It isn’t typically that an indie recreation studio captures the essence of its imaginative and prescient and delivers on that idea with a satisfying punch whereas making a recreation. But Pixel Good Dude completed this with their newest title, #DRIVE Rally.
Not like heavy-hitting titles like Forza Horizon 5 or Rally Racing 2.0, #DRIVE Rally elegantly takes a step again and delivers an arcade-style rally racing expertise, however is that this boiled-down indie epic nonetheless a worthwhile expertise for Rally fanatics? Stick round and I simply would possibly inform you.
No Want For Driver’s Ed
From the second you hit the house display screen, the sport revs its engines with laborious rock music accommodating the house display screen, and in that second, you realize there are some adrenaline-fuelled moments simply across the bend.
Surprisingly, #DRIVE Rally doesn’t supply a fundamental tutorial for the gamers, leaving you to determine issues out for your self.
This might be seen as a little bit of an onboarding difficulty, nevertheless it truly works a deal with. Due to the easy-to-understand management bindings displayed on the display screen as you drop into your first fast race or a championship, gamers are capable of bounce straight into the motion with out lacking a beat.
Rally Throughout The Globe
Talking of races and championships, the guts of #DRIVE Rally lies in its 4 distinct maps, every impressed by real-world environments.
The sport’s championship mode, its core marketing campaign, presents you a style of rallying from across the globe, with terrains set in Germany, the U.S., Finland, and Southeast Asia.
Every map presents its personal challenges, from the icy tracks of Finland to the roads of the States, including a little bit of taste to the grind as you unlock new vehicles and upgrades.
The participant additionally unlocks extra variations of their vehicles as they progress within the championships, together with various automotive components that can be utilized to change the look of their autos in the way in which they need.
Cel-Shaded Arcade Motion
Whereas #DRIVE would not push the envelope when it comes to realism or excessive constancy, that appears to work on this recreation’s favor, because the cel-shaded allure shines by means of in every of the sport’s distinct areas.
And this straightforward however efficient look permits the staff to deal with providing a wealth of customisation choices to the autos on supply, making every whip you race round in really feel distinctive, and permitting the sport’s quirky allure to shine by means of.
It is like a love letter to PS1 racers like Wipeout and Ridge Racer in one of the best ways potential, however I’ll concede that, at instances, it does flirt with the undesirable notion of turning into a stone’s throw away from a cellular racer. Nonetheless, it nearly falls on the best facet of that divide for me.
One factor that stands out is how properly #DRIVE RALLY performs on even entry-level {hardware}. On my testing of operating the sport on a GTX1650 and Ryzen 5 4600h, it was delivering 100-120FPS continually, sustaining clean visuals all through on the very best graphic preset.
The most recent launch by Pixel Good Dude studios presents three completely different high quality presents, referred to as Cellular, Medium, and Extremely, with every one in all them providing completely different graphic constancy.
A Lack of Polish
#DRIVE Rally delivers what it guarantees, which is a enjoyable, high-octane rally title that does not take itself too significantly. Sadly, there are some areas during which it lacks as properly. Regardless of the number of maps and unlockable content material, the general expertise left me reeling from a nauseating feeling of deja vu.
As a result of repetitive race varieties, biomes, and gameplay format, the preliminary noverty wore off fast and the enjoyable arcade romp quickly changed into a laborious chore, which did little to combine issues as much as alleviate this sense.
At instances, additionally, you will really feel the absence of a minimap current within the recreation’s HUD. Whereas the sport tries to compensate for it by giving audio cues, they most of the time find yourself being out of sync, leaving the participant fully confused in regards to the upcoming turns.
At its core, #DRIVE Rally is a enjoyable, fast-paced throwback to arcade racing. Whilst you would possibly discover it to be extraordinarily enjoyable at first, however will extremely probably develop bored with it quickly sufficient. On a constructive be aware, this would possibly simply be the sunshine and simple to choose up rally-racing recreation you’ve gotten been wanting all this time.
Closing Feedback
#DRIVE Rally by Pixel Good Dude delivers a enjoyable arcade-style rally expertise with electrifying music and simple to know controls. It additionally options 4 maps taken from the next international locations: Germany, the U.S., Finland, and SE Asia. Gamers can unlock and customise vehicles as they progress by means of championships, and the sport runs easily even on low-end setups. Whereas it presents an fulfilling journey, repetitive gameplay and out-of-sync audio cues (with no minimap) could make navigating difficult after a couple of hours.
