WRC 9 – PC Review

WRC 9 – PC Review

WRC 9

It’s been a few years since I played a game in the WRC
series, WRC 6 to be exact on the Xbox One. And I remember
exactly that I wasn’t too impressed after trying it out.
Since then Codemasters has held the crown pretty much
when it comes to Rally, F1, Motorsporting in general.

But, here comes the but.. with WRC 9 there is
definitely a new contender on the block, whom is going
to fight for the Motorsport game of the year in my opinion.

Not since Dirt 4 & Dirt 2.0 have I been this excited
again to play a rally game, KT Racing has definitely
managed to make an interesting title this year, that
is not only just about racing, but also managing your team
within the career, hiring skilled people, spending
resource points to improve your skills, etc even how
well your team reads the weather forecasts for the
races.

There is plenty to dabble with in here, as you can
see from the screenshots above, that the skill trees
kind of resemble an RPG adventure, though it sounds
complicated, all the managing aspects of the team
is very straight forward and easy to deal with, that
is as long as your morale is high, a.k.a you are winning
and getting funds in, as no team runs on a 0$ budget.

Besides playing the career mode with Management features
you can play the official WRC seasons, focus on challenges,
and there is a ton of challenges to part take in if you
so wish. Quick play for single races, and even Test Areas
and Training modes are standard..

From an online point of view the game offers you the standard
Multiplayer Online modes, but also Online events,
and chosen rallies to part take in.. right now at the time
of writing the Monte Carlo rally is the one running.
And for those, who love challenging a couch-friend,
there is also the splitscreen option, so you can fight it out.

Everything within the game is accurately represented, with
over 50 teams from WRC, WRC 2-3 and Junior WRC support
classes to pick and choose from, The official 2020 WRC
season is represented with almost 900km of roads to drive on
as the initial rally season schedule intended.

If that is not enough, you have legendary special stages,
more than a 100 to play through on top of everything.

KT racing has also made a promise for free regular content
to WRC 9 so, we’re definitely getting spoilt here for how
much there is to do within the game, and more is coming.

I was amazed by how differently all the cars drive,
When you start you career in the beginning, you are pretty
much in for a hectic schedule, with targets to reach and
rallies to part take in, not only that but also manufacturer
try outs and extreme weather tests, this meant that you
pretty much drive a new car depending on your schedule
selections, each and every time you head out.

Not only that the cars drive differently, the feel already
is fantastically conveyed to a regular Xbox controller
that I have been playing the game with, be it snow
you can feel how slippery the surface is, but also feel
the grip a newer racing car has, and driving a 80’s rally
car meant you can really feel the power and the lack of
grip going into corners, this definitely keeps you on your
toes as you try to adapt into each car how they handle, I
was really positively surprised how good it all felt, now
add in all the fantastic engine noises with the blinding
speed of going 200kph at a narrow forest road with mere
inches to your each side.. flying over bumps while trying
to focus on what your co-driver is telling you is coming
up, it all feels like a solid package for WRC 9.
So kudos to KT-Racing, they have managed to put together
a racing game that feels fast, great control, and with
so many activities to part take in, that you almost
feel overwhelmed at what you should do next (in a good way).

On my review rig that I have played the game with a i5-9400
and 16GB of Ram paired with a RTX 2060, playing the game on
1440p and a mix of Medium / HIGH settings runs perfectly
smooth at +60fps. I encountered some mid track odd frame dips
as something it felt like was loading in, but those were
rare and few, and most likely will be patched out if it’s
something that is a known “problem”.

While all the race cars, locations and even your HQ where
you prepare for everything looks nice, I do have to point
out that it felt a bit odd looking at almost Mannequins
when you are on top of the podium celebrating your victories.
This is definitely something KT-Racing dropped the ball a
bit with, it’s not the end of the world, but overall feels
when the game is so polished and well done, it’s a bit of an
odd feeling looking at your characters like they are stale
wax dolls in their expressions.

 

Final word

WRC 9 is a massive game, it looks good when you ramp up
all the details, it feels great when you drive and get
an understanding of each the cars, it sounds just brilliant.
it’s got more content to play with challenges, legendary
races, seasons, career mode, multiplayer.. than you could
hope for. If you are a racing fan, don’t miss out on WRC 9.
If you are on the fence about WRC 9, don’t be.. give it
a shot, I am sure you will like it, while it’s challenging
it’s a ton of fun (and you can set the difficulty to suit you).

9
Out Of 10
Pros
  • Filled with modes
  • Sound & Feel
  • Classic rally
  • Team micromanagement
  • Tons of cars & tracks
Cons
  • Some frame dips
  • Crowd / Podium people look odd

Thank you to the Publisher for the review code.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 – PC Review

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 – PC Review

Twenty and a bit years since Tony Hawk Pro Skater was released,
and the following year Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. I’ll just halt here
and tell you that instead of writing Tony Hawk Pro Skater,
all the time, I will refer to the game as THPS from now.

