As a Dirt 3 fan, which is probably the first rally game I’ve actually enjoyed and in turn converted me to approach this genre, I was rather looking forward to the official game corresponding with the real world rally championship - World Rally Championship 3. Developed by Milestone S.r.l, whom I recognise from my previous experience of playing parts of the SBK series, I’m hoping this reaches a higher level of all round quality as I haven’t been massively impressed with their Superbike offerings.
Due to it being official, the WRC Experience is full of real name drivers and their vehicles in WRC Class, Class 2 and Class 3. In WRC you can expect a high level performance from the Ford Fiestas or Mini Coopers, Class 2 features car types like the Skoda Fabio and Class 3 has Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Lancers. It’s good to see for the followers of the sport to race in your teams actually rally car, I however haven’t the foggiest idea who these guys are. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy using these cars though in a choice of three modes – Single Stage (One race, one result), Single Rally (multiple stages, best time over the whole rally wins) and Championship.
Championship mode allows you to take a place in a full season across various real locations including Monte-Carlo, Great Britain, Argentina and many more. In total there are ten countries each have six or seven stages, this can be reduced but then you have to choose which stages to remove. The idea is you earn points for winning in each country and the goal is to have most points by the end of the tour.
Despite choosing one of the best cars in the game with an overall 100 rating (out of 100) I quickly found that there is a ridiculous over steer and the brakes pretty much don’t work. Against my better nature I had to turn all the assists on till I got used to the steering. After each stage it lets you repair any damage done to the car however too much of this and you’ll incur time penalties to repair it, I learnt this the hard way.
Anyway I finished the first six stages of Monte-Carlo, and then it took me straight on a jet (not literally) to Sweden. No main menu to go back to just race after race with a few standings screens in between, don’t like that as it’s not clear how to exit it safely without losing progress. Luckily by just pausing and quitting it seems to autosave, but for anyone not willing to take that risk they could be rallying all day and night without switching off. Apart from that I got quite into the races, some lovely well crafted tracks ranging from snowy to hill or just downright narrow.
So that’s the experience style modes covered, now for the real chunk of meat that helps the game stand out – Road To Glory. You begin as a young driver with a small selection of cars all fitted with basic performance kits and the idea is to race to earn stars which in turn unlocks more performance parts and new cars for different vehicle classes. The regular objective is to win the race or rally for seven stars (second place for six stars and keep decreasing) plus three bonus stars to be earned via clean driving, drifting, jumping and even destroying barriers. There are seven areas to compete in each with their own boss, whom if you beat in a head to head race can then unlock some more fun themed events to gain stars from.
Within these fun themed events there are a few that stand out for me, Gate Crash where there are multiple banks of three blocks as you are driving and they change colour as you approach. Red will slow you down whereas the green ones let you carry on at normal speed; this improves your reactions massively. Another favourite, if not extremely random, is Top Rally simply because it’s you racing against a helicopter!
This is by far the best part of the game as I found myself spending hours trying to get all the stars in each location. Just to give you an idea about the length of time it’d take you to do this, even if you get them all in one go each I calculated at least 15 hours so there’s a whole lot of time to be spent on this.
Online it’s geared up to accommodate people with friends, up to 16 in fact which for gaming communities is music to our ears. Whether you fancy a quick stage or a full (maximum) thirteen stage championship this offers it all and you can earn a higher rank by playing it more which shows off how experienced you are at the game.
WRC 3 won me over in the end, once I’d got over the initial struggle to adapt to the way the vehicles handle and after a few tweaks to the assists it was a rather enjoyable game, not perfect but I made do with minimal crashing. Graphically, although not groundbreaking, it breathes real life into the environments with each country having its own unique feel and the damage to the cars looks pretty realistic. They’ve added a bit more importance to co-drivers too, mainly due to corners being so sneaky you have to listen to what’s coming up or you will crash, that’s a certainty. Plenty to suit the casual rally fan but with it being the official game I think it lacks for the real fans which is quite a worry, as they are the primary target.
7/10