EA Sports WRC Review ( Final ) Build - Pure gameplay ( No Commentary )
1Brought to you by the EA Creator Network #ad Many thanks for EA and Codemasters for the game key.
( note there are some minor stutters in some of this video, This is not due to the game but is unfortunately something related to Shadowplay )
Footage all captured on PC at 2160P using DLSS Quality ( internal 1440p upscaled to 4K ) Written Review is below ( click Show more )
The game we've waited for is here, From the old school Playstation classic of Colin McRae Rally right up to Dirt Rally 2.0, Codemasters have proven themselves once again that when they do Rally, They do a damn good job of it.
This game features the usual championship and Career modes we all know, But also introduces some new ones in the form of Regularity Rally where the object is not to go from A to B in the quickest time possible against the clock and the times of the drivers that did their run before you, But to go from A to B while maintaining a specified speed limit.
Rally School makes a welcome return for newcomers to help them "get to grips" ( pun intended ) with the cars and how they handle differently on a variety of surfaces from snow to gravel to hard asphalt and tarmac.
Time trial is back from Dirt Rally 2.0 with the option of having either Dry or wet settings, However it would have been nice if the option was there to select the season and many more weather options ( stormy / heavy/light snowfall and so on ) and there isn't any options to change the time of day on Time Trial, Though there may be a chance that this is something that could be added in a post launch update.
New to WRC is the car builder where you can select a body frame, engine type and whether it is front engined, rear engined or mid-engined to allow for a variety of weight balancing setups such as with a rear engine setup allowing the back end to have a higher likelihood of kicking out during turns due to the uneven weight distribution leading to impressive slides.
Another new mode to WRC is the Moments mode which allows you to play the role of a driver in a rally and taking part in a recreation of an event during WRC history ( real inspired ) and some that are more "what if" scenarios ( fictional )
For budding Photo enthusiasts, There is a photo mode which is only available during replays after you complete the stage but it's fairly bare bones and could ideally do with the option to use the built-in image renderer within Unreal Engine but you can still get some decent shots regardless.
Performance is good following the 1.3 Patch ( though this shows ingame as 1.2 ) and most of the microstutters that were present pre-patch seem to be significantly reduced.
Compared to the last outing that Codemasters developed, This game has a LOT of meat to sink your teeth into for the rather slim install size of 84GB ( compared to the 130GB+ of Dirt Rally 2 )
There is some minor pop-in when watching replays but this is more an engine limitation rather than something that Codemasters introduced, After all, Unreal Engine is a streaming engine so this isn't really something that can be fixed, Save for some config tweaks which can supposedly allow the game to fully stream the data in first before the stage loads which could increase loading times as a consequence ( I have not tested this however )
Overall, My own opinion is that EA Sports WRC is a brilliant game with some minor flaws.
Is it worth buying? I would say Yes!