Rally Championship is really an arcade racing game, but the driving models are extremely well done. Vehicles handle as you'd expect them to in the snow, sliding and slipping around corners when they go too fast. Gravel is less dramatic, as it should be. Each car can be tweaked. Gear ratios, tires, suspension, steering and brakes can all be modified on each of the six different cars on the menu. Incidentally, those cars are as follows...
Each car is more appropriate than another for certain conditions and courses, but most can be mastered for all courses once you've played through them enough times. There are four different modes of solo play. Championship takes you through all 28 stages over four legs. This mode is limited in what options you can choose, because it could affect the overall difficulty of the mode. This is the toughest mode. Arcade mode simply separates the 28 stages and cuts them up into four different levels of increasing difficulty. There's a Time Trial mode and an Individual mode, both of which allow you to choose any of the 28 courses. The latter mode also gives you the option to choose road width (Wide, Medium and Narrow). This is, more or less, a difficulty option. As the road narrows, it's nearly impossible to pass some of the competition, most of which is fairly good. Although it's an arcadey game, the "AI" is very competitive -- certainly competitive enough to keep you on your toes.
Damage modeling is incorporated. Exhaust, turbo, windscreen, gearbox, steering, brakes, suspension and a few other things can... go wrong. Depending on the degree of damage, you'll have to repair your vehicle. This makes it a little more like a simulation than the mindless arcade racer it seems to be. Also impressive, this game ships with a real manual -- something you won't find in a box very often these days.
Network-play is supported via IPX, so you can race with friends over a LAN, or via modem. Installation is a breeze. It's a DOS title, but it installs like a Win95 title so setup is hassle-free. RC is well worth the price of admission. It's not 3Dfx enhanced and it doesn't promise any mind-blowing innovations, but it's a lot of fun.
DEMO
You can download a demo of this game from here: (18 Mb)
ftp://ftp.vie.com/pub/demos/rally.zip
Europress
CHEATS
PATCHES
LINKS TO OTHER NETWORK Q-RAC RALLY SITES
Eurpress UK Site
http://www.dreamland.co.uk/isr/reviews/qrally.htm
(Game Review)
http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/jul97/nqrrc.html
(Game Review)
http://www.vie.com/low/games/rally.html
(The official homepage for this game)
http://www.pcweb.liv.ac.uk/neilj/rallyfaq.htm
(Link thanks to a guy called Paul)
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