Go Rally review
:: GO OVER AND OVER AGAINPrice: $4.99
Version: 2.0.0
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2
Graphics/Sound Rating:
User Interface Rating:
Gameplay Rating:
Replay Value Rating:
Overall Rating:
For some reason, Go Rally was initially released as an Apple TV exclusive game. It has since raced onto mobile, giving anyone with $5 and a fondness for Trials-style rally racing a reason to celebrate. Go Rally is a great racing game that'll keep you coming back for more.
Race anywhere
In Go Rally, you control a rally car from a top-down perspective as you fly down streets, skid over gravel, and even slide over ice. The whole game is about going fast, of course, but a lot of keeping your time low revolves around knowing, adjusting, and preparing for terrain changes and turns.
The game provides a lot of control options to help make this feel as natural to players as possible, though I found the most amount of comfort playing Go Rally with an MFi controller, particularly when races start to get really challenging.
Another lap
Because one false move in Go Rally can send you careening off course and ruin your time, the game includes an instant restart button at the top of the screen. If you're like me, you'll use this button early and often in the pursuit of nailing the perfect time.
In this way, Go Rally feels a lot like Trials or even Trackmania. The developers of Go Rally seem to realize this, as they have achievements built around the use of the restart button and lots of courses get downright devious in their design, prompting you to play them over and over again.
Race forever
Go Rally has a decently long campaign that helps teach you the basics of the game and also has a nice progression of cars to unlock and upgrade. Once you've completed that though, there's a whole world of additional content in the form of custom tracks.
These custom tracks come from the in-game track editor, which allows all players to make their own levels that they can then share online. There are a lot of good filtering tools to find quality tracks, and the online ghost mode gives you real-time visualizations of who you're competing against as you go. It's a really great experience that adds a ton of replayability to the game.
Spinning tires
There are a lot of things to like about Go Rally, but there are a few kinks here and there that hold the game back.
From a personality perspective, Go Rally feels pretty flat. Although there are things like a social media feed that reacts to your performances and some character illustrations throughout the campaign, all of these seem very boilerplate and don't really contribute to the game.
Also, Go Rally's track editor isn't particularly intuitive. The menu system is all icon-based, which makes it really hard to tell what each button does. There is a really neat “drag-to-draw” course tool, which certainly helps, but even that does some weird things that require a lot of fine tuning afterward. I'm glad there are players out there using this editor, but I don't see myself getting past its steep and awkward learning curve.
The bottom line
Go Rally is an excellent game that offers a near unlimited amount of racing fun. It may not feel as fast or flashy as some other titles out there, but it's great fun nonetheless.