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Review: Sega Rally 2
Alright, I admit it - I've never played the original Sega Rally. But if it was anywhere near as good as Sega Rally 2, then that was a huge mistake. Although not for everyone, SR2 provides some of the best racing action on the Dreamcast, if not on any console.

I wasn't expecting all that much from this game. After all, everyone seemed to complain about the framerate and Sega not including Net play (or even point-to-point multiplayer), so when I fired SR2 up, I lowered my standards. Imagine my happiness when I got into the first race to find that the framerate was pretty good. At the beginning, it bothered me a little because I was looking for it, but after a while, I didn't even notice it. There were only a few moments when the game dropped to 20 or 30 fps, but most of the time it stayed at a solid 45 fps.

For a game that's almost two years old, the graphics hold up surprisingly well. A good sense of speed is important, and, fortunately, SR2 delivers on this aspect. The cars look great, and the tracks, although sometimes a bit boring, also look superb. Night racing is very spectacular, and the weather effects, from rain to snow, all look good. The graphics do look a little aged sometimes, but for the most part, they are at least passable.

There's a great variety of cars to race with, and models include some familiar cars like the Subaru Impreza WRC and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and exotic ones like the Fiat 131 Abarth and Lancia Stratos HF. Each car handles very differently than the other due to different drive trains. Four-wheel drive cars have the best grip, while rear-wheel drive cars drift a lot and take a bit more practice to be effective with. Front-wheel drive cars hardly ever drift, but have a smaller turning radius. I find that gamers have different preferences for which car to drive, and you'll just have to find your niche.

You'll probably begin SR2 by playing a game in the arcade mode, but that's just practice for the meat and taters of the game, the 10 Year Championship. Every year consists of four races, but to mix it up, each race has different conditions. Rain, visibility, and time of day all affect your racing abilities, so even though there are only 16 'real' tracks, each race feels much different from the last, even if it's the same track.

The thing that caught me off guard was that the way you race in SR2 is pretty unusual. You start off in 16th place at the beginning of a four-race session, and must reach 1st by the end of the last race. Most of the time, you must place in a particular position in a race, but the AI cars might as well be there for decoration, as the competition is between the player and the clock, not other cars. Racing against time may not appeal to some people, so consider this your warning.

Control is spot on in SR2. Using the standard Dreamcast controller to race is very intuitive. The analog controller works like a charm, and the twin triggers make accelerating and braking extremely precise. After taking hits for being useless in fighting games, it seems that the controller found a game it was practically made for.

When I say that SR2 not for everyone, I mean it. Rally racing is tough. Very tough. You have to master various driving techniques if you hope to win even one race. Knowing the difference between when to use things like acceleration or braking drift is often the difference between first and second place. Also, you'll have to get under the hood to change the car setting for each race. Things like gear ration and suspension have huge effects on how your car handles, so It's not as daunting as it seems, but it still might put people off.

Sega has finally begun understanding that an arcade port is just not enough these days, and has put together a great set of console-only options, the 10 Year Championship being the most noticeable. Dig deeper into the game, and you'll find that for every year you place first in, you get a new car, so if you finish the championship, you'll end up with about 20 cars. Also, like I said before, many new tracks have been put into the Dreamcast port. Each of the five track types has three different variations to it (a la Ridge Racer), plus there's a hidden track to be found. There are also new time attack modes, and a car profile viewer.

Sound is an area that should have been given more attention. The music is utterly disposable, just like any other Sega arcade game, but you'll probably be too busy playing to care. Engine sounds are pretty good, but nothing to write home about.

As good as the single player game is, SR2's multiplayer options are pretty slim. Like I've said before, since the Dreamcast Network won't be up till next year, there's no internet multiplay. This was expected because it was announced beforehand, but I still can't help but feel disappointed about not being able to play against others online. The least Sega could have done was to include point-to-point play (as in one person dials up to another person via modem), but alas, that option is also lacking. So all you're left with is a two-player mode that is shabby at best. The framerates dip pretty low, and the draw-in distance is about half of that of the one-player mode, making pop-up very noticeable. It's just not all that fun, and you'll end up sticking to playing by yourself.

Despite these let-downs, SR2 is still the best racing game on the Dreamcast, and a worthy heir to the Sega Rally throne. The 10 Year Championship is one of the most ruthless contests ever seen in a video game, but the satisfaction found in beating it is definitely worth it. If gaming was a mountain, meet Mount Everest. Dare to climb it?

--- ElDuderino