Price: £44.99

Players: 1-4

RalliSport Challenge. It's a rally racing game. It's a sport. And it might be a challenge to get £45's worth of enjoyment out of this game. However, it wasn't always the case because a few short years ago we saw a brilliant racing game on the Playstation in the form of V-Rally. Yes, the control system was a bit difficult but you got to grips with things eventually, but four years or so on and you need a bit more than the basics to sustain your interest. Getting the rest of the basics out of the way and this is a game for up to four players, the multiplayer aspect being handled in a split-screen format. Talking figures, there are 48 tracks split across four different rally sports (Rally, Hill Climb, Rallycross and Ice Racing), plus you can drive 29 fully-licenced Rally vehicles including the infamous "Group B" cars, with choices including the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI, Audi Quattro S1 and the Saab 0-3 Viggen, whatever that is. Play a single race, race against the clock in the "Time Attack" mode, play against your friends instead of just playing with yourself, or make a "Career" out of it. You know the drill.

This game looks okay, but the graphics are far from revolutionary. Things look nice, but, annoyingly, although you can see far and wide around you - and beyond into the hills, if you travel just a little bit off the beaten track the screen will go blank and you'll be placed back on course again. A number of forgettable dancified tracks are available for selection, although in most such games I tend to turn these down so I can concentrate on the game in hand. One crash is very much like another and you can guess the sounds for those. The handling of the cars takes a bit of getting used to - a la V-Rally - and you get told what type of bend is coming up, but what is weird is that whether you're driving over sand or ice, the grip on your tyres is indistinguishable, which means the weather is just there for visual effect and not physical.

But like any good rally racing game, you ask yourself - Can you go round the track the wrong way and crash into your opponents? Yes and no. You can turn round and head back from whence you came, but it's not always a circular track, so for some you can do this - although any such crashes are far from spectacular - and on the others you travel from A to B so there's nothing behind you to crash into once they've all run off in front, as they expectantly will. If you really must have a rally racing game in your collection for the Xbox then I'm sure better ones will come along. Until then, if you're keen to take this one for a test drive then rent before you buy.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.