Sega Rally 2 Championship

Pros • Skinable cars • Best that it's been • Good network play • Super power-slides	Cons • Annoying announcer & music • Getting tired • Arcade amateur in a Pro Simulation world
Bottom Line It's the best Sega Rally yet, but does it compare to Colin McRae and Mobil-1 Rally Championship? If you are a diehard arcade nut and are allergic to realistic simulations, then Sega Rally comes out on top... but that's a pretty big if. You've got to admire Sega's persistence. I have a Love/Hate relationship with Sega: I admire their tenacity to perfect a title with constant re-releases, but I can't help but wish sometimes that they would move on sooner to the next title. Sega Rally is probably their most flogged game to date. We've seen this before, in the arcades, on the Saturn and even on the PC already a few years ago. This current rendition is called Sega Rally 2 Championship, but the core of the game has not changed. On the other hand, this isn't just a mere upgrade, this is an an entire remake of the game and it has never been better. But do we really need another rendition of the arcade rally racer?

You've got to admire Sega's persistence. I have a Love/Hate relationship with Sega: I admire their tenacity to perfect a title with constant re-releases, but I can't help but wish sometimes that they would move on sooner to the next title. Sega Rally is probably their most flogged game to date. We've seen this before, in the arcades, on the Saturn and even on the PC already a few years ago. This current rendition is called Sega Rally 2 Championship, but the core of the game has not changed. On the other hand, this isn't just a mere upgrade, this is an an entire remake of the game and it has never been better.

All of it's there.. the power slides, the bumps, the jumps, the solid feel, and… multiplayer. Yep, that's right, Sega hasn't crippled the PC version the way they have the Dreamcast. Get online and get busy racing the rest of the world baby! This is where us old-time Sega Rally fans get stoked. Previous to this version, we had to go into an arcade for some serious competition. I whooped in delight on the first head-to-head race I played online, I thought I was in heaven.

Heaven is brighter than it's ever been

Well, for Sega at least. Sega Rally 2 on the PC is the epitome of arcade rally racing. Gone are all of the problems with earlier versions. Remember the stuttery multiplayer, the bad clipping and the generic slippery road? I can tell you that I haven't played a game as solid as this in awhile, in all of those and other departments.

There are of course plenty of extra tracks, a typical ladder system for unlocking and the variety of cars and road surfaces that you would expect, slicker and more solid than before. And the almighty power-slide is there, you betcha. Sega has even allowed goodies such as changing the car skins and sounds. I recorded my voice with a looping "Rainer Beer" sample and threw it in as a really annoying Celica sound. Yes, Sega let's us use our own bad taste as much as we wish.

There is also great support for steering wheels of the force-feedback variety and good control with joysticks to boot. Strangely enough, the competitive edge still seems to be with the keyboard, but on the PC where few people actually buy steering wheels, the keyboard support has to be solid.

Heaven is tarnished with age

The problem is, we may not have seen this package so slick before, but we have seen it before. We've dreamt about it being this good and although Sega may have met our expectations, they haven't surpassed them. More importantly, they haven't done anything truly new. This wouldn't seem so bad, but the competition in the rally racing field is fierce these days, with two popular (and exquisite) titles: Colin McRae & Mobil-1 Rally Championship.

You can't lose with Sega Rally 2 Championship, it's as good as it can get with what it does, but it's surpassed by games that do more.

Now you can hoot and holler all you want that those other games are simulations and Sega Rally is pure arcade fun, but the fact is that the greater fun can be had with those sims. They look better, they have better physics, longer tracks, cool extras and we have not played them before. I felt I needed to shout that out to Sega in case they didn't get the point.

The arcadeness of this game doesn't get any more blunt than the annoying super-loud announcer voice and cheesy blatant obnoxious music. Please, please, please when developers do an arcade port, completely remake the sound for the home environment. I'm pleading here, this has ruined some home games (IE: Hydro Thunder) to extinction.

Take your award Sega, you've gotten the crown of arcade rally racers. Now step up that ladder and move onto the pro arena.

If it had come sooner, I'd have given Sega Rally 2 Championship top marks, but as of today I have to give it 8 out of 10.

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