Rush Rush Rally Racing Review [Dreamcast]

Posted November 22, 2009 by Benjamin Blank in Featured, Featured Home, Reviews.

Reviewed on Dreamcast

The Dreamcast is an amazing piece of kit; ten years going and I still play it far more than any other console I own. With that in mind, Dreamcast owners like myself probably couldn’t have been happier with the announcement of Rush Rush Rally Racing (AKA R4). However, unlike the rest of the world, it isn’t that much of a shock to still see titles hitting our beloved.

Still for all the love that the Dreamcast crowd has, that doesn’t mean you can simply throw anything out and please them. Wind & Water Puzzle Battles proved that games that hit the Dreamcast aren’t simple knock offs or quick tech demos; these are full, completely realised packages. And in that regard Rush Rush is no different.

The game is spread across four distinct modes, Grand Prix, which takes a single racer through ten levels, plus an additional secret stage. Then there’s Versus, Item mode for two to four players, and Get Ahead, an obvious homage to Micro Machines. The first thing you’ll probably notice is just how tough R4 is; even on the easiest difficulty (Way Too Easy!), you’ll be hard pressed to make it through half the Grand Prix on the first play through. It’s as important to know the track layouts as it is to know how to accelerate here, as turns will come at you out of nowhere and the AI won’t mess up anytime soon. While it may seem somewhat unfair, it’s a steep learning curve that works in favour of the title. As you master these levels and progress through the challenge is constantly with you, always keeping the gameplay fresh and intense.

Even after learning track layouts and perfecting the controls, battles for first place are a consistent aspect on the medium to higher difficulties. It really goes a long way for the playability of the title, as you’ll never feel like you’re not being tested. Because of this races always remain highly enjoyable as even after repeated plays things here never become stale.

It’s certainly a system that requires you give a little to get the most out of it, but it’s ultimately very rewarding. However, considering R4 is a game based upon mastering track layout, the omission of a Time Trial is questionable. It’s quite frustrating to get to the tenth track only to get knocked out because you haven’t had the chance to practice it sufficiently. And even then R4 is trying to build an online community of high scores through a leader board at their site. The lack of a time trial makes that work somewhat redundant, if still serviceable. The biggest issue with R4, however, is the lack of single player content; the multiplayer modes here are a missed opportunity considering the steep learning curve one of the players will have probably already gone through; it leaves the other players in the dust.

Senile Team did try to overcome this with nine multiplayer exclusive tracks, but this again hampers the single player by omitting them from the Grand Prix. And even with new tracks, the more experienced racer will not have nearly as much trouble navigating them as new comers will.

If this game was released during the Dreamcast’s two year lifespan, things would be different as a far larger audience would’ve ended up with the title, making the multiplayer modes make more sense. However, as things stand you’ll be unlikely to find someone you know who’ll be able to help you get the most out of R4 in multiplayer. Allowing more than one racer into the Grand Prix or simply adding bot cars to multiplayer would’ve greatly helped things, but these two simple, and somewhat obvious additions are oddly missing. As well R4 isn’t exactly pushing the Dreamcast to its limits (although it looks fantastic), so it would’ve been nice to see a thirtytwo car mode or something more frantic with a larger number of vehicles. Still, despite the lack of the nine additional levels what is available for gamers is quite simply stunning. Tracks are full of clever and unique designs, tiny little interactive pieces of detail, and an all round complete atmosphere. Cut scenes are even present, and the whole game just looks absolutely fantastic, from the menus right down to the hand drawn sprites. Cars will light up when in each other’s headlights, the music will muffle slightly when in a tunnel, and bystanders will get the GTA treatment if run over.

And ultimately that’s the biggest draw of R4, just how professional and complete it is, which is to be expected from Senile Team’s standards, but by a console that has been officially dead for eight years now it’s highly impressive. The meat of the game is superb, with races built upon skill and mastering. There’s a huge amount of depth and reward to be found, along with a whole host of unlockables. It’s been a long time since a game like R4 has come about, on any console, that’s just pure fun to play.

Despite issues with multiplayer and single player content, R4 is a historic game by status and execution. The core Dreamcast fans will no doubt have a copy by now, but others just don’t have a reason not to revisit Sega’s swan song. R4 needs to be played.

Tagged as Dreamcast, Red Spot Games, Rush Rush Rally Racing, Sega, Senile Team