What can I say? It seems that V-Rally 3 cleans up quite nice. Now, I'm not saying this is the Mac of Rally games because that it ain't! However, what I did find is a nice improvement over the PS2 version minus one thing (which I'll get into in just a bit).
Before I go any further, I would like to preface my comparisons by stating that I am going strictly off memory and that I didn't really put a whole lot of time into the PS2 version (mainly because I couldn't stand it).
Ok the first thing I noticed immediately is that the graphics, while not great, are cleaned up quite a bit on the XBOX version. On the PS2 the environment had this rather grainy look to it, but they have taken a lot of that appearance out on the XBOX version. The environments don't look nearly as bad from what I remember.
Lighting effects seem to be a lot better as well. I don't really recall any glare from the sun on the PS2 version, but again... I didn't play it that much. There are some pretty nice lighting effects on the XBOX version and at times the glare makes it hard to see the course. Pretty decent IMO.
The next and biggest improvement I found was that the frame-rate is much more stable in the XBOX version. There was only one time, in the forest of Finland, that it slowed down, but this is NOTHING in comparison to how bad the frame-rate is on the PS2 version. A much smoother game means a much more fun game IMO. Nothing I hate worse when racing is to have the frame-rate sputter like my grandmother's (God rest her soul) old hoopty.
Control seems to be about the same, but it may be just one of those hairs tighter on the XBOX. Maybe, maybe not...really is hard to remember. Nothing to right home to mom about either way. Not too bad, not too great. The cars seem to lean toward the floaty side, but it could definitely be worse. I give it a C, maybe C+ in control department.
One possible hit against the XBOX version is that it seems to me that they may have widened the courses a little bit. I could be wrong (I do suffer from memory loss), but I don't remember the roads being this wide on the PS2 version. I think I read somewhere that they were intending on doing this for the XBOX and GCN versions, but whoever read that could have been smoking the wacky tobaccy for all I know. Maybe it's just because I've been playing CMR 3 a bit....heck if I know. Either way you look at it I feel that the game would have benefited from having narrower roads.
Damage model is good. Ease of play is well...so far...easy.
I like the story line and competing for contracts and stuff like that...I do. I mean I like that a whole bucket-load! I just wish it was tougher and the competition actually competed for those contracts instead of driving like they're driving my Grandma's (God rest her soul) Pinto.
So far though this game seems to be worth every penny of the 29.99 I flopped down for it. It's no CMR 3, but it's no slouch either.
Before I go any further, I would like to preface my comparisons by stating that I am going strictly off memory and that I didn't really put a whole lot of time into the PS2 version (mainly because I couldn't stand it).
Ok the first thing I noticed immediately is that the graphics, while not great, are cleaned up quite a bit on the XBOX version. On the PS2 the environment had this rather grainy look to it, but they have taken a lot of that appearance out on the XBOX version. The environments don't look nearly as bad from what I remember.
Lighting effects seem to be a lot better as well. I don't really recall any glare from the sun on the PS2 version, but again... I didn't play it that much. There are some pretty nice lighting effects on the XBOX version and at times the glare makes it hard to see the course. Pretty decent IMO.
The next and biggest improvement I found was that the frame-rate is much more stable in the XBOX version. There was only one time, in the forest of Finland, that it slowed down, but this is NOTHING in comparison to how bad the frame-rate is on the PS2 version. A much smoother game means a much more fun game IMO. Nothing I hate worse when racing is to have the frame-rate sputter like my grandmother's (God rest her soul) old hoopty.
Control seems to be about the same, but it may be just one of those hairs tighter on the XBOX. Maybe, maybe not...really is hard to remember. Nothing to right home to mom about either way. Not too bad, not too great. The cars seem to lean toward the floaty side, but it could definitely be worse. I give it a C, maybe C+ in control department.
One possible hit against the XBOX version is that it seems to me that they may have widened the courses a little bit. I could be wrong (I do suffer from memory loss), but I don't remember the roads being this wide on the PS2 version. I think I read somewhere that they were intending on doing this for the XBOX and GCN versions, but whoever read that could have been smoking the wacky tobaccy for all I know. Maybe it's just because I've been playing CMR 3 a bit....heck if I know. Either way you look at it I feel that the game would have benefited from having narrower roads.
Damage model is good. Ease of play is well...so far...easy.
I like the story line and competing for contracts and stuff like that...I do. I mean I like that a whole bucket-load! I just wish it was tougher and the competition actually competed for those contracts instead of driving like they're driving my Grandma's (God rest her soul) Pinto.
So far though this game seems to be worth every penny of the 29.99 I flopped down for it. It's no CMR 3, but it's no slouch either.
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