Initially I felt vindicated, but patience went a long way: once I found my level, it went from frustrating to utterly delightful–and into must-buy territory. Having played WRCs 5 and 6, I’d prepared myself for a well-meaning but underwhelming WRC 8 experience. Getting that first rally victory is an unparalleled feeling. It’s those moments that WRC 8 delivers in spades, and you’ll keep coming back for more. You might hit every other ditch in Rally Sweden, only to absolutely nail a short section of two hairpin turns, or dominate a Super Special Stage. What’s so remarkable about WRC 8 is how regularly rewarding it feels. Meanwhile, the extended roster of cars, including fan-favorite classics like the glorious Renault Alpine or the brutally powerful Lancia Stratos (sadly lacking its Alitalia livery), offer fun both in and out of career mode.
The firm focus on eSports, though not accessible ahead of the official release date (September 5), looks to place WRC at the center of the multiplayer map–and it has all the tools for success. It’s easy to focus on career mode as it’s the core gaming experience, but elsewhere, the game gives you plenty of options for passive enjoyment and long-term, competitive experiences alike. This might sound like nitpicking, but the UI couldn’t be further from the fast and furious racing experience if it tried it actively robs you of your time. After you’ve finished your rally, you inexplicably pay your team through the emails screen. On the mid-rally repairs screen, the “confirm repairs” button is anonymous enough to make you back out of it, even though it cancels your work. KylotonnĪs for racing, the cursor highlights “start race” but doesn’t let you select it unless you move off and back onto it. While a great inclusion, the R&D section is one of many areas that suffers from a poor UI. It feels as official as the WRC title suggests you’re part and parcel of the global rally experience. You’ll see camera drones following you around the course, while vivid sunsets often distract you from the road. The graphics aren’t world-beating, yet the attention to detail is stunning. The tarmac races are sublime, while the gravel and snow courses are challenging, drift-filled affairs. Combined with the incredible use of dynamic weather, you can’t guarantee what’s coming, but you can respond to it with intelligence. As you descend a wintry mountain, the snow gradually disappears and conditions improve. There’s nothing ugly about WRC 8, though it still isn’t quite on par with DiRT Rally’s superb graphics. Once I’d set my level, in conjunction with the custom settings, I could enjoy the game at my own pace, switching up the difficulty as and when needed to experience the game how it was meant to be played. I set up an easy, medium and hard account in each of them easy is often too easy, but the arcade-like feel of the racing is much more approachable and fun, more like DiRT 4 than DiRT Rally. WRC 8’s career mode provides you with three slots. It changed the way I played entirely, and it was all the better for it. I accepted defeat and, four hours into career, I started again on easy. On medium, WRC 8’s AI is fiercely competitive. KylotonnĮven then, I felt out of my depth. There are countless opportunities to tweak your car and controls - and you're going to need to. I adjusted steering, braking, acceleration, my co-driver’s direction timings and driving views for two hours, alongside the obligatory pre-race garage edits. I don’t think I’ve ever changed my settings on a racing game as much as I have on WRC 8. Even with re-runs, you’ll find yourself pinging off your surroundings more than you do in Yoku’s Island Express. The car can lock up way too easily the deadzone is way out the steering sensitivity feels off. Playing it on standard settings, you’ll likely find little joy in your first few races, using your allotted restarts after binning your car into a pole or bystander. If you’ve only got a controller, you’ll need to start tinkering from the ground up, across the board. Out of the box and with standard settings, WRC 8 is a twitchy, unforgiving mess reminiscent of Project Cars’ console outing: a game that’s designed for a steering wheel peripheral. It’s after the following first rally that you’ll likely realize it is. "Extreme Conditions" mode is as unforgiving as it sounds.
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