Review by Mark Arnott Game: World Rally Fever Publisher: Ocean Team 17 Format: CD-Rom Available: Out now*Requires* O/S: Dos 5.0+ Processor: 386/SX-25+ RAM: 4Mb+ Graphics: SVGA CD-Rom: Double Speed Soundcard: All major cards supported *Tested on* O/S: DOS 6.22 Processor: Pentium 100MHz RAM: 24Mb Graphics: SVGA 1Mb CD-ROM: Quad speed Soundcard: Soundblaster 16 Controls: Keyboard and joystick
World Rally Fever
This arcade driving game is what you would expect to get if Wacky Wheels was crossed with Screamer.
Installation and set-up is quite painless, 2MB is put on the hard-disk, and reads from CD are made during play. There are eight Manga-style (Akira) characters to choose from, and they have varied levels of acceleration, cornering and speed. There are player skill settings also, which are set when looking at a picture of the World showing the Sixteen course locations.
There are not many key presses in-between starting the program at the
Dos prompt and sitting in the buggy ready to race. When the lights go
green all the buggies whizz past and you feel like Michael Schumacher
with a broken drive shaft. You find yourself pushing hard on the gas 
to try and get up to race speed, nearing the end of the first lap you
should see the back markers. Passing is carried out by driving around
or jumping over the offending vehicle.
As in Wacky Wheels there are items that can be picked up when driving around, these include bombs, crates, turbo-boost, and invincibility, but I found myself trying so hard to catch the leaders that I didn't have much cause to use these items.
The music that plays during racing is good quality, but can be a bit annoying sometimes. However, one audio element that is seriously in question is engine noise... there is none! The lack of this essential sound effect means that when accelerating there is no real sense of going up the gears and applying the power. Another sound problem I found was that in the set-up menu you are given the option to choose how many voices to mix, but I did not hear any throughout the game. These problems may just be confined to my review issue of the game, but it did spoil things slightly.
The 3D graphics are fast but there was something strange about them
which made me suffer motion sickness. I have never suffered from this
problem before, my inner ear and balance kit are in fine form, and a 
five hour stint on Doom, F1GP or EF2000 are testament to that fact.
That having been said I don't consider that there is a fault with the
3D Sprite Engine.
My opinion of the handling characteristics is mixed. Negotiating a bend gives a good sense of the back end slipping out, and you have to control the slide and keep the power at just the right setting. If a spin is developing it can be avoided by steering in to it. If on the other hand you don't get a corner right, the buggy seems to get entangled with the graphics of the scenery and can be a pig to get on the move again.
On some tracks there are sheep in the road, which can be removed by
driving in to them, or if you want to keep your speed up, or conscience
clear, there is a narrow chicane through them. Other obstacles include
stone walls that are jumped over, this takes some getting used to because
you have to jump before it feels natural to do so. I could not get the
hang of this and kept bumping in to them which stops the buggy and then
the game places you on the other side of the wall.
Entry to the next race is only possible if you come first, second or third in the finish. Needless to say I did not race on all sixteen courses.
This is a good arcade game, but that is it. It is not really something that would be allowed to stay on my hard-drive for long (it would probably get bullied by the big boys, F1GP, Doom etc.). The graphics and music are good, but let down by poor sound effects. I would imagine that it will go down well with the younger audience, but does not have the staying power for extended game play.
======================= Rating: 6/10 (Average!) =======================
