Rally Master Pro 3D: The ultimate rally experience

I must profess my love for racing games. I’ve been playing them since Pole Position and I’ve played each and every type of racing game known to man, and while there isn’t much more you can do with the genre I’m still not bored with the  Need For Speed, Dirt, and Colin McRae Rally clones that pop up on a seemingly monthly basis. The iPhone also has seen it’s fair share of racing titles and with Firemint’s Real Racing setting the bar extremely high I was excited to jump behind the wheel and see how Fishlabs latest and most ambitious title compares against the iPhone current heavy hitters.

Overview:

Rally master Pro bills it’s self as the ultimate rally experience, a claim which regardless of the outcome of this review stands as it’s the only Rally experience currently available on the iDevice. The game allows you to race in amateur, professional, and expert rallies over a total of 27 tracks with dynamic weather and varying terrain at break neck speeds.

Rally Master Pro 3D offers Career, Time Trial, Adrenaline(race as fast as you can without taking damage), and mini game modes of play each with three separate difficulty levels that are unlocked once you finish the previous level.

The game does offer an online leader board structure where your fastest times can be judged against the world, but the game itself  is strictly a single player affair.

Controls:

The game offers three modes of control. Accelerometer, Touch Analog, and Tough Digital. The first two mentioned  should be immediately removed from the game, as they offer an inferior control system to the digital touch interface and have a negative influence on the game.  I tired using the default Accelerometer interface and touch analog and found I was immediate turned off to this game until I found the Touch digital interface about 4 races in. It’s not that the other methods of  controls were inferior it’s more of  gameplay issues than controls based on the tightness of the tracks. I found any other control scheme resulted in much more damage being taken than with the digital controls.

The game also sports two viewing modes selectable by tapping on the center of the screen. The Default mode is behind the car or an inside the car hood view (my preference).  The game plays fine from either viewing angel and there seems to be no differentiation in viewing or draw in distances as well.

You also have a selection to tilt the horizon in the controls section. This will adjust the horizon view based on the terrain you are currently on.

Gameplay:

As you start your career you will only have the amateur circuit available. Each level consists of 9 races broken down into 4 parts and a final stage race. As you race your car you will sustain damage from driving off the main terrain. Hitting a wall or driving into the grass has the same effect on overall damage which is something I found quit disturbing, but given the overall system I can understand why it’s this way even though it’s hard to logically wrap your head around that fact.

Your car’s speed and controls are based around your damage as well, so it behooves you to stay on track as damage obtained throughout stages carries over to the next.  After every two stages of the race you are presented with a mini-game section that serves as a pit-stop or repair shop allowing you to remove some damage you have acquired over the last 2 stages.

This is played out in 3 different mini games based on your current career level. Each objective is detailed and presented in a walkthrough method allowing you to grasp the concepts needed. This section can be done automatically by letting the virtual crew fit them or manually playing the games yourself which yields better results.

Gameplay is played out in typical rally style. You and your co-pilot race through checkpoints as fast as possible while competing against other drivers in a single car race. As you drive your co-pilot will inform you of upcoming turns and obstacles ”Hard Right” “Easy Left” and  “slight Incline” as examples.

The game really doesn’t shine until you get past the amateur level, which users should find no real competition. In fact it’s basically the learning level. As you advance in your Career modes you will need to have come to grips with the control schemes and timing for turns, as things get a bit tougher until you advance to expert where any failings on your part will result in a loss. It should be noted that as you progress the speed of the game increases as well.

Medals are earned for finishing in first, second, or third places. The game also supports a full race replay system allowing you to view your race and learn where you can improve certain sections of the track.

Likes:

+ Good Graphics + Audio + Customized Controls + Unique Mini Game Repair System + Leader board Rankings + Unlock-able Game Mode

Dislikes:

- Single Car Selection Per Career – No local or online multiplayer modes – some distance draw-in – grass causes damage

Final Verdict:

While Rally Master Pro 3D isn’t going to topple Real Racing’s crown as the most impressive racing game on the iDevice, its clearly a well designed and enjoyable racing game. The fact that it’s the only true rally game out there, helps to separate it from the Need For Speeds, and Asphalts of the world. Fans of Rally games really can’t go wrong with this one. It’s easy on the eyes, has a really impressive dynamic weather system, and some very unique and beautiful scenery for a racing game. Add to that- the fact that it’s easy enough for beginners to play on amateur while challenging enough for the more advanced gamers as you progress and you have a very complete and enjoyable rally experience on the go.

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Tags: Review

Category: Games