20+ years later on a lot has changed in the gaming world,
we’ve gone from pixels, to polygons and now we’re almost at
photo realistic graphics.. oh yeah, and a ton of Tony Hawk named
games over the years.. If I am not mistaken, we’re up to 19 now.

Here is a little refresher on what THPS looked like originally above.

but one thing that seems unaffected by time is the core game play
of THPS, the grind, the tricks, the challenge.. and hey,
the music is pretty darn dope too and still works!

If you are new to Skate boarding games, don’t be afraid, the
game won’t bite and swallow you as a whole piece.. this was one
of the things I was a little bit skeptical about before starting
the game, was it going to be impossible to learn and master all
the tricks and what not skills you need to be actually able to
play the game and advance?

No worries THPS got you here, there is a great tutorial mode
in the beginning of the game, we’re you’ll go through short bits
of training before you head onto the real game to tackle the
challenges there, the tutorial covers all the basics from
movement, to tricks.. and even has a deeper tutorial with
advanced things if you fancy learning a lot at one go.

So what is included in THPS 1+2 ?

You have the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater game (Tour)
and the sequel THPS2 (Tour), the first game comes with all
the original levels or parks I should say, Warehouse being
most likely the most known one for a lot of people.
And THPS2 also features all the original levels.

On top of this you also have a Free Skate mode, which unlike
the “campaign / park” goals you have to unlock in each title
to advance for the next park, here you can enjoy all the parks
without time constraints, there are though no goals, medals
or collectibles in the free skate mode.. but this way you get
a feel for each and every level if you so wish.

Like I mentioned a bit above, THPS and THPS2 has goals set
for you to unlock the next park, be this by achieving trick
scores, collecting s-k-a-t-e letters or breaking wooden
boxes around the park, they wary so you can focus on the one’s
to your liking, and try a little bit of everything. But remember
these are all timed, and as you go a long, can be quite a
challenge to do. Achieving goals and completing challenges
will earn you XP to level up, and of course Cash to purchase
items in the shop for, there is a ton, and I mean a TON of
items you can purchase with your hard earnt in game currency
.. you name it, socks, shoes, pants, shirts, hats, helmets..
boards, customizing boards.. these all open up as you level up.

You also have Multiplayer matchmaking, with a quick playlist
to get into the game with 7 other players, and this consists
of Jams and Competitive playlists, Jams having 4 winners and
being more relaxed, while competitive only has 1 winner for that
ultimate bragging right, you know how to handle a skateboard.
And before you ask, yes there is also Local Multiplayer
for that split screen action, so you can duke it out with
your gaming buddy next to you.

More on the multiplayer modes featured in the game,
score challenge, combo challenge, trick attack to name a few.
There is definitely a mode that will fit your skill style
in here if you choose to duke it out over the internets.

Now to the ambitious Create-A-Park.. yes, there is an editor
for the game that let’s you create your own park within the game.
This of course requires a bit of patience, but is a fun addition
for sure, and will most likely add longevity to the title too.
You can also publish your own Parks, so other players have
access to them, and basically this way creating infinite numbers
of parks to play for all eternity, if you don’t feel like creating
your own parks, you can always just browse what others have made
and jump into the park instead.

The Game looks fabulous, and runs more than well on a 2060 (6GB)
at 1440p which I have played on, the frame rates depending on the
parks range from 80->144fps on my system (i5-9400 / 16GB).
The loading times for the game, even from a regular HDD are
surprisingly short in my opinion, so it feels overall well
optimized and fine tuned. My only complaint is that when you
are doing some tricks, and your finger slips on the controller
to the right con, this is the camera movement.. and sometimes
it’s a bit wonky.. and surely something that will be addressed
if needed to in the future.

I always say that I am not an audiophile.. and in this game
in particular, I cannot say anything else than the skateboarding
action sounds like it used to sound when I was around friends
who boarded and did tricks, hitting those grinds and everything
just seem like the sounds it should be, so there are absolutely
no complaints on the audio side either of the game.

The Soundtrack, what else can I say? it’s filled with legendary
songs from the beginning of the millennium, and here is the Spotify
playlist, so you can take a listen for yourself.

THPS Soundtrack

Final word

THPS 1+2 comes with a ton of content, modes, parks, and a lot
of grinding to do. It’s not a easy game to master, but it’s made
accessible enough with it’s tutorials that anyone can get into it
easily, the game features some great music and for those who played
the original games almost 20 years ago, this is a must buy. For new
players curious, I say.. grab the board.. hit the park.. you’ll
have a title to play for a long time coming, with everything there
is to do and learn in this game.

9
Out Of 10
Pros
  • Worth the 20 year wait
  • Plenty of modes to play
  • Grindy
  • Soundtrack
  • Looks & runs well
Cons
  • Some camera oddness
  • Grindy

Thank you to Activision for the review code Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 is out now on PC / PS4 and Xbox Please see your regional pricing on your digital storefronts.

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