V-Rally 3 Preview

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Scheduled release date:

TBA 2002

Screenshots

One of the best known rally racing series is now headed to the PS2. There's a bit of a difference though. The first two installments were under the Need for Speed franchise and were published by Electronic Arts (EA) and co-published by Infogrames. This time around, V-Rally 3 will be published by Infogrames, and only Infogrames. Developed by French-based, Eden Studios, does V-Rally 3 have the goods to deliver a top notch title?

The V-Rally series has strived on a simulated feel and have done their best to represent the real life sport of rally racing. V-Rally 3 is no exception as its main focus will be to play and feel as real as possible. 

The levels thus far in V-Rally 3 are stunningly beautiful and intricately detailed. Various background objects are animated and some elements are even fully destructible. The tracks are planned to have over 500,000 polygons each. Strangely, each race track is designated to a specific designer. So the tracks may vary as far as detail and originality.

<--The vehicular detail is simply stunning!-->

More and more games in the racing genre are finally starting to make the first-person view an actual first-person dashboard view. In V-Rally, you'll be pitted right in the driver's seat, being able to see the steering wheel and the rest of the dashboard, which help to depict and pull off a better overall game.

I have to say that V-Rally's cars are looking very impressive. Don't take my word for it though, just look at the screens and you'll see what I'm talking about. The detail and polygon count both show off the massive power the PS2 can handle. Each car will contain around 15,000-16,000 polygons. The cars are also fully destructible and show off the damage quite accurately. A true simulation always needs fully destructible cars right?

From a graphical standpoint, Rally has all the goods. But the gameplay is what will make or break the final version. V-Rally 3 ships later this year which is unconfirmed at the time. When one is announced though, we'll have the latest on it.