Beat That
HIGH Jam-packed with content.
LOW Truly accessible only to rally-heads.
WTF Still figuring out what those numbers my navigator is yelling mean.
Rally racing has to be one of the coolest sporting events ever, pitting drivers against terrain, testing their driving skills and resolve. It’s a form of motorsport that involves racing, navigation tests and other forms of driving across harsh landscapes. Now, after over 20 years without the official WRC (World Rally Championship) license, developer Codemasters gets back behind the wheel of this franchise with EA Sports WRC.
This year’s WRC title draws a fine line between simulating what a normal season in the official competition is like, while also offering a chance to see it from every possible angle. The career mode has players choosing between different Junior WRC, Rally 2 or the main WRC modes. Each of these competition types bring in different classes of vehicles, as well as various difficulties.
Gameplay in each mode consists of completing tasks during an in-game week. Before the start of the WRC season, players create their racing team (complete with name and logo) and meet their manager. Then, everything from a weekly budget and set goals are given, tasking the player to achieve these things while staying within a certain monetary threshold. It’s similar to the way progression works in something like EA Sports UFC 4, where an in-game calendar determines what players should try and tackle, and when.
There’s a lot of variety in these tasks, ranging from buying cars, hiring members for a race crew and racing in events with the expectation of hitting a certain milestone. If I was able to stay under budget, management and sponsors were pleased and I would stay in their good graces, which gave me more incentives down the line as the season progressed. It’s deeper than I expected, playing out more like a full-blown management sim instead of just a simple racing game.
The racing however, still is king.
Codemasters is known for delivering finely-tuned racing that feels closer to being simulation than arcade, while offering enough customization to make driving as accessible as possible to players of different skill levels.
Early in the career mode, players run a trial race that gauges what settings would be best for them — things like how long each race should be, overall difficulty, and even how serious the damage on a car can be. Options like this are appreciated, and even moreso since they can be changed at any time, allowing players to find playstyle that suits them throughout the career mode.
Driving feels great, with each terrains offering different challenges and requiring different strategies — barreling through narrow dirt paths offers resistance in contrast to the smoothness of a normal road, for example. This variance is supported by the PS5’s Dualsense controller, as the haptics and adaptive triggers do a great job of making the driving feel immersive. While it’ll be a long time before I buy an expensive racing wheel, the care that went into making sure the controller feels this good means I can delay the purchase even longer.
With all that praise given I should note that although a lot of work has been put in to be as accessible to as wide a range of players as possible, WRC is ultimately an experience for rally fans, as opposed to general racing fans. Most of the play and designs reflects real-life rally aspects that might seem a bit foreign to newcomers, like a navigator in the passenger seat reading directions, or being penalized for going even slightly off-road. Those looking at jumping in should be aware that this isn’t just like every other racing game out there.
With this return to the world of rally racing, Codemasters has delivered something special with EA Sports WRC. It’s rock-solid and jam-packed, and I’d expect any gearhead to get lost in it for hours. Rally fans rejoice!
Rating: 8 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is published by Electronic Arts and developed by Codemasters. It is available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S and PC. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed (still playing). No time was spent in multiplayer.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E, with no descriptors. There is absolutely nothing objectionable here.
Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual cues throughout the game. These can all be adjusted. There are no relevant audio cues that do not have visual cues as well. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped and there are diagrams and various presets.
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