Article by Pietro Gualano
Milestone is a very talented team and we really had high expectations for Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO. We hoped that this title could be a new beginning for Rally games, a product capable of competing head-on on the market with series already established for years by offering a satisfactory level of simulation. We have spent hours and hours traveling on mud, asphalt and snow with cars of all kinds and we can finally tell you about Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO, an interesting game from many points of view.
Longevity? No problem
Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO is a title full of things to do, the Milestone guys have included a more than satisfactory number of cars, routes, modes and variants in their game. We have over 300 kilometers of roads faithfully reproduced from real settings, 8 different Rally (Monaco, Sweden, Mexico, Italy, Finland, Australia, France and Wales), 5 Rallycross circuits (Lohèac, Los Angeles, Franciacorta, Trois-Rivières and San Luis), 58 car models from the 60s to today and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (for the uninitiated, the most famous hill climb in the world). Speaking of modes we have the classic fast race, the career and the Sébastien Loeb Experience, let's analyze them individually.
The fast race does not need any special introduction, in a few seconds we can get out on the track and immediately compete with other riders. We have the ability to adjust a series of parameters related to weather conditions, time, game difficulty and we can also work on the car by modifying suspensions, brakes and more to our liking. Don't be fooled anyway: Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO it can also be tackled without having particular knowledge of engines, car adjustment is not mandatory but we nevertheless greatly appreciated the possibility of being able to play with different combinations depending on the terrain and race conditions. As often happens in driving games, we can activate or deactivate some aids to make our life easier or try an experience more faithful to reality. The difference between active and non-active aids is clear and we invite you to do more tests to understand your real skill level. The offer will vary in terms of cars and routes, as mentioned above, it is certainly worthy of praise and we are sure that enthusiasts will have a lot of fun retracing some famous tracks. As for the types of races, we can choose between a single race, a complete rally and a timed race.
For the career Milestone has chosen to propose the classic scheme already used by many other driving games: we will start as beginners with a car that is not particularly powerful and, victory after victory, we will be able to have access to ever better cars and compete with increasingly fierce opponents. We really appreciated the variety offered in this mode: we don't always tackle the usual single race but we can often throw ourselves into a hill climb race, tackle a one hundred percent complete rally or test ourselves in rallycross. The possible variables are many and in this way the career is not boring. It is not simply a question of win / earn / spend / repeat, the various competitions proposed are entertaining and engaging thanks to the variety of situations proposed. This mode can keep you busy for many hours and is in our opinion the best in the game.
Let's now pass to the Sébastien Loeb Experience. This mode allows us to retrace the steps of the famous champion Sébastien Loeb, facing the races that made him great with his most famous cars. We can also watch a series of videos (fully dubbed in español) in which Loeb himself talks about his life, how he managed to become one of the greatest of all time and the best and worst moments of his path as a driver. . We were genuinely impressed with the care with which this mode was made and we recommend all fans of the pilot to take it into consideration, several rather interesting backstories are also revealed.
Of course we can also face online races, during our tests we did not have any particular problems related to stability and it was fun to face human opponents capable of making sensational mistakes after practically perfect races.
Let's get on the track
After analyzing the individual modes, it's time to move on to the heart of the game: the gameplay. We can compete on different terrains (asphalt, dirt, snow) and Milestone has done a good job of reproducing the sensations given by the different surfaces to the rider in a different way, even if there are imperfections. Physics at certain moments leaves a lot to be desired and our car at times seems like a crazy ball bouncing against present obstacles. Guessing certain trajectories really requires a lot of practice and being able to manage the car on terrains other than asphalt is, at times, very complex. Of course, players equipped with a wheel have the ability to take better measurements in certain corners, but for those who play with a normal controller it can be really frustrating to lose precious seconds due to an error due to weight management and non-grip. perfect. All of this, of course, is amplified in the races where we find ourselves side by side with other cars. AI driving is killer sometimes, we often get it wrong because non-human pilots hit us for no apparent reason, and of course, all of this is pretty frustrating. The opposing pilots are a bit calmer at low difficulty, but in this way winning becomes almost a walk after a bit of training and you don't have that constant challenge that is essential in games of this type.
The impacts between the cars generate numerous damages, the consequences of the collisions on the maneuverability of the vehicle convinced us but from an aesthetic point of view, more could certainly be done. The doors and hood get dented, it is possible to puncture and even lose a tire, but destroying a car is practically impossible (at least we couldn't).
The internal and external views proposed by the game are all usable and allow you to drive concentrating on the road without too many distractions, the sensation of speed that you get by driving at full speed in the straights is absolutely satisfying and Milestone has done a great job in reproducing the sounds of the individuals. engines. We also promote indications relating to curves and bumps with flying colors, which are simply essential to achieve competitive times and completely in español. The pace at which the warnings are given is constant but never too fast and convenient signals appear on the screen to help us manage the incoming curves. Are you unable to understand the directions on the fly? No fear, Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO has a great tutorial that will explain the basics to you in no time.
From a technical point of view, unfortunately, the game is not up to par. We are not talking about a particularly bad product from a graphic point of view, mind you, but the tracks, the atmospheