The very first thing that WRC Generations makes you do after you boot it up is go through an unskippable arduous registration process. Before you can get into a race, before you can even complete the tutorial and before you even lay eyes on a car, the WRC Generations forces you to fill out multiple pages of a registration form.
After filling out all of the required boxes, the game has the cheek to send you a confirmation email which you must open and accept in your emails, all before you are allowed to experience what the game has to offer. It is only after you have done all of this and scrolled through screeds of terms and conditions pages that you can eventually play the thing.
WRC Generations releases on November 3rd and is available to purchase on PS5, Xbox and Steam. It will come to Nintendo Switch at a later date.
Personally, I would count anything after a game’s main menu to be the introduction to the game. From this perspective, WRC Generations has the worst introduction of any game that I have played in 2022, given that it consists of nothing more than around 10 minutes of menu screens. It is common knowledge that the average gamer’s attention span is diminishing over time and this intro sequence is going to be a game-breaker for those who want to dive into the action as quickly as possible.
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Thankfully, once you suffer through all of that arbitrary nonsense, there is a competent rally game here. The tutorial is the first thing that you will play once you boot the game up for the first time and it is a competent tutorial. It functions to put the player through a number of challenges to familiarise themselves with the car controls.
Once completing the tutorial, access to a plethora of enticing tracks is given to the player. There are a good number of various tracks across different locales available in the game at launch. From pristine tarmac courses winding across stunning mountain ranges to muddy, slide-fests twisting through a Welsh forest, the variation across the environments helps to keep the game interesting.
Another thing which helps to keep things interesting is the weather system in WRC Generations. A dynamic weather system can be utilised, which is handy for keeping players on their toes. This is because the cars become harder to control in more adverse weather conditions. Failing that, you can also manually choose the time of day and weather for each race, just in case you happen to be in the mood to slide around a muddy track in the dead of night.
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There is also a learning curve to WRC Generations. It is not an insurmountable learning curve and is actually pretty rewarding once you get to grips with the timings and mechanics. However, anticipation and quick reactions are a requirement to really get good at the game, as is patience and persistence.
The graphics in the game are also pretty great. Some of the human spectators look a bit wooden, but the actual car models and environmental modelling is fantastic. A well implemented lighting system simulating natural light and detailed textures and reflections add an extra level of depth and realism to the look of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed WRC Generations once I got by the frustrating menus which the game requires you to click through. The game buried beneath this nonsense is enjoyable, challenging and gorgeous in certain moments. If you can get by the learning curve, the online component of WRC Generations is also a lot of fun. The game also earned itself a bonus point from me for including the late, great Colin McRae as a playable driver along with his iconic blue and yellow Subaru Impreza.
7/10
WRC Generations was reviewed on PS5 using a review code provided by Dead Good Media.
