Sega Rally Online Arcade

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Sega Rally Online Arcade is a new, downloadable entry to the franchise, inspired by but unique from 2007’s Sega Rally Revo and Sega Rally 3 arcade.

As the genre dictates, Sega Rally Online Arcade features single and multiplayer modes (up to six players online), split screen compatibility, and leaderboard support. Single player boasts Championship, Quick Race, Time Attack, and Classic play. Championship battles pit you against 22 competitors across three stages, with a fourth stage available for a pro performance. Time attack is your traditional race against the clock, augmented with global leaderboards. The legacy onscreen prompts return, with a co-pilot making you aware of upcoming turns.

As for your lineup of cars, six rally vehicles are available immediately for use across all tracks, with another two exclusive to desert terrain. An additional five will unlock as specific milestones are hit. Six is the number of total tracks, one of which (Lakeside) must be unlocked. The levels themselves look fairly traditional, with desert, snow, and tropical locals

We had a short hands-on session with the title and unfortunately found it somewhat lacking. Despite vast advances in the rally racing subgenre (mainly due to the Codemasters’ excellent work on the DiRT series), this new Sega Rally features the same notoriously floaty controls that have plagued every version since as far back as the Sega Saturn. The game’s underdeveloped physics engine grants no sense of intensity as sliding sideways through mud, snow, and dirt at extremely high speeds should.

With just six tracks, the limited scope of the game would be perfect for arcade play, but makes replay value questionable on consoles, especially considering the increasing value players are finding in downloadable titles.

That being said, we didn’t have a chance to drive the full roster of cars or tour all the tracks, and will take a significantly deeper dive for our final review.

Sega Rally Arcade Online will release on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network Q2 of 2011. The price point has also yet to be determined.

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