After somewhat burning out over the last week playing Monster Hunter Worlds on the Xbox One, I've moved back to a more simpler time and the comfort of my beloved GameCube.
Unsure on whether you can really call it retro just yet, but I've been having a very joyous time the past few evenings with
V-Rally 3.
I've kept it simple, left it on auto gears and just started a career in under less than about 30 seconds. An hour later, three days ago and I'm still playing. Satisfying and addicting.
It's V-Rally mode lets you start at the bottom of a rally driver career in the little FWD 1.6's and up to the standard poster child cars of the AWD boosted cars. There's also a hint of perhaps the old Group-B masters of old in a locked Bonus mode.
I've just finished the first season and have now earned the focus of the AWD cars and its suiters.
It has just enough management and interaction to pin together a slight story/career that make it a pleasure to spend time with and feel less like a simple stage by stage race.
The so called 'England' Event, with its stages named after Cardiff districts is a bit of a kick in the teeth but it does let me put the red dragon of Wales near the C pillar windows.
The GameCube controller feels wonderful in this instance, I've gone back to a weird pad as opposed to the Waevbird, as with the benefit of wireless, comes the sacrifice of no rumble feature. The analogue triggers work very well and give nice resistance when pumping the brake.
It looks OK I think, the car models look tight, the stages look decent, it runs like butter and sounds pretty decent on the stereo Bose component speakers I have sat either side of my PVM.
Where it does show its age is in the resolution and scenery depth, which at times can look a bit a misleading but that's honestly OK, as it's hardly an issue that spoils the gameplay too much. Oh and the character models look like trash, really awful.
It takes me back to the very old Network Q rally games you used to get on PC in the 90's. Playing those on a keyboard really felt special back in the day.
But most importantly, it's just fun to play, quick to pick up and fast to give satisfaction and the feeling of progress.
Like bubblegum for the fingers.
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