Much like Formula 1 racing (or even soccer for that matter), Rally car racing is one of those sports that is huge across the pond in Europe, but never achieved much footing here in the US. It’s a shame too, since the sport is an exciting one, offering up a good helping of speed and off-road skill. SEGA is looking to change that, giving the sport some love with their recently released off-road racer, SEGA Rally Revo.

The first off-road racing game to be released by SEGA in the US since the Dreamcast’s salad days, SEGA Rally Revo aesthetically brings the series to the next-generation with gorgeous high-def graphics, great looking car models and excellent terrain deformation. However, what the game has in technical prowess, it lacks in gameplay features, feeling quite shallow especially when held up to other next-gen offerings in the off-road genre, namely DiRT. Still, if you’re looking for a fun off-road racer that wears its arcadey leanings on its sleeve, SEGA Rally Revo might be just the ride you’re looking for.

The terrain deformation is one of the factors that will draw you into the game and is done extremely well. While simply having the tire-marks and mud tracks remain on the track through the whole race would be a nice addition, the developers have done one better and had the terrain actually affect your diving. If your opponents on the track leave the road torn up in front of you, you’ll feel it in the car, meaning that you’ll want to steer clear of your opponents’ tracks in order to keep ahead.

Being an arcade racer, SEGA Rally Revo falls into some of the same situations that are common among arcade games. There are invisible walls surrounding the tracks, meaning that no matter how badly you spin-out, you won’t go careening off of the set path. Another trapping that the game suffers from is the lack of features. There are only five different areas in the game, and while they do vary quite a bit in terms of environment, there are only three courses in each one, making the overall number pretty slim when compared to other racing games. Repetition is pretty apparent in the Championship mode, which is the main career mode in the game.

Additionally, the game can be frustratingly tough at times, due to the unforgiving AI. Oftentimes, making a single mistake will cost you precious footing, knocking you back into last place, a position that’s very difficult to get out of. There is no push when trying to get ahead of your opponents, and they’ll often successfully be able to block you and you’ll be unable to do anything about it.

The cars handle in an arcade-y way, with the terrain often being the mitigating factor in keeping the overall feel of the racing mechanics from being too “vanilla” feeling.  Aside from that, though, the game handles a bit shallowly, with floaty turning and a simplistic feel akin to old-school arcade cabinet racers. Those looking for a more intricate approach to rally cars will likely want to check out DiRT, as SEGA Rally Revo is more suited for the casual audience in terms of gameplay.

Graphically, the game is very impressive. While the framerates don’t move quite as smoothly as other racers like Forza 2 and the environments feel perhaps a bit too “cartoony” in that certain SEGA way (with effects like jets with colorful smoke trails flowing behind them in one stage), the game looks extremely polished with some fantastic environmental distortion effects and great looking car models that get covered in mud and dirt depending on what you drive through.

Soundwise, the game is done in the generally cheesy way that many SEGA games are. While the soundtrack is fairly devoid of the wailing rock guitars of other SEGA racers, the music isn’t anything that you’d necessarily want to crank through your surround sound system. There is some voice work, namely a co-driver that tells you if you’re coming up to an easy or difficult turn. This can get a bit annoying and superfluous, considering that a warning icon pops up on the screen before turns anyway.

SEGA Rally Revo won’t really be a game for rally car enthusiasts, considering how the game doesn’t handle terribly realistically and doesn’t give you much in the way of depth. However, for the rest of us the game can be quite fun at times, and could be worth a look if you’re a fan of arcade racers.

Gameplay: 7.5
The game features some great terrain deformation that actually effects the way that your car handles, which is a nice touch. However, the rest of the driving mechanics don’t feel terribly realistic, and the game lacks a fair amount of depth.

Graphics: 8.5
The environments have some hokey situations, to be sure, but the car models and terrain details truly shine.

Sound: 6.5
The score is typically cheesy SEGA stuff, and the voice acting can be pretty annoying.

Difficulty: Hard
The floaty racing mechanics take some getting used to, but the frustration factor is exacerbated by the unforgiving AI.

Multiplayer: 7.0
SEGA Rally Revo offers up some fairly run-of-the-mill multiplayer options, with ranked and unranked races for six players online, as well as two-player split-screen.

Concept: 7.0
The game offers some truly fun and exciting moments, but doesn’t offer much in the way of extra features.

Overall: 7.5
SEGA Rally Revo is a fun arcade racer, but those expecting something with the depth of DiRT will be disappointed.