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Unreal-powered rallying game WRC: The Game harks back to a different era

Looks pretty grey, as well

Unreal-powered rallying game WRC: The Game harks back to a different era
|
iOS
| WRC: The Game

It hasn't quite got to the point yet where a new Unreal-powered game for iOS is just considered run-of-the-mill fare, though WRC: The Game is the first one that's made us go "meh" rather than "oooooo" after seeing it in action.

Released last week, it's the official game of the World Rally Championship, and it features licensed cars, licensed drivers, and licensed muddy roads. So, if authenticity is your bag, hand over your cash now.

Saying that, the level of authenticity in WRC: The Game is hurled out of the mesh-filled windows once you realise you need to buy pretty much everything the game has to offer.

There are three cars and one stage to play with at first, you see, but everything else needs to be paid for with hard-earned, or hard-bought, coins.

The game itself is reminiscent of the glory days of virtual rally driving on the original PlayStation, when the likes of V-Rally and Colin McRae would chew you up and spit you out at every corner, and you spent more time crashing into pixellated trees than on the road.

There are three control options in WRC: The Game, including the slightly odd "analogue" setup - in which your steering and acceleration are at the mercy of a single thumbstick -and the more natural tilt and digital choices.

You earn extra coins for doing ridiculous and dangerous things at the right time. Beating records and finishing towards the top of the leaderboard will fill up your coffers even more.

There aren't many rallying games on the App Store, and those that are there usually lean towards the fantastical end of the realism scale. WRC: The Game certainly fills a niche, then, but its Unreal-powered graphics are best described as 'unremarkable'.

The game, which is developed by Italian racing genre stalwart Milestone, is available right now for free, although first-generation iPads and pre-iPhone 4S models might struggle to run it.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.