Description:
It features two distinct rally tracks, Malaysia and Italy, and gives players the chance to try out two different vehicles, each of which can be tuned, set up and painted to suit the driver’s needs. Both the Arcade and Simulation driving modes make an appearance. Arcade mode was created with inexperienced players in mind, who like to drive fast and dangerously without worrying over the consequences. Simulation mode is best suited for demanding players, who want their driving model to be as close to reality as possible, and want to have the possibility of fine-tuning their ride.

"In Xpand, you are fighting the road and your vehicle in equal well-balanced parts..."

All of this, of course, remains challenging even on arcade mode where the vehicle is quick and maneuverable and it’s easy to get carried away and trick oneself into being careless. Both game modes require constant input from players, especially when tracks consist of turns after turns which need to be negotiated with care. Mistakes are allowed, however, and thankfully this isn’t one of those cases where you need days of practice and outstanding skill; if you drive well you’ll be rewarded and do well – you don’t have to be meticulous to advance in the championship.

The very beginning of the game is a bit sluggish and slow, and you can blame that on the vehicles. Unusually for a rally game, you earn money from winning races which are used for getting upgrades and better components. Soon after, the pace really picks up and you’ll find yourself twisting and turning through narrow roads and see the game as a lot more exciting. The few places which allow you to achieve higher speeds are a thrill since the road is narrow and the vehicle begins to sway, easily making even small bends in the road hazardous. Jumps or the oncoming hairpin are another story, and breaking ahead in time is vital, otherwise the momentum will carry you well out of boundary and usually it is faster to reset on the road than to crawl back over to it. Naturally, I was glad to find out that one of the environments seemed to be made solely for the purpose of high speeds, with wide long stretches of tarmac, and straighter than usual off-road sections.

"The few places which allow you to achieve higher speeds are a thrill since the road is narrow and the vehicle begins to sway..."

Money is also used to buy new vehicles and to repair them after eventful races. You progress in the championship in this manner; winning cash, upgrading, unlocking the next batch of races until there is no more. Unfortunately “no more” comes a bit soon and ends abruptly, and this is where I realized that Xpand Rally is more like a set of rally races rather than a rally event. I was very fond of the way the player was involved in CMR, which was set up like the real championship. I personally found the approach in Xpand a bit dull and disappointing at first, but the more I played the more it resembled one of those arcade games where you strive to beat level after level until you reach the end boss and get a nice high score. It was actually nice just sitting down for half an hour to complete a few stages, unlock some more, and not feel like I wasted hours fiddling through a campaign mode. I only spent time with the menus when I had to configure my car for the upcoming race. This is actually a very important step and sometimes the difference between $10,000 and $4,000 is a poorly set transmission box. You can plainly see and feel the contrast between different setups, as they play an important role in either game mode; arcade may be easier to handle but road conditions and physical laws still apply to it.

Large environments housing numerous tracks inside are not uncommon in racing games, but those looking this good definitely are. I am not saying the game is photorealistic – it is actually the opposite, bright and colorful – but the detail and presentation are outstanding. Up close are the clean textures, detailed cars, grass and dirt, sparks and rubble, smoke and skidmarks. Far ahead are spectacular views, unobscured by fog or limited draw distance, made even more attractive by the fact that each point inside the boundaries is accessible. Such open spaces give one a really good impression of being somewhere real and whole rather than in a closed stretch of a linear level. The varied elevation is the key element which makes this possible, as sometimes you find yourself speeding along the edge of a vast slope overlooking the whole area, other times advancing towards it from down below. On one hand, however, you have such exotic views and scenery; on the other, you sometimes feel confined running around in circles. A lot of the races are repetitions made varied by changing direction or the time of day, but regardless many tracks share the same routes and sections. This is a tradeoff with such levels and not a problem when track design is skillfully done, and I am happy to say that, even though I became familiar with the surroundings, they were always fun to go through. The weather system deserves a special note because it lets you play any stage in either good or bad conditions, night or day, sunset or sunrise. It’s curious how even a small change in lightning can give levels a different atmosphere, in effect making them appear less familiar than they really are.

Low points are the cockpit views which I found lacking detail, and the visual representation of damage. On a physical level the latter is done really well and if you’re not careful you can lose performance or a wheel or two, but visually it’s nothing special. I admit that I shouldn’t blame the game for this, as very few get it right, but I’m getting tired of seeing the same pre-defined stage-by-stage deterioration of the car. After all, a front collision shouldn’t affect my rear bumper, and such cases make vehicles seem stiff and rigid as if the force is absorbed by the whole chassis at once. Parts fly off, of course, as well as bend at some arbitrary points, but I’d love to see the car deform realistically depending on the force and position of impact, and it’s sad that Carmageddon 2 did this eight years ago better than most recent releases.

In regards to multiplayer, I can only mention features since there were no servers during the period before writing this article, and none even at this moment (I am not really sure if the game is even out in stores yet). The regulars, of course, are here, LAN and online play for 8 players, a decent number of game settings, all races from the single player modes, and a nice lobby room. What seemed most interesting is that you can choose to have collisions between players during the races and this will inevitably add more action to the time trial nature of the game.

Techland have pretty much taken the idea of rally racing and its most essential elements to make a straightforward title without the nonsense. More game modes taking advantage of the freeform nature of the levels would have been a fun distraction, but the rally racing itself is superbly done and offers two distinct styles of play. It’s a basic package overall, compared at least to other rally simulations, but it’s solid, stable and engaging, a great buy especially if you’ve grown tired of familiar racing series.


Features of game
* Powerful rallijnye cars;
* Hundreds the decisions demanding instant acceptance at passage svjazok of turns for speed, exceeding reasonable;
* Two modes of game: Arcade & Simulation
* New model of damages of the car;
* Fascinating mode of career: more than 20 rallijnyh cars, 67 arrivals in 5 different regions, 800 spare parts for tuning;
* Network game on the Internet and a local network;
* Opportunity of preservation of repetitions in a .AVI-file;
* The intuitive editor — create an own line!

System requirements
Minimal
System: Windows 2000/XP;
The processor: 1,8 GHz;
Memory: 256 Mb;
Video-card: GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 900;
Audio-card: compatible with DirectX 8.0;
Hard disk: 2 Gb an empty seat;
DirectX 9.0c.

Recommended
System: Windows 2000/XP;
The processor: 2,5 GHz;
Memory: 512 Mb;
Video-card: GeForce 6600GT or ATI Radeon 9800;
Audio-card: compatible with DirectX 8.0;
Hard disk: 2 Gb an empty seat;
DirectX 9.0c.