EA Sports WRC

EA Sports WRC feels like a great racing game trying to fight its way out of an unfinished one.

That said, the most important thing about EA Sports WRC is that I’m pretty sure I’ll get addicted to the moments its recreation of rallying can provide across its plethora of modes. As with Dirt Rally 2.0, it’s those simple, brief moments when you get into a perfect adrenaline-fuelled flow and feel - just for a second - like you are as good as Colin McRae, that’ll keep me coming back for more, no matter how many trees I hit in between them. I'm pleased and relieved to report that post-acquisition Codemasters still understands what makes a good rally game tick.

EA Sports WRC combines Codemasters' off-road racing pedigree with officially licensed cars, teams, and locations. The result is a confident and robust rally game that boasts super-fun driving, intense and challenging stages, and all the modes you could expect. It's only really let down by technical and performance problems. Here's hoping those will be ironed out in due course, because this is otherwise a rewarding rally game that gets (nearly) everything right.

EA Sports WRC lets you experience the rush of racing through the world's rally tracks one crest, hairpin, and sheer drop-off at a time.

EA SPORTS WRC makes a few moves that are different for the franchise that work, but the difficulty that made DiRT Rally 2 so challenging yet rewarding is missing.

The new DLC is definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the original game. It brings new ways to have fun on unpaved surfaces in powerful contemporary and historic machines. The game has certainly improved technically in the year since its release. The strong audio, good driving feel and FFB (when playing on a steering wheel) are definitely worth mentioning. Unfortunately, the visuals are getting weaker and the very poorly designed menus slow things down unnecessarily and detract from the overall experience.

Codemasters' first shot at the WRC license is underwhelming. Despite a responsive driving model and decent rally stages, EA Sports WRC offers an awkward career mode with shallow team management. Even the presentation quality is inconsistent, with some bothersome stuttering.

EA Sports WRC is the first of its kind and although the result is bittersweet, it has solid foundations that could take the franchise to a better level. The legacy of Colin McRae's installments is there, Codemasters was a guardian of it for 2 decades and, of course, there is a vote of confidence for what they will do in future editions. Unfortunately, this debut is not what was expected and amounts to a bump in the road after a period of good results in their racing game launches. EA Sports WRC isn't unplayable, nor is it a disaster, but it's far from great, although there is room for improvement with the passage of time and updates, so perhaps you could consider it for later.

You may have sounded a little disappointed when describing many of its sections, but as sometimes this is about sensations and not so much about striking features that each studio marks in bold in their press releases, EA Sports WRC is a great Rally game. It's nothing more and nothing less, what we expected from Codemasters, a Dirt Rally, but licensed. The problem is that it doesn't go any further or surprise those of us who follow the launch of the annual WRC. It has some details, such as being able to create our own WRC, but the rest smacks of having already seen it, something that graphics technology doesn't exactly help.

EA Sports WRC is a solid title that lays a strong foundation for the future of official World Rally Championship games, inheriting the best aspects of the DiRT Rally series. There are a few minor flaws, and the graphics are a bit dated, but these can be easily overlooked thanks to the enjoyable and satisfying gameplay and well-built career mode.