Dakar 2010
|
| Dakar 2010

The worst thing you can do with sequels is serve up the same old tosh, year after year. There has to be some sense of progression, a notion of learning from past mistakes or the moves any rival might have made.

Just bringing out the same game, save a few changes, is never a good idea.

It's fair to say EA has been accused of such a crime in the past, and Dakar 2010 doesn't really set about disproving this view. The package put out here largely makes the same mistakes its predecessor made.

Stuck in a loop

Like Dakar 2009, 2010's version stumbles down the awkward middle ground, neither pulling off any great sense of simulation (despite offering up a Career mode in South America, mirroring the real contest) nor any kind of arcade take on the sport, the nitro boosts on offer before EA took over the franchise still consigned to memory.

But by being neither one thing nor the other, the whole experience passes by almost without note.

Each race is a simply case of finishing in the top two within a set time limit, the game handling acceleration for you, steering ('4' and '6') and braking with the '8' key your only concerns.

To make it through, all you need do is heed the warning arrows that pop up mid-screen, turning left and right when they tell you to and avoiding the four other cars on track that, on the whole, tend to stick in the middle.

Yet again, your competitors do little more than act as on-track markers. Taking first place is usually enough to ensure you'll finish in a quick enough time. The courses themselves are bumpy affairs (vibrations left, right and centre) don't really convey any real sense of speed or peril.

Timidity city

The result is an experience that's the one thing a rally game should never be: tame.

Though its hard to fault Dakar Rally 2010 visually (the 3D graphics holding up just as well as they did last year) and the actual content is consummate (tracks from both Argentina and Chile making the line up either in quick play or a full campaign), the whole experience just doesn't have any spark.

Taking to the courses and ploughing your way around just feels routine, average, and more like a slow commute than a thrilling rally run.

And this is exactly what blighted Dakar's last outing. Though no-one will start Dakar Rally 2010 and be faced by a total calamity, they won't exactly be bowled over either.

Proving the value in learning from your mistakes, EA's Dakar franchise remains something of a missed opportunity, offering up a racer that's all too keen to look pretty and steer well clear of the mud.

Dakar 2010

Like a re-run of last year's tame effort, Dakar Rally 2010 doesn't disappoint when it comes to looks, but doesn't really deliver in terms of action, either
Score
Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.