Hands-on impression of Rush Rush Rally Racing

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[quote userid="364" name="jeroen"][b]Hands-on impressions: Rush Rush Rally Racing[/b]

Recently SegaOnline had the opportunity to play the highly anticipated Dreamcast title Rush Rush Rally Racing (RRRR). Does this independent Dreamcast game live up to the expectations?

From the moment you start RRRR, you get the feeling that you're going back in time and have just put a commercial game in your console. You're being treated to tight, well designed menus and a modern soundtrack. There's no 'homebrew feeling' and that's a good thing.

[img frame="1" caption="A small but varied choice"]att:37388[/img]

The player gets to choose from 5 fictional cars, which resemble real cars in many ways. Once you've chosen your wheels you'll start your first race 'the desert'. 3-2-1 RUSH!!! The computer controlled opposition immediately leaves you in their dust; you start in last position and you'll stay there (at least the first 2 or 3 tries). Dang, RRRR is hard. Some advice from the developers: play the game on easy in the beginning! And believe me, even on easy it's no picnic. Please note that the difficulty can't be blamed on the controls or physics, because they are very good. RRRR is simply an arcade game, which requires you to learn the tracks inside-out.

[img frame="1" caption="Just put it on easy, it's nothing to be ashamed of"]att:37389[/img]

You can see it in the screenshots, but what really comes into it's own are the little details. The surroundings are somewhat interactive. During the race you regularly come across people and animals that you can drive into or evade. On a side note: Senile Team told us that you can reach numerous goals for specific challenges (comparable to Xbox 360 achievements). For instance for killing a 'x' number of cows. So besides the regular 'be number one in a race' RRRR gives you enough replay value.

Unfortunately there is one small fly in the ointment: the car sounds. They were not available in our playing session! An important detail in this is that we didn't play the final version. So perhaps this was due to an option setting and/or a bug.

[img frame="1" caption="RUSH!!!"]att:37390[/img]

So does RRRR live up to it's promise? YES! Senile Team gives a new definition to commercial homebrew. Now we only have to wait for a publisher to release this old-skool racer, so that Dreamcast owners in the entire world can enjoy another new release.

The official release date hasn't been announced yet, but when there is one you will read it here on SegaOnline.[/quote]

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