Boss Rally

For anyone tired of the more cartoonish, sometimes hokey racing games and itching to get back to basics, let me introduce Boss Rally. With a good mix of track environments, weather conditions that build genuinely varied courses, shortcuts and multiple routes through many of them, and the ability to tune your vehicle’s componentry, it offers a broader spectrum of racing than the average game. Unfortunately, a few things hold its overall value back.

That tuning is the heart of it. You can change your shocks, tires, steering sensitivity and transmission to suit both your driving style and the scenario ahead, since a snowy road obviously wants different setup than a muddy, rainy off-road course, and Boss Rally accounts for that. Once you have set up your ride, control on the road is fairly true to real driving. The game puts a lot of emphasis on technique, so speed control, proper turning and braking all matter, and happily your ability to manage them feels good here.

Graphics are only so important in a racer, and these are fine rather than spectacular: the cars look bright and detailed, the courses offer some interesting views, but nothing amazing, which again ties back to the game’s realist streak (the true racer keeps his eyes on the road, not the scenery). Sound, oddly, is one of its better qualities. Instead of the usual boring electro-techno pop, Boss Rally serves up live modern rock, some of it with vocals, across the menus and the racing, with enough variety in speed and mood to keep your ears happy. It also offers internet and LAN multiplayer, still uncommon for PC racers, which is another mark in its favour.

Then there is the crash physics, and they are exaggerated, to say the least. Everyone crashes in a racing game, but in Boss Rally cars take flight at the most miniscule bump, pulling somersaults and hang-times that would impress an Olympic diver. Since even good drivers pick up minor knocks, these airborne antics show up constantly, and they take a real bite out of an otherwise high-quality experience.

The ESRB may say Everyone, but Boss Rally is really for players who are already good at racing games. The upper-level competitions are high-speed tests of accuracy that will frustrate a beginner and intrigue a veteran who thought they had seen it all. There is just no escaping those unexpected acrobatics, which end up being the only real speed limit on this game’s fun.