Classical Rally Rides

What do a Mini Cooper, Lancia Fulvia and JoWood Entertainment have in common? A racing game. And just not any racing game. This is a game that features 11 classic rally cars. The game is called Rally Trophy. The game was developed by Bugbear Entertainment and released by JoWood Entertainment.

This game is about driving classic cars in road rally races. These cars are from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Some of the braking and steering elements now found in racing cars weren’t even heard of back then. The cars in this game are some of the best from that racing era.

There are four modes for the game. There is the Championship, Single Race, Single tage and Time Trial. These modes can be played in either Rally Mode or Arcade Mode. Racing in the Arcade Mode will pit you against five computer controlled cars. The Arcade Mode has the same sub modes as the Rally Mode except the Time Trial. You can also crash into other cars in this mode without suffering any apparent damage. In the Rally Mode you will have to be careful how the car is being treated.

The Championship mode has you racing on tracks in exotic places like Kenya, Russia and Switzerland. You also race in the Scandinavian countries of Finland and Sweden. Each race will have 19 other drivers that you will have to compete against. In order to continue on in the Championship mode, you must place as one of the top 6 finishers. You are awarded points based on your finishing position.

For a Single Race, you will choose a rally from one of the locations that have been unlocked. The game has several locations that can be unlocked after winning races. There again, you have to finish in the top 6 to unlock the new locations. There are several Stages that are available in the Single Stage mode. These stages can be played by a single player or up to 6 players in the game’s alternate play scenario.

As this is played on a PC, controlling the actions of the car is done through the keyboard. The arrow keys are used to steer the car and to accelerate or decelerate it. Letter keys like A and Z are used for shifting and G is used to toggle the onscreen gauges. But if you are lucky enough to have a force feedback controller or a steering wheel controller, the game will let you use them.

Some of the cars in the game are the Opel Kadett Rallye, the Volvo 122 Amazon and the Ford Escort RS2000 Mk1. Other cars include the Renault Alpine A110 1600, the Fiat 600 Abarth and the Saab 9 6 V4. The manual has a descriptive paragraph for each car in the game. There are over 10 cars that you can choose to race with.

Some of things that add an air of authenticity to the game are realistic sounding engine noises and real time damage to cars during a race. The graphics sometimes aren’t the best, but some are pretty good. The forests and twisting roads are something that a quick witted driver will have no trouble with.

The Time Trial mode has you race to get the fastest time. This mode uses the same starting times and other elements from the Championship mode.

For those folks you can’t play any other way but online, the game can be played online via GameSpy.

As with most games that require some dexterity, I wasn’t too successful at winning more that a few races in Rally Trophy. It can be a little tricky at times, manipulating the gears so that the car doesn’t fishtail too much and crash into another one or a wall or something. But I had a lot of fun nonetheless.

Rally Trophy is a great racing sim that features cars as how they were during rally races in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. It has the feel and attributes of how participating in a race at that time might have been like.

For more information about the game, visit the JoWood Entertainment web site at www.jowood.com.

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