Developer: Boss Game Studios Publisher: Kemco Released: October 1, 1997 Genre: Racing
Top Gear Rally was one of the first Nintendo 64 games announced. When it was finally shown off the first look were beautiful SGI workstation renders. But to those of us who were still teenagers and did not know better we thought that was the game. Needless to say it created sky high expectations that no game could meet, let alone on that system. With that out of the way the game itself turned out to be good in the end even if gamers were a little disappointed in the end. As one of the few rally racing games at the time Top Gear Rally offered a N64 owners a taste of what Saturn owners had with Sega Rally.
While it did not live up to those workstation renders Top Gear Rally was still somewhat impressive at release. The graphics were relatively clean for their time and the tracks are massive. That does lead to repetitive textures but it is a worthwhile trade-off. The car models are detailed and have a basic damage model and in addition you can paint your own decals and save them. The weather effects are well done, especially snow and night driving. The one downside is the absolutely awful music that is so bad I would prefer the game were silent.
As a rally based offshoot of the SNES series Top Gear Rally is different from traditional racing games. Rally courses take place over a variety of terrain and are typically longer than a normal course. You compete against nineteen drivers on tracks that span three or four minutes per lap. The large maps offer plenty of opportunities to pass competitors and have many shortcuts if you look. The downside to this is that you will rarely see three cars simultaneously. I suppose this is the argument for rubber-band AI, especially if you are in first and literally alone. But I will take a game that respects your skill over artificial bullshit any day of the week.
There are four modes: Championship, Arcade, Time Trial, and Practice. The courses and cars earned in Championship become available in the other modes meaning you will have to put in some work to unlock everything. Championship covers six seasons, with two to four races per season. The point requirements to advance increase with every season but thankfully you earn faster cars every season to keep up. Even though you are driving the same courses each season the varying weather (sunny, rain, fog, night and snow) adds a new dimension each time. Combined with the terrain each race feels somewhat unique each time.
The handling model in Top Gear Rally is customizable to a large degree. You can select from three steering sensitivity levels, tire grips, the level of suspension, and manual or automatic transmission. Different cars perform better on certain terrain; the four-wheel drive trucks you start with perform better on rough terrain. Meanwhile the sleeker muscle cars are excellent in the city and mountains. Pairing up the different options has an immediate and tangible effect on your performance and has to be taken in to account. It is fun to play around with different combinations but I do wish the game eased you into it. Top Gear Rally does not play around and if you make bad choices you will never advance from the lower ranks. It is that hard.
Top Gear Rally makes the most of very little. There are only five courses and eleven cars. New seasons only add one new course, if that. But the different weather conditions have a legitimate effect on each track. Driving in the jungle during foggy conditions is a true challenge as visibility is low. This isn’t Turok style fog either that is hiding a low draw distance but a real haze that obscures enough of the track that you will have to rely on your memory. I like how the weather almost completely transforms each track but they still are no substitute for more courses. Replaying the same tracks over six seasons to add more options to the other modes gets old, no matter how subtle they change. You won’t unlock everything on your first shot either as Top Gear Rally puts up a fight.
Even though Top Gear Rally offers a wealth of options to tailor your handling it is still incredibly difficult and will turn most gamers away. There is a lot of trial and error involved in choosing the right options for each given track. If you say choose the wrong tire grip you’ll slip and slide over a wet track and never advance beyond 18th place. As you progress to the later seasons and unlock faster cars it becomes even more critical to make the right choices and sadly you can’t test them out in practice mode until you unlock them in Championship. It’s a tall order and just like Sega Rally pick and play gamers will not be able to handle it. But as I mentioned before when you hit the sweet spot it is incredibly satisfying. Whether you will stick around to do so is another story.
In Closing
Top Gear Rally is a great game and stands out among a crowded N64 racing library. The years have not been kind to its visuals but its gameplay remains solid. With a little more content Top Gear Rally could have been truly special as there is a lot to like. But being a good game overall is not so bad.
