#DRIVE Rally is a brand-new racing game just entering Early Access. In a genre that has felt long dominated by a few triple-A franchises, I’m beginning to really appreciate racing games thanks to the release of a few smaller, indie titles, which are innovating with new ideas and fresh takes on how the genre should work. #DRIVE Rally is one of these, and though I crashed into plenty of trees and constantly dominated the bottom of the leaderboard, I found myself having a good time on the game’s varied tracks.
#DRIVE Rally is the second game developed and published by Pixel Perfect Dude, and if it’s telling of the kind of quality their team can put out, I would say they are a developer worth keeping track of.
One of the first things I noticed about #DRIVE Rally is that the game feels like it was made by a team with a lot of passion for racing and the game they were making. There isn’t any unnecessary flair or annoying little blockers preventing you from getting right into the action. The game immediately opens to the option to start a campaign or quick race, and after selecting your car and track you’re thrown quickly into the race.
That might not sound like much to you, dear reader, but I can tell you as someone who reviews games for a living, developers like to add a lot of unnecessary flair or walls preventing you from getting into their games. Lengthy, hand-holding tutorials and unnecessary menus or cutscenes in games that don’t really need them are a problem I face constantly. I can recall a specific racing game I played for THG that opened with an unskippable cutscene of a guy working on his bike, and showing off a race in progress when I really just wanted to get into the race myself.
This isn’t to say #DRIVE Rally is completely free of style or flair, just that the style it does has doesn’t create an unnecessary barrier to the gameplay. You can get into it fast, and I really appreciate that.
#DRIVE Rally goes for a kind of retro, low-poly look, which I have some mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it gives everything a sort of cartoony, stylized appearance, one that fits pretty well with the more comical approach the game gives to its characters and announcer lines throughout. It also keeps the file size remarkably low; I was a bit surprised by just how quickly I was able to download and get into #DRIVE Rally.
On the other hand, I feel like the low-poly look kind of fights a big attraction to these games, at least for me: the scenic views of the track. While you can make these views look good in a style like this, I think #DRIVE Rally doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head with its style and I still prefer the more graphically intense driving games in this aspect.
However, #DRIVE Rally isn’t really about the views; instead, it takes a hard and dedicated focus on the driving and the racing.
As the title suggests, #DRIVE Rally is a rally racing format driving game. Rally racing means that rather than racing side by side with other vehicles, you are solo racing through treacherously twisty tracks and against a stopwatch to see how quickly you can reach the finish line. At the end of the race, your score is presented against other players locally and globally, as you all compete to have the best time on each track.
The driving in #DRIVE Rally, which is of course the focus of the whole experience, feels good. I can swear I feel a noticeable difference whether I’m driving on the road, on sand, snow, or dirt. As I mentioned above the tracks are full of tight and constant turns, which constantly go on and off the road, making for a challenging navigation of the terrain and your vehicle’s controls.
I would definitely say that #DRIVE Rally is a game you should play with a controller. While you can make keyboard and mouse controls work in a driving game, it’s rare that I see it done well. Unfortunately, #DRIVE Rally is not one of those games, and while it controls decently with keyboard and mouse, I would just stick to a controller for more precise control over your vehicle.
The progression in #DRIVE Rally as it exists now is pretty basic, with a couple handfuls of cars to unlock by earning some cash in each race. Every car costs the same, a flat $5000 investment (about five races if you finish last like I do), with each modification costing an additional $1000.
If there is anything I think #DRIVE Rally needs to expand upon during its Early Access run, it would be of course the cars available to unlock and the maps to drive on, as well as additional modifications for each vehicle.
I may be spoiled by games like Saints Row and GTA, but I love a car game that lets me fully trick out my ride. #DRIVE Rally’s modifications, in my opinion, are a bit limited in the game’s current state. I would love for each stock car to have the potential to be built into a nearly unrecognizable Frankenstein version of itself, but that may be asking too much.
#DRIVE Rally has promise. While the PC controls aren’t great and the Early Access version of the game is, of course, a limited view into its full potential, I still think racing game enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to in this new, stylish title.
Pros:
- Great rally racing with phenomenal tracks and good driving controls
- A focus on gameplay over flair, with some good style to boot
Cons:
- Limited vehicle modification at Early Access launch
- Suboptimal PC driving controls
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