NCS
Game Synopsis
©NCSX▪
Eleven years after Sega Rally gave arcade racing
fans white knuckles and heart palpitations, the game
returns on the PS2 in a near perfect conversion.
Sega Rally 1995 is however the side dish for Sega
Rally 2006 which features a career mode where racers
build up a reputation and win endorsements from
sponsors. With corporate sponsorship comes the money
to buy better gear and tune up a stock car to higher
levels of performance. In addition to the career
mode, gamers may also engage in Arcade Mode for a
quick race or Time Attack. Sega Rally 2006 supports
the GT Force Pro - please note that we will receive
the special SR2006 GT-Force Pro on Wednesday.
NCS Game Notes for Sega Rally 2006
* Sega Rally 2006 includes the original arcade
version of Sega 1995 packaged on a separate DVD.
Both games are then bundled inside a library ready
slip case.
* Before the game loads, players may create a
save file on the memory card and name the entry
accordingly.
* The short intro to the game features short image
bursts of cars leaping, skidding, and sliding down
dusty tracks while words such as "Don't cut," "Keep
in," and "rally" flash across the screen. There's
other words that appear for a microsecond including
"caution," "jump in," "long easy," and "on tarmac."
* Press START and the following selections appear
while the camera lovingly rolls over the body of a
blue rally car.
CAREER
ARCADE
TIME ATTACK
RECORDS [view arcade or time attack mode
records]
OPTIONS
Under OPTIONS, the following settings are
adjustable:
/Controller
/Key Assign for Dual Shock buttons
Default / Steering
L-stick
accel: X
brake SQUARE
hand brake O
reverse TRIANGLE
shift-up R2
shift-down L2
change view R1
headlight L1
/Vibration [on or off, along with 5 gradations of
rumble]
/GT Force
/Display
/Meter [normal or simple]
/Speed [km/h or MPH]
/Default View
[driver or rear]
/Sound
/Volume for race, menu, replay music and SE
/Sound output
[Stereo or Mono]
/Navigation [word or
number]
/Monitor
/Monitor size [set 4:3 or 16:9 aspect]
/Adjust screen [move
screen along either axis]
/Contrast
/Replay Theater
/load replay
/delete replay
/Credits [ten pages of copyright and
trademark information]
/Save/Load [transfer memory card data]
* Select CAREER Mode and one of five cars may be
chosen as your starting vehicle
Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Engine: Flat 4
Drive system: 4WD
Transmission: 6 speed
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII MR
Engine: Inline-4
Drive system: 4WD
Transmission: 6 speed
Citroen XSARA 2.0i 16V VTS
Engine: Inline-4
Drive system: 4FF
Transmission: 5 speed
Peugeot 206RC
Engine: Inline-4
Drive system: 4WD
Transmission: 5 speed
Ford 2004 Focus RS2
Engine: V8
Drive system: FR
Transmission: 5 speed
* Since the Impreza and the Lancer both had wings in
back, the choice was between those two. As anyone in
motor sports knows, a wing is the secret to amazing
speeds and superb handling. The higher the wing, the
better the speed. We eventually went with the Subaru
because of the gold rims. We read somewhere that
gold bling enhances the driving experience. The
default color of the Subaru is blue but upon
selecting it, four other colors may be chosen and
NCS bet on black.
* Once the car is safely in the garage, players are
granted 3000 credits and a calendar which shows race
days. The first appointment is on January 6 with a
purse of 2000 credits up for the chase.
* Before the first race day, players may practice
their driving skills and inspect or tweak the car in
the garage. Before an actual race, the time of the
race (morning, noon, night) and the surface types
involved are listed in the data screen. The music
may also be selected from a number of tracks.
* Controls are fairly floaty with the rally car
bobbing and speeding along in fast motion while
English pace notes are blurted out by an announcer.
Although the notes warn of impending road
conditions, the visual cues of the road are
generally enough to prepare a driver for the
upcoming bends and bumps. The game engine is
friendly and conducive to drifting with some wicked
moves capable of being churned out on hard turns and
180 degree curves. The controls and car are very
responsive in this regard and the cars move sideways
like they were made for it.
* A car starts each race nice and shiny. At the end
of the race, observe the level of dirt and grime
that has coated the body. When motoring on a
gravel-filled tracked, gamers may listen to the
rattle as rocks hit the underside of the vehicle.
* In the first race event (1 Day Cup), players try
to get the best time in three laps with only the
best lap counting towards the standing. Winnings
(credits) are doled out based on your ranking. Since
we ran 4th place, NCS was granted a 500 credit but
the top purse was 2000 cr. There were a couple of
times when drifting didn't work out in the 1 Day Cup
and our Impreza was launched into the sky and
flipped on its side for a few seconds before it
resumed its trajectory towards the finish line. Some
road surfaces aren't conducive to drifting...
* In addition to the five starting cars, other
vehicles featured in SR2006 include:
Ford Focus Air Force Reserve Rally Car
Peugeot 307 Sport
Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Lancia Delta HF Integrale
Lancia Statos HF
2004 Focus RS8
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR Rally Car
Subaru Impreza Rally Car
Citroen XSARA Rallycross
NCS Game Notes for Sega Rally 1995
* The original "Only in Japan" warning is
retained in the game along with the original title
screen and intro.
* Choose from Championship or Practice upon starting
the game. Four cars are available - 2 Automatic
Transmission vehicles and 2 Manual Transmission
cars. The tracks include Desert, Forest, and
Mountain.
* Although the game hails from 1995, there are drift
mechanics evident in the game where the rally cars
may be sent sliding sideways. In the first practice
track in the Desert, there's a long curve towards
the end of the track where this can be practiced and
tested. You'll know the spot when the announcer
yells out "Very long easy right."
* Despite its age, Sega Rally Championship is an
enjoyable racing game with solid control and
focus-inducing game play. The action is demanding
and challenging as one would expect from a coin-op
conversion which is designed to gobble up quarters.
The time limits give little leeway for mistakes and
poor handling/cornering so one must be at the top of
one's game to conquer the tracks. The illusion of
speed in the game is also so much above and beyond
what other modern racing games have attempted to
accomplish.
* Maybe it was the nostalgia but we spent more time
on SR1995 than SR2006 this morning. The handling and
controls in SR1995 are very responsive and one has
to give kudos to AM2 for the quality of the game
which we had forgotten about despite dumping
handfuls of quarters into a SR cabinet. This and
Daytona USA (1994) were the big racing games at the
local arcade when we were children.
|
