I’ve been awaiting this one since I added it to my Steam wishlist two years ago. Based on a recommendation owing to my like of FUMES, it did seem like Exo Rally Championship could be a fun one. Exbleative have created a futuristic world, where rallying across the dangerous terrain is an exciting sport for people to watch. In getting to it myself, I found a tough but very fun challenge.
The Lindsay Racing team have been struggling, but Ed Carrington is determined to find a suitable racer to get them back on top. That racer is me. Getting into the simulator for some basic training, I learn all the controls of these vehicles. Including the thrusters that are to be used to correct my position in the air. With that training done, I get the amateur license and am able to take on the first rally event.
That first rally takes place across three different planets. Each has a number of stages to complete, where points are awarded depending on the time set. Overall points are then given per planet. Each planet has different things to be aware of, even more dangerous than simply the uneven terrain. Forests, meteor strikes, seismic activity… All can affect how a rally stage is tackled.
Starting out with New Earth, things are simple. Which is the perfect opportunity to really get to grips with how this vehicle handles. Even on this simplest of planets, speed cannot be everything. For one, the checkpoints are placed in ways that put trees, rocks, and even just the uneven terrain between me and them. And two, the checkpoints themselves can be placed in tricky positions. Sometimes very close together, forming something like a slalom through them.
There’s also a particular checkpoint that requires turning around it, presenting its own challenges on the stage. There is one on a later planet inside a crater. A crater full of rocks. It’s a balancing act to be quick around it while not crashing into anything. Naturally, things can end up going wrong, so it’s a good thing a vehicle recovery service is available to right me. Especially if I have no thruster fuel left.
In completing the rally, I’d earned enough experience to progress to semi-pro, with almost enough to get to pro. Before I could tackle the semi-pro rally, I had to do the semi-pro training. Which gave me opportunity to explore the other modes. There’s events, allowing the play of each planet’s rally outside of a series. There’s time trial, allowing the play of just a single stage to get the highest time possible. And the free roam mode.
Free roam mode is exactly what it sounds like. No objectives, just driving. Exploring these locations away from gunning for the best time in stages. While photo mode can be used in any mode, free roam feels the perfect place for it, allowing for setting up some staged shots. Free roam mode is also a perfect compliment for the stage editor, which is very easy to use. Placing checkpoints around these locations, giving it a test, then publishing it for all to play.
The online mode Evo Rally Championship features is very competitive, even if I’m not directly facing others on the stages. Instead, rooms are created with a time limit for when the event ends. Players enter, completing the stages set at their own pace, with times being placed on the leaderboard. A leaderboard that continues to update right up to the event end time. I’m not exactly the best driver, so my times were constantly failing to get me any points.
For certain modes, such as online and the dailies, the assists are locked. But for series and events, things such as AI difficulty and damage can be changed. The default options keeps rallies easy for newcomers, while those who have the experience can give themselves a challenge. For me, it’s unlikely I ever will want to change them. But that just means I can go to those which lock the assists whenever I want a challenge.
Exo Rally Championship sets out to create a futuristic rally experience, and I’d say it definitely does that. There’s varied planets, each with their own unique challenges when driving. The world building, done through the small story snippets when completing each series, add to the danger of the sport. As do the descriptions of each planet. This is a very well designed racer, with it getting an easy recommendation from me.
Images Taken From:
Exo Rally Championship | PC
