What makes a rally game? Speed helps, as do puddles, and patches of muddy track. Long drifts are essential, and the thing has to look . You want to thunder into woodland and over ice. The cars, with their glaring sponsorships, should resemble sculpted dollops of Colgate wrapped in Christmas lights – or futuristic toys. Oh, and those racks of headlamps, as if a vampire hunter were competing, are a must. With EA Sports WRC, Codemasters supplies all of this. Plus, the studio, constitutionally incapable of making a bad driving game, is now armed with the official World Rally Championship licence.
EA Sports WRC reviewPublisher: EADeveloper: CodemastersPlatform: Played on Xbox Series XAvailability: Out now on PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5.
The new game centres on a career mode, in which you are assailed not only by curves of gravel-topped treachery, high in the mountains, but by the tight turnarounds of the calendar. You can only choose one activity per week: a race, a rest, a motor show, a talent hire. But opting for one means missing the rest. You make your plans, and the pressure mounts. To begin, you have a choice between Junior WRC, WRC2, or the unfiltered punishment of pure WRC. You then pick a driver, and are acquainted with the disembodied Keith Taylor, your chief engineer. “Pleasure to meet you in person, finally,” he says, as the camera lingers over a laptop in a vacant office.
It’s less than stirring stuff, and I can’t be the only one who misses the days of the hokey racing game story, in things like TOCA Race Driver 2. The CGI cutscenes in that game had a dreamy look, stalled and stolid, but Codemasters knew that a narrative didn’t need to be great – that it wasn’t fuel but rather engine oil, and could get away with being crude so long as it kept things moving. Here the drama, if that is the right word, is greased by money; and away from the rumbles of the track, the tension arises when the stuff runs thin. You have to please your team’s benefactor, Max, whom I like to imagine as a serene Swiss in leisure knitwear, who made his billions in environmental conservation, as opposed to, say, arms dealing. Keep Max sweet – by staying under budget and on the podium, mainly – and you will receive an according grade.
Max has five emotional states, progressing from “Angry,” “Unhappy,” and “Happy” through to “Delighted” and “Ecstatic.” (You can top up his contentment by fulfilling certain goals: complete three hospitality events in a season, finish fifth or higher in a certain competition, and so forth.) Your own journey with EA Sports WRC may slalom through those same zones. If you are a newcomer, tenderly dipping a toe, you may begin in anger, as your roof grazes the forest floor or your doors are chewed by uncaring rock. Give it time, though, and you get a feel for the handling.