I’ve played
plenty of racing games in varying different styles across the numerous years. There’s
a certain type I had not really played all that often, however. Aside when
being at an arcade and able to access the Sega Rally machines, I hadn’t really
played any sort of a rally game. I felt that I’d not be much good at them, with
the thin tracks and my varied skill in racing, so I was content to just let
rally experiences be something contained to those arcade machines.
I usually read
reviews from Nintendo Life even if I’m not much interested in checking a game
out, just to see if there’s anything that I’d like in it. Every possibility I
can be convinced to try something new, after all. On New Year’s Eve, I read a
review from the site for a racing game. A rally game. Sure, it was a mobile
port, but it looked as packed of content as plenty of other racing games, with the
review and comments saying how the gameplay was excellent, rivalling plenty of other
racing games on the Switch. Did I want to go for it, though?
As soon as New
Year’s Day hit, I was on the eShop to get it. The more realistic racers I would
usually keep contained to the Xbox, but this one I wanted portable so I could
jump straight into it. So, half an hour after the new year had started, I was
to be found playing Rush Rally 3. I’d started with the career, buying my first
car and giving it a bit of an upgrade, then getting into that first championship.
I managed to drive the stages well, though did mess up at times. I did good
enough to secure a third, and after that went straight back into it after a
sleep to secure a better position.
The mechanics of
racing just felt right, with no errors being down to those mechanics. Every
mistake was down to me, and how I mishandled the vehicle overcorrecting a turn
or forceful use of the handbrake. Opponents are skilled enough so a few small
mistakes didn’t matter, with me barely scraping victory in a few of the stages
and others just falling short of the top spot. Overall, I managed a second in
the championship, which I was happy enough with at that point to want to
explore the other options within the game.
Rally Cross was
more like the usual racing experiences I would play, with other competitors on
the track and three laps to take the top spot. The handling worked here as well
as in the rally stages, with me managing the same results in this mode as in the
career. Skill Games test the ability of a driver to keep a high speed while
avoiding obstacles. It’s difficult to remain on a driving line with traffic on
the road or missiles being fired at you, but the best drivers are able to claim
the gold on the mode. I… can’t be counted among that number yet.
There’s also the
Single Rally which I had a go at, where drivers have to tackle the six stages
of a country while managing not to damage their car too much otherwise they’d
end up at a disadvantage when it came to repairs at the end of each even
numbered stage. Much the same as ever, I was close to the top spot but failed
to get it owing to one rather large mistake undoing the great work I’d put in
to get a great advantage over the other drivers.
There’s still a
lot to be doing with the game, as I’ve only started out with most of what the
game offers. I’ve still yet to touch the time trial modes of Single Stage and
Hot Laps, and I haven’t been able to get a Live Event done yet owing to not
having a car at the right ranking. Much like other games, the upgrades on a car
determine its rank, and I really wanted that Mini-like car that I spent the
winnings from all the racing I’d done on it along with a few upgrades.
The experience I’ve
had with Rush Rally 3 has been great. It really is right at home on Switch. And
now that I know I’ll enjoy getting stuck into some other rally type games, I’ve
already got my eye on one from Game Pass. Rush Rally 3 has also encouraged me
to branch out again with racing games, having for the most year mostly stuck
with Forza Horizon 4. I’ll be enjoying this one for a good while, with it comfortably
sitting at the primary game spot for Switch.
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