“Five, Four, Three, Two, One”… you gunned the kit car that you built at the start line, the engine is dying and the final stage is 20 kilometers long.
A new dawn has beckoned for the World Rally Championship series as they change hands towards the capable hands of Codemasters and EA, and its preview that I looked at back in October was looking positive.
And guess what? They have done it. EA Sports WRC is a fun title that’s both hard to master and casual enough to enjoy on what some people might call “the toughest type of racing game” there is.
Presentation
One thing that they have kept consistent from this rendition of the WRC from the last is the usage of Unreal Engine as Codies switches from their proprietary EGO engine towards Unreal, while also adding the handling model that was present on the previous Dirt series onto this new engine without any issues from the driving side.
There were some other issues like graphics aliasing during the launch period, but that was fixed from a patch at the time of writing this review.
But Codies emphasis on solid 60 frames is very important in this sort of game, as you have to make accurate readings on sharp corners and whether to slow down or speed up at a moment’s notice, something that doesn’t have any frame dip during the sandy roads of Sardinia or the snowy alps of Sweden. And after that aforementioned patch, it’s exactly that, solid 60fps without any dips at all.
The presentation itself is kinda like a mix of Dirt 4 and their popular F1 games series, with a sleek design that’s made to make sure you’re in the action as quick as possible. It’s reminiscent of the old-style F1 games menus and it’s nice to see them back here for WRC.
And the audio side, it’s mostly the same notes from Dirt Rally 2.0 so the pops and bangs from the likes of the E30 BMW from Group A or the glorious noise of the Audi Quattro from the infamous Group B scene are left intact.
Gameplay
For any rallying game, one of the key aspects to have is solid handling that is amazing to drive no matter if it’s on a gamepad or a force-feedback wheel, and racing on EA WRC as you cross many different terrains in the fastest time does this part very well.
Its tarmac feels more refined and now overstepping onto the grass will feel dangerous on your tires. Same for the snowy banks too, It’s a mixture of the Dirt Rally 2.0 mixed with the simplicity of Dirt 4 that makes it a good middle point for most players.
Its modes include Codies staples like Career Mode, where you can manage a team from the junior category towards the Rally1 leagues in either the official cars or your own custom cars via the Builder Mode, where you can pick and choose how your car handles, where the engine is situated and how good and/or awful the parts that are going to be in it.
One neat feature about this career mode is how you can pick and choose what events you can go into, if you feel like doing an Extreme Event in Rally Kenya instead of following the WRC calendar, you can. It copies the real-life rally team schedules of sometimes dropping a round to keep budgets afloat or having another championship to contend with, so that can help players plan in the longer runs.
And you might have to plan ahead, because EA WRC has the longest stages in any modern rally game ever, beating out themselves back then, with the current total stage of 2,400km² (not including the upcoming Rally Eastern European that’s coming soon). A hefty number for a series that people have called “the Dark Souls of Racing games”, with good intentions.
Because small damages can lead to unforeseen consequences, fast.
Content
Its current content pool for WRC not only includes the already extensive Career mode but also the includes of Clubs (directly ported from Dirt Rally 2.0 with some EA Play additions) which can lead to more unique rally events that may not be limited to the likes of Rallies without any service stops and all of the weather conditions to a timed rally that you need to keep at pace or risk a penalty. The choices can make it quite interesting to drivers alike.
But if you want to recreate stages from the pagebooks of WRC, then we have the Moments tab, where you can challenge the stages that the real-life drivers have recently run and grade them via the medal system, this changes each week so you might even see something like Colin McRae’s bonkers Finland run in a future Moment run, perhaps?
Although there’s one aspect that needs abit of work is the livery editor, which feels very restrictive and the fact that you can’t even share with other players is quite of a lackluster option. I mean I would love to share my Subaru Mitsubishi livery but guess another time then.
Personal Enjoyment
It’s nice getting up to pace with EA WRC and their many, many stages that need full concatenations of steel, because this game demands your attention to make sure you finish the rally in one piece, be it under-powered and crumpled as all heck, but finished at least.
That sort of hard but fair reputation does help build the Dirt Rally series onto its high standard that we’re seeing and just playing around this WRC makes that statement stand proud. Leaving Dirt 2.0 into its well-deserved rest and onto the future with Hybrid Rally 1s and Twingos.
Verdict
EA Sports WRC is Codemasters’ second wind for their Rally department, bringing in motifs of the F1 games into this rallying title makes it feel like you are part of the circus, globetrotting around in your own cars, and racing against the elements and most importantly, your rivals.
It’s already a good price to get it, so strap in the cockpit and enjoy the ride.
Played on Xbox Series S, Review copy provided by Publisher.
EA Sports WRC
Codemasters’ second wind for their Rally department, bringing in motifs of the F1 games into this rallying title makes it feel like you are part of the circus.
- Presentation 9
- Gameplay 8.5
- Content 8
- Personal Enjoyment 8