Review: WRC 4 FIA World Rally Championship

Rating: 0
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · Published November 5, 2013 · Updated March 14, 2014

Show off your style and win the FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 season! Experience the 2013 season with the drivers, cars and courses of the WRC, WRC2, WRC3 and, for the first time, Junior WRC championships.

Pros:

Graphic detail on the cars especially, Are highly detailed and polished.Every course has a unique feel and looks very true to life.
Presentation is very good, presented to you in the style that you are watching a rally championship on TV. Before every course you get a fly over with narration on the course.
Full 360 pad support and the best way to play it.
Has online mode where everyone does their own run.
Controls are tight and responsive. One of the best handling model s I’ve used in a long time.
Full licensed teams, cars and liveries. The bill boards and hoarding have all the correct sponsorship on them.
Full in depth character creation customisation, Pick your name,face,country and even your co driver.
Real damage model that sees any part of your car fall off. Hit the side and doors will hang open, Flip it and it will, well look a mess.
Tutorial video showing the tips needed for success.
Flashback mechanic is available allowing you to rewind time if you should mess a corner up.
Career, quick play, rally event and multi player are your game modes.
Full leader boards and sees you able to upload your own times after each event.
You can have driving aids and assists put on. The range from full on take control to subtle help on corners.
Career mode is huge and has many options you can set up. You can go for a full season or tweak the amount of days and events to your liking. In between days you can repair your car and set the car up for the upcoming event. Loading screens before each event is a interview with one of your competitors.
Plenty of video options for you all to tweak and tinker with. Basically everything you want is in here.
Online requires a separate login to work but once it works it all runs pretty well.
Driving through mud or snow will leave it splattered all over the car, Such attention to detail is incredible.
Many view points to use and easily swapped between.

Cons:

Getting a login to play online and indeed play online is a hassle, They could of integrated it into Steam to keep its streamlined approach.
With the online hassles it makes the ability to upload scores near non existent.
Engine noises all sound the same and the ambient sounds are very basic and lose a lot of the atmosphere.
Cannot change video options in game at all, All must be done before you boot the game.
A few reports of people cheating the leader boards online already.
Hitting the hoarding is over the top and drags you down quicker than driving on your roof! The only let down in what would otherwise be a great physics set up.
The spectators are some of the worst character models ever, But as I think its too keep the cars looking sexy, It can pass.

In summary, The game is brilliant fun, The devs have done an amazing job on not only the car detail, But a really good job on the handling model. It plays like a dream and you really feel every jump and bump. Tweaking settings for your car is noticeable and immediate in its effect and feel. The damage model is realistic and brutal. Aside from the mess of the login for online play issues, the game is defiantly worth your time and money if you are a rally fan. This game is in the same league as the original Colin McRae games and sticks to proper rallying, None of this new age multi events, arcade handling experiences associated with rally games of today. This harks back to when rally games were all about you and the timer. For best results use the pad as the keyboard is very clucky. Overall this game is worth checking out!