WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship

Not a rallyhead by any means, I've always enjoyed the Wrc series as a way to explore various countries while driving at a moderately fast pace. I don't always know what I'm doing, but I have been able to witness the evolution of the series since Wrc 4. So if you're interested in the point of view of such a player, here's what I can say about Wrc 10 ! Although the series is constantly evolving, some iterations offer more innovations than others. Wrc 6 was a huge improvement over its predecessors in terms of graphics and turned the arcade gameplay way down, while Wrc 8 introduced many new mechanics that have since become staples of the series. It won't be the case with Wrc 10. The game shows very little graphic improvements over the last two, the skill tree is pretty much the same, and the management aspect is relatively fun but still very basic. Hire staff members, choose the right tires... It's nothing new, just something to do between races. I feel like the game has gotten harder overall. Don't fret, there are still sliders to adjust the difficulty, but the Ai usually poses a bigger challenge. It could even make you sweat on a few segments, if you were to push that slider to the right a little. The same can be said for the Anniversary races, historical events at the wheel of legendary cars : they're tricky to drive, and the time goals leave little margin for error. However the most important thing to me has always been the actual rallies, and how fun and varied they are. Unfortunately, we've lost some good ones in Wrc 10 : Argentina and Corsica are gone, Germany as well... The ones we got as replacements aren't nearly as exciting : Belgium is a complete bore, Croatia lacks cool landmarks, Estonia is flat but at least the roads are large and let you step on the gas... On that front, even if there are a few bonus rallies in Freeplay mode, Wrc 10 is disappointing. The big improvement comes from the number of different stages from each country. You could often get the same one twice, sometimes three times, as well as the reverse version in the same championship before, but that rarely happens anymore. Every rally feels way more diverse now. So with such a refined formula, it's hard to understand why the night turned out so dark. It may sound like a detail but it's a real problem when every race that happens at night is in litteral pitch-black, with a moon that's nowhere to be found, and weak headlights as your only source of light. Lose those in a crash and you might as well forfeit (or restart). A female co-driver is one of the only new features, and she even gets sassy when your driving is not to her liking ! It's pretty fun to hear her say that she "doesn't have that part of the track on her notes" when you stray a little too far offroad. Cool addition ! Wrc 10 is a very competent rally game, even if it comes with barely any innovations on its own formula. The slight graphic improvements and historical races are nice, but Wrc 8 will remain my favorite because of its selection of rallies, that I found a lot more enjoyable. That's why Wrc 10 gets a [b] 6[/b], but it should satisfy any rally enthusiast out there.