mar/2003): | With all of the racing games available for PlayStation 2, you might begin to wonder whether or not we really need another one. But when a racing game is as entertaining as V-Rally 3, you quickly realize that while the genre may be a bit cluttered, there is always room for another unique and entertaining racer.
What's different about V-Rally 3? What makes it stand out from the dozens of other racing games out there? A lot. First off, the different types of terrain realistically affect your steering capabilities. They don't just slightly alter or hinder your controls, they literally affect how well you are able to maneuver your vehicle. Mud is extremely slippery, creating a world of problems for the impatient type of player who loves to speed in and out of turns. Mud also increases your likeliness to spin out, and makes it a lot harder to navigate turns, even when driving at slower speeds. Snow is even slipperier. If you veer off course, your tires will be surrounded by deep piles of snow. Strangely, the snow-covered tracks have less turns, so they're actually easier to beat than those that just have dirt or gravel.
Vehicle damage isn't as visible as it is in other games, but the physical aftermath of a car crash -- weak or severe -- is outstanding. I'm amazed by how much depth the developers crammed into the physical aspects of the game. When banged around too much, tires will pop like balloons and fall off. Without every tire intact, driving is extremely difficult. Other parts of the vehicle can be damaged as well, in some cases to the point of a total breakdown. In that event, you'll be kicked out of the course and will not be allowed to finish the remaining races. Can you imagine what it would be like to make a sharp left turn without having both left tires? Chances are that whatever you can imagine is what happens in this game.
If you can manage to drive slow enough to make it out of the course, yet fast enough to be one of the top ranking racers, you'll be able to move onto the next course. But get this -- your vehicle's damage will carry over! Damaged tires won't be replaced; broken engines will not be fixed; and dented bumpers will be left to continue shaking until they eventually fall off.
As with any great racing simulator, it'll take you a good 60-90 minutes of practice before you fully get use to the terrain. The controls themselves are easy to learn, but every course has a unique layout (a major plus), and every locale has a different hazard to conquer (another plus). Although it could be beaten in a weekend (assuming you have an unlimited amount of time to play it), V-Rally 3 is not the type of game that you're going to finish very quickly.
V-Rally 3 has some of the best track designs I've seen in a long time. Each one is filled with its own set of twists, turns and dangerous areas, including a large number of cliffs with weak, easily destructible rails. Fly off a cliff and your car will be totaled. Period. There is no such thing as "try again" in this racer. Twists and turns are commonplace among rally racers, but rarely are they designed with as much care as the courses are here. The tracks are so good that they almost exceed the stellar designs from RalliSport Challenge! There's an incredible amount of depth in them, most of which will go unnoticed the first time through (mainly because you'll crash and fail to see the rest of each course).
The only part of the game that fails to really impress is the graphics. Somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 polygons were used to create every vehicle and it shows. The sun comes into perfect view in one of the latter courses, and if nothing else, it will blow you away. However, the rest of the game's visual effects are below the high standards of today's next-generation racing games. The cars look nice, but where are the real-time reflections? Clouds barely reflect off the side windows, but that's it. Trees can be seen popping up out of nowhere in the far off distance, indicating that pop-up has yet to be completely outlawed from the genre. The intentional fog effects aren't very effective; they tend to distract, not interact with the course.
V-Rally 3 is the best off-road racer you'll find on the PlayStation 2. Realism is emphasized the most in this game, though not to the extent where it becomes boring or unplayable. The physics engine is actually better than the one featured in RalliSport Challenge (one of my favorite Xbox games). It's a difficult, challenging ride, but it is definitely one you'll want to take for a spin.
Reviewer's Scoring Details
Gameplay: 8.5
V-Rally 3's racing physics are insanely realistic. Graphically, V-Rally 3 doesn't show that much realism, but physically it's at the top of its game. The controls seem a bit too complex at first, and almost come across as being a little unpolished. That's only because of all the depth that resides within them. Five minutes with V-Rally 3 will create nothing more than a poor impression, as this game's fun relies heavily on the player's skill. Even the most hardcore gamers will feel a little overwhelmed at first. 90 minutes into the game, all of that changed. V-Rally 3 no longer felt clunky or unbalanced. I began to appreciate the challenge of struggling to avoid even the most minor crashes, as one blown tire could ruin the whole race.
Graphics: 7
Nice-looking cars aren't enough to make V-Rally 3 a beautiful game.
Sound: 6.5
A usual collection of engine sound effects and typical racing music keep V-Rally 3's sound from standing out from the crowd.
Difficulty: Hard
V-Rally 3 isn't always hard, and it doesn't always feel like an extremely challenging game. Casual gamers could beat it, but players with the most experience will be the ones to conquer it first.
Concept: 7.8
V-Rally 3 doesn't do much that hasn't been done before...it just does everything better.
Multiplayer: 7.9
The multiplayer mode is a lot of fun (and allows four players to race simultaneously!), but it's not as spectacular as the single-player V-Rally mode.
Overall: 8.5
Rally fans should not miss this one. They don't even have to question its quality by renting it first -- it's that good. Like I said before, a quick test drive is not enough to form an opinion of this game. It's very time-consuming and takes quite a bit of patience at first. But it's worth it.
| Va Va Voom | | Denny from UK says (3/Feb/2003): | I thought this was one of those games that no matter how much i tried to put it down my playstation just wanted me to pick it back up. I ended up playing the game for a great lenght of time, just because i enjoyed it so much, the graphics are great and the game play is even better, Ok the handling is not the best in world but if you have ever been rally driving it is about the same. i am currently playing it with the sterring wheel but its is just as good with the controller. Well worth the £10 i paid for it.
| Good game bad handeling!! | | hello from springfield, USA says (26/Dec/2002): | It has very great graphics. It's a really good rally game the only problem I found was the handeling. Lets just say its going to take you a while to get used to it. If you love rally then you will love the game even though the handeling isn't great!! Rent first before you buy.
| Good game bad handeling!! | | hello from springfield, USA says (26/Dec/2002): | It has very great graphics. It's a really good rally game the only problem I found was the handeling. Lets just say its going to take you a while to get used to it. If you love rally then you will love the game even though the handeling isn't great!! Rent first before you buy. The sound is very good it makes you feel like you're really there. The different views that you can get in the car a really cool, because on one of the views you can actually see the mud on the windshield if there is mud, so its like your really there.i would not suggest buying for people who are not into rally racing. For any of you who don't know rally racing does not involve competitors
on the track with you. You have to finish that stage as fast as you can to get placings. In rally racing you have a co-driver telling you how to turn and how fast to go, and its very important to the game because they don't give you a map you have to listen to your co-driver. Whats also very cool is that you could fall off cliffs. Overall good game for PS2!!!!
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