Rally-ho! SEGA Rally is back
Back in the day, I spent over $400 on a Sega Saturn and a copy of Sega Rally GT Championship. A solid week was spent chucking a Toyota Celica GT rally car around a muddy course before I promptly returned the console and got my money back. It was clear back then that the Sega Saturn was not the next-gen console we were expecting (though it did have its moments). Nevertheless, my week at home with Sega Rally GT Championship was memorable.
Sega has stopped selling hardware and focuses solely on its software now, which means the return of Sega Rally Championship will happen on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (What, no Wii?). The new game is scheduled for a Fall 2007 release date (probably October) and will be called SEGA Rally Revo when it arrives in stores.
Yours truly has been playing Forza 2 now for weeks (gamertag: Autoblog), but SEGA Rally Revo has some new features that will likely occupy more attention for months. Being a rally game, there is of course a varied selection of terrain including dirt, gravel and pavement, as well as different weather like rain and snow. Unlike any game before it, however, SEGA Rally Revo will feature "real-time terrain deformation", which means that the muddy rut you left on the last hairpin will be there on your next lap to dynamically affect your second pass. As SEGA says, no two laps can ever be the same since the track deteriorates under the extreme abuse of having a dozen high-powered rally cars tear it up.
Check out these two development videos to see these new features in action (second after the jump), and you can also view still shots from the game by visiting this gallery at our sister-site Joystiq.
[Source: Joystiq, YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
trevor2k 6:27PM (8/08/2007)
Get DiRT. I've been running it with the wireless racing wheel from microsoft, and it is a blast. the wheel really takes some adjustment, but once dialed in, it changes the dynamic of the game.
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Alex Nunez 6:35PM (8/08/2007)
Sega Rally + Sega Dreamcast = Awesome
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mcspeed17 6:42PM (8/08/2007)
You are SOOO right. I just played it, and I'm gonna do it again in a couple of minutes. Best rallying game ever.
Still, I fear this one is gonna suck. As a video game journalist, I went to a press conference a few months back I got the play the game on a big screen, bit it simply doesn't feel like Sega Rally anymore. You're battling a couple of equal cars on good-looking, but boring tracks. There's really little excitement. The only good thing this game showed me yet is the graphical aspect. Let's hope Sega will prove me wrong concering the other aspects when this game ships.
Don 8:41PM (8/08/2007)
Amen. What a waste of a perfect little console...LOVE my Dreamcast.
SHOTT3R 7:03PM (8/08/2007)
Did dude stumble over what his name was right at the beginning?
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Conor 8:42PM (8/08/2007)
One question: Can it be better than DiRT? I think not, but it'll give it a run for its money. Forza has fine graphics, even in the background. OXM is screwed up if they say they suck. (And they do.)
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alexer 9:56PM (8/08/2007)
sega rules!!!!! and my white cosole too!!!! i love dreamcast you will never die
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Rocket Punch 12:05AM (8/09/2007)
This is a stupid game, only 12 years old will be impressed. Show me one rally (not rally cross) race where you are racing with other people side by side on a rally stage. SEGA is arcade and arcade is SEGA. If you enjoy driving with gamepad with a chase cam view and physics defying car physics, you will love this game. Otherwise you will have more fun just playing the Dirt demo, or even older WRC rally games.
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Clint 3:23AM (8/09/2007)
Actually there is a PS3 game called MotorStorm that is out now that has deformable geometry when you drive through the mud surface. But this game looks pretty fun, I just hope its not too shallow...nobody wants a game with 10 cars and 6 tracks with an arcade mode. I know I don't.
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Jason 10:34AM (8/09/2007)
The game WRC for PS2 is still the best rally game out there. I own Sega Rally (on Saturn and Dreamcast), Gran Turismo for PS2 (GT3 and GT4), Forza 2 on 360, and have played motorstorm, and WRC for PS2 is still far and away the most realistic rally game out there. It's officially licensed by the WRC so it's got all of the real cars, all of the real drivers, and all of the menus, voices, video transitions, screens, etc. are all taken directly from WRC TV video coverage. It can be had for $20 or less now since it's an older game.
Europe got sequels (I think they're up to version 4 or 5), but the US only got the first one. :-( Damn WRC-hating America.
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speedball3 11:36AM (8/09/2007)
Interesting!! I'll have to give it a look...and I'm more than happy to give my PS2 some extra life before the next-gen consoles take over the world. =P
Ever try Richard Burns' Rally? Great game (PC, PS2, XBox) too, tho a bit lacking in the engine sound department (if you get it for the PC you can download engine packs to improve the variety of engine sound). Not sure why WRC doesn't gain more ground in America...I was just at the X-Games Rally and had a great time! I'd love to hike out to some rally stage and watch cars rip by...
Harrison 6:17PM (8/09/2007)
It's like 4.95 used and it still rocks.