The story of finding this game is much the same as the last one. I had enjoyed my time with Rush Rally 3, but never looked at the history of the series. So, while scrolling through the eShop’s coming soon section, it was a surprise to see this new game in the series very close to a release. It was also a surprise to note that this was a top-down viewpoint. Not that I would complain, as it’s great to find a top-down racer that’s as good as this promised to be.
Upon getting into things, it’s immediately noticeable that this is a game intent on bringing the old-school feel into the modern era. A simple and clean UI that gets straight to the point. The three modes of play are all that you’ll see. Getting into one of those modes, and you’ll note that to unlock new things you need to earn a medal from the base unlocked race. Unlocking new cars and upgrades for those cars requires nothing but driving them. There’s no money here, and no extra objectives. It’s pure focused racing fun.
Time trial is where I first decided to visit, so I could get used to the mechanics of the game. Simply drive as fast as possible to beat the pre-set times of bronze, silver, and gold. I wasn’t doing so well at first on the starting track, but as I started to get used to the viewpoint and mechanics, I managed to get a bronze. The next few tracks I easily managed a bronze on. Confident I could time well on the tracks, and with a few upgrade points applied, I moved over to my first championship.
A true to form rally experience, you’ll be racing across the six tracks of a country to get the fastest time on each one, which all accumulates to your final time. As with real rallys, there’s other drivers also gunning for the fastest time, and you’ll be able to see the times of those other drivers before you begin your run. Even during your run, you’ll be able to tell how well you’re doing compared to the current fastest driver with the coloured indicators on the progress bar, as well as their time always being visible in the top left corner.
It was during this championship that I got a very good feel for other aspects of the game. The northward pointing camera felt a bit awkward for me to use, so I swapped to the one that pointed in the direction of my car. That viewpoint felt a lot better for me, and is probably why I managed to turn things around and get into the top three by the end of it. Through this change, I also also get a better feel for how the cars differed from each other when I went back to time trial, though I’m sure such could be felt even on the other view.
It took a while before I moved onto the races, but here I was able to enjoy a different sort of competition. One where the other racers are with you on the track and will be fighting for position. It’s a lot of fun to work from last to first, overtaking the five other racers through smart use of vehicle positioning. It also helps to have the right upgrades applied for the way you want to race. While keeping to lower ranks means you are limited to how many you can have active, it is easy enough to change where you apply those upgrades with the simple menu when selecting your car.
There’s a lot to be enjoying with this one. As I said, it’s pure focused racing fun. There’s no damage to be worrying about here, which keeps championships purely about skill. There’s no handbrake and no manual gear shifting, with the mechanics being adapted slightly to allow for cars to be that bit slidier when turning to make up for that. I’ve been having a great time running through the tracks to beat my own times – much as I did with Rush Rally 3.
The once mobile-only series does feel right at home on the Switch, and I’m happy that Brownmonster Games sees the platform as a viable one to continue supporting. This is a game I can fully recommend you buy, and at only £4.99 you can’t go wrong by giving it a chance. The same can also be said of Rush Rally 3 – which you can read my experiences of from when that one first released.
Images Taken From:
Rush Rally Origins (Original Screenshots)
