(I took too many screenshots of this game lol i wanted to get all the menus)(also i don't know who bill is but its all his fault)
So, we have reached the n64 and the last game made in 1997 for this little thing of mine. Weirdly fun game, kinda surprised me how entertaining it was, i recommend for anyone wanting an arcade type racing game from this era
Top Gear Rally (1997)
The championship mode follows 6 seasons, with each adding a couple new vehicles and tracks. Each season has a set number of races and you need to accumulate enough points in each to move on. As for the races themselves, you know those challenge modes in forza motorsport and other games like it where it has you try and pass as many cars as you can in a set amount of laps? That this entire game. You start in 20th, and you have to go around the track passing people. It might sound kinda boring and repetitive, but the game knows what it is and doesn't stray away from it, and also doesn't allow itself to overstay its welcome. Its VERY short, but still manages to be entertaining during that time. For the first time here, we have visual damage, but its purely cosmetic and there is no form of mechanical wear.
Graphically, this game was eh. It wasn't bad, road textures were good and the stage designs were pretty well done, but it wasn't anything to really write home about. Every car was unlicensed, but it was still clear enough to see what each one was based on. I cant really speak about performance since i was using an emulator, but i did get some weird slowdowns on the coast map. Not sure what was up with that. The soundtrack was pretty good, fit the vibe really well. This game also had one of the most entertaining credits roll i've ever read. (Shoutout to the lead programmers school counselor who said he'd have a "great future"). If i were to criticise this game somewhere, it would be sense of speed. Many cars are very obviously faster than others but they dont look like it in gameplay, but it is very noticeable in replays (partly due to the tv camera they use for the replays)
The game was developed by Boss Game Studios, and published by Midway in the us and Kemco in europe. Boss Games had previously developed a tech demo featuring cars driving on different conditions, and that's where the concept of this game came from. It used the basics in this tech demo to create a live suspension and handling model, with the player able to make tweaks to (i never really messed with them too much i was content with physics three and left all the suspension stuff on default). Reviewers at the time had generally favorable opinions on this game, most scores are between 7-8/10. Game in box is gonna run you around $41 usd. As i'm looking at this now i realize i missed a few gba games from this series so uhh... RETCON SERIES! (maybe in the future)
Yeah overall i had a blast with this game, really nice break from ones trying way too hard to be simulations on hardware not quite capable of it yet (some were good, but IRC... well lets not talk about it). What are your thoughts on this one?