PS2: Need a rally game

[Brooski]

Hey all,

I bought an Xbox to play KOTOR last year (or maybe in 2003 - I can't remember). That wasn't so great, not because KOTOR isn't a wonderful game, but because I'm an idiot who wouldn't know a good RPG if it hit him in the ass. But either way the result is that it didn't work out so well for anyone except EB, Microsoft, and Bioware, and the guy at the parking garage next to EB. Basically everyone except me, then.

It's too late to make a long story short, but anyway I have an Xbox. Which is how I found out about Rallisport something 2 which is probably the best console game ever. Unfortunately, it's not out for PS2 according to Gamespot. Is there a rally game on the PS2 that's just as good? It has to be a rally game instead of a NASCAR or circuit racing game like GT3 because if I want to group with a bunch of bots I'll play Everquest. I have GT3 and I hate it. I also hate anything with cutesy-wootsey anime characters, just to get that out of the way.

Any advice?

[Gunmetal]

Colin Mcrae 2004 or 2005? I'm fairly sure it's available for PS2. A much truer Rally racer than Rallisport (which is also an excellent game)
I also enjoyed Shox, by EA, although it will be difficult to find at this point. It's very arcadey

[Misguided]

Here's your game, Bruce:
http://www.richardburnsrally.com/

I should qualify that by saying I've never seen it on PS2, but it is regarded by many to be the best PC rally game ever made. I'm sure you can find someone who has it on Playstation to get comments specific to that version.

[Union Carbide]

It's the Best Rally Game Evar in the same sense that Grand Prix Legends or the Papyrus Indycar/NASCAR games were the Best Indy/NASCAR Games Evar.

i.e. lots of configuration, car settings are dangerously realistic, you won't finish in the top 20 in pro mode, etc.

The fact that it's not readily available in the US might be a showstopper too.

If you liked Rallisport Challenge 2 and are interested in something a bit more realistic but still fun for someone that doesn't want to invest a couple hundred hours of seat time, I highly recommend Colin McRae 2005. Tons of cars, a huge career mode that starts you out in JWRC style 1600 class cars and the easier stages and progresses to WRC class cars, more realistic damage modelling, rallies that actually resemble the real thing in terms of scheduling. . . the list goes on and on.

Gran Turismo 3 and 4 also have rally portions, but it's not really rally so much as Autocross, and it's not terribly realistic.

[Dave Long]

Bruce says he wants one for PS2 and I think he's kinda SOL there. The best one, Richard Burns, was only sold in other countries so it won't work on your PS2. You could try Colin McRae Rally 3 for PS2 but you can't get the latest, the 2005 edition, because it looks like it never came out here on that system.

Shox is a great game, but it's very much an arcade game masquerading as a rally game. It's well worth buying for someone that loves racing games, but not recommended in this case.

The WRC game from bam! is probably worth a go. You can find it cheap and it's older but plays more simulation-style at least.

So there you go. The PS2 selection isn't that great. On Xbox, you could get Colin 2005 or Rallisport Challenge 2. For the record, I think RC2 is pretty easy and it's not as "sim" as people like to say it is.

--Dave

[slumpbuster]

WRC is a game that gets a lot of things right--cool cars, great replays, a variety of real-world locales, and a pretty decent driving model. Oh and of course the official WRC license, whatever that's worth. Unfortunately, if you've had much experience with rally games, you'll probably find WRC way way way too easy for your tastes, even at the highest difficulty setting. It's a good rent at best but the long-term challenge and replay value just wasn't there in my opinion.

[Misguided]

Bruce says he wants one for PS2 and I think he's kinda SOL there. The best one, Richard Burns, was only sold in other countries so it won't work on your PS2. --Dave

They are region encoded so you can't import it?
Aw heck, I didn't know that. Imported it for the PC from GoGamer.
That's too bad.

[Union Carbide]

The thing is that a lot of euro TVs are PAL rather than NTSC, so they won't even work on your TV without a converter.

The PC version works fine, though :)

[Dave Long]

Bruce says he wants one for PS2 and I think he's kinda SOL there. The best one, Richard Burns, was only sold in other countries so it won't work on your PS2. --Dave

They are region encoded so you can't import it?
Aw heck, I didn't know that. Imported it for the PC from GoGamer.
That's too bad.

All console games are region encoded except the portables. You can buy GBA/DS/PSP games from any territory and they'll work in this one. But for TV games, you have to mod your system or you just can't play them until they're released here... if ever.

That said, some systems are more easily moddable than others. The new Slim PS2 has a nice trick solution for it but you need to buy some boot discs too. The Xbox, well, everyone knows about that one by now I imagine. Gamecube is harder than both unless a game works with the Freeloader boot disc.

SEGA Dreamcast and Saturn were probably the easiest for imports. Saturn just requires a 4 in 1 cartridge plugged into the cart port and the Dreamcast allows all imports with a Gameshark or boot disc. Before that, N64 was pretty simple as were many cart systems if you knew how to "fix" the plastic allowing the carts to fit.

--Dave

[Misguided]

Thanks for the education <- obviously not a console owner.

[shang]

The thing is that a lot of euro TVs are PAL rather than NTSC, so they won't even work on your TV without a converter.

Actually most euro TV sets can cope with both PAL and NTSC, though you might have to invest in an extra cable (RGB). The TV hooked to my PS2 is probably from the late eighties or something and the few NTSC games I have work just fine.

The PS2's region lock can be circumvented with a simple boot disk even with the older models, if you have a way to swap discs without using the eject button. I use Swap Magic and a slide card myself, and haven't encountered any problems with imports so far.

[Brooski]

Thanks everyone. I actually bought a PAL/NTSC converter for my old TV just so I could play LMA Manager on my modded PSX, but that was back in the old days when I was crazy.

The Richard Burns thing sounds really great, but knowing me, the idea would be a million times cooler than the actual experience, which would consist of me getting pissed off after about ten minutes, which is what happened with Grand Prix Legends I think.

Chick introduced me to Rallisport Challenge 2 at his place last E3, so I already have that because I bought it like the day I got home from LA. I don't keep my Xbox set up, though, and I'm not interested enough to go get it every time I want to play a racing game, which is inevitably at 2 in the morning when I'm too tired to do anything else but too wired to sleep. Hence the PS2 requirement (that stays set up). The arcade/sim balance in RC2 was perfect for me when I started, but could probably use a step up. I guess I'll pick up last year's version of Colin McRae, then.

Thanks for all the help. That Richard Burns thing does sound cool!

[Misguided]

Thanks for all the help. That Richard Burns thing does sound cool!

Just for reference, RBR is not ridiculously hard to drive. Admittedly I haven't played it nearly enough, but it isn't hard to keep the car on the road at modest speeds like some other rally games (Rally Trophy).

I played the original Rallisport Challenge, but not RC2. Based on RC (which was really cool because of the variety of stage styles), if you liked it, you'll enjoy Colin. While recent CMR titles have been a major disappointment for me on the PC, primarily because of the awful force feedback for wheels (which shouldn't be an issue here), I imagine you'll really enjoy that series.

[Union Carbide]

In the interests of science, I just checked out the official WRC game from 2001 from Gamefly, and it's actually pretty good. It's certainly arcadey though, far more so than even Rallisport Challenge.

It has the advantage of having far more variety of rallies than most of the other Rally games in the market, as it has all the rallies that were in use in the 2001 season. Sadly, some of these rallies are no longer part of the WRC, such as San Remo , Portugal , and Rally Safari.

[marxeil]

I saw WRC4 and CM3 are sold for about 25$. Which should I get. I never played any Rally game before and not too many racing games at all. I also dont want to spend too much just to start enjoying it.

[Union Carbide]

WRC4 is probably your best bet.