Here is a game which always springs to mind during the winter season.
The main reason is because I bought it for myself for Christmas in 1996.
But hey, I deserved it.
You try doing a paper-round at 7am every day for £7.50 a week.
But its not the only reason, because lurking within are levels filled with woodland, darkness,
rain and of course snow... and do you remember how big rally was in the early 90s.
Here's some clips actually from the 1993 Network Q RAC Rally.
I used to love watching the rally report on Top Gear and seeing the crowds standing stupidly
close to the track.
I mean, what was wrong with these people?
Anyway let's delve in.
This is the big box version distributed by Europress Software's Lifestyle brand & developed
by Pixelkraft in 1993.
Back in the 90s, I had a Kixx value edition in a smaller case, but otherwise they're identical.
I have the CD-ROM edition, but it's also available over 4 floppy disks; A necessity given the
rarity of CD-ROM drives at the time.
The blurb tells us it's "So realistic...
you can almost smell the high-octane fumes", and from the screen shots, it certainly looks
impressive.
Especially given the requirements of just a 386 with DOS 3.1 and 256K of Video RAM.
Europress Software's RALLY simulation features: All 35 stages of the Network Q RAC Rally,
Graphics digisted from video footage of the actually rally route and the latest cars including
the Ford Escort and Subaru Imprezza.
Nice.
We're also told on the front, This is the Final Round in the World Rally Championship.
Now, this is the 2nd game in a series of loosely connected titles.
Starting with Lombard RAC Rally in 1988 and continuing onto Network Q RAC Rally Championship
in 1996, International Rally Championship in 1997, Mobil 1 Rally Championship in 1999,
Rally Championship Xtreme in 2001 and the underwhemlingly titled Rally Championship
in 2002.
The titles of these games are so similar, they're ludicrously easy to get mixed up.
Inside the sleeve we have a box stating 'Quality through Innovation'.
Inside that we have the CD-ROM, Loading Instructions, a registration card and the User Guide, offering
floppy installation instructions, the necessary game guide and a multitude of stage maps,
which is nice.
Installation of the CD version is practically identical to the floppy release, but apparently
we get some exclusive audio tracks on the CD.
Best we have a listen.
Wow.
It sounds like Doom.
Maybe not.
Let's keep these playing.
I presume they planned to incorporate this audio into the CD release, but just didn't
bother.
So we get to play them in our CD player instead.
It's almost like one of those old Spectrum games bundled with a separate audio tape.
Anyway, although we're told it runs on Windows 3.1 or 95, it does so entirely through the
command prompt.
As usual its therefore best to run it directly under DOS, especially if you get screen centering
issues like that.
Like many games of this era we have simple copy protection, which involves finding a
specific word from the manual and entering it here.
We immediately have various options available to us.
We can choose what car we want, we can look at the car specifications.
We can re-configure keys.
Let's practice some tracks.
To begin with we have a small selection of sunny and rainy locations.
I'll start with a sunny track, and we're immediately presented with a disembodied arm counting
us down.
I think this is some guy outside the car, although it looks a little strange.
Anyway, you can see we're in the era where driving games are beginning to feel more like
simulations, with real corners, but we're not quite into the world of true 3D yet.
Instead we have this pseudo 3D environment filled with sprites, textures and graphical
options.
As you can see my PC isn't handling these incredible graphics very well, so we have
the option to turn off the rear-view mirror, road detail and landscape details.
This helps significantly, especially after removing the road texture.
But this game goes a step further and we can actually remove roadside features one by one
and even decrease the draw distance in increments.
The shortest draw distance is frankly, ridiculous.
Stevie Wonder would probably have better luck driving than this.
The other option is to get a faster processor, or just up your cycles in DOS-BOX.
There we go, that's much better.
You also get your co-driver shouting a constant stream of information at you.
Although he doesn't seem too bothered if you hit the spectators, who stand as close as
they did in real life.
I love the weather in this game.
Not only does the road get a bit more slippy, but it just feels involving.
It adds atmosphere.
It definitely did in the mid-90s anyway.
You can actually turn it off entirely as you're driving, again to help those who perhaps have
a low end 386 machine, but the traction of the course & the sound effects, remain the
same.
If you change cars, you get a slightly different dashboard, and you can get rid of the heads
up display if you like as well.
Although you still keep this eerily advanced satellite navigation.
Anyway, let's dive into a proper Rally.
Here's the first course, in the UK, and yes it appears to be the longest course in all
of history.
It goes right across the country, that must be 300 miles in length.
Good lord.
Thankfully, there must have been some issue with the map department, because it turns
out to only be a few miles long.
Now, I've got various assists on, such as automatic gearbox and auto-braking, but even
still you can send your car rolling off the track.
You then have the bizarre task of rocking left and right on the steering controls to
right yourself.
Then you can be on your merry way... that is unless you're facing backwards, and then
the controls invert, and you wonder what the hell is happening.
But undoubtedly you'll also smash directly into people, trees and tyres especially with
these crazy sharp bends.
But this doesn't seem to do much, other than give you a slight windscreen crack if you
get particularly vigorous.
You can turn damage off entirely as an option, or opt to service your car in-between rounds
where necessary.
At the end of each round you wait for the other times to come in, and then get your
placement.
I have no idea what I'm called, so I don't know where I came.
Oh, there we go, my name is Kant-canot.... ok.
Anyway, this is generally how play continues.
You get a course, you race it, you get some results, you forget your name.
It's actually all a bit mundane.
Nothing really grips you.
That is, until you get to a SNOW ROUND.
SNOW.
God I love snow.
This is what I bought this game for.
Driving in some bloomin' snow.
We also have night rounds, which are equally as entertaining.
Right, now they're out of the way, you can turn the game off, and go back to playing
something more engaging.
To be honest, Network Q RAC Rally Authentic Simulation isn't a bad game.
It's a game I used to enjoy firing up to put my PC through it's paces.
To get a quick hit of entertainment whilst the kettle boiled.
Today, it's the same kind of game.
It doesn't really hold your interest to play it for long bursts, but thankfully you can
save your game mid-way through a Rally and come back another time.
It's probably worth playing if you own a 386 and like driving in snow... and I can happily
put a check in both those boxes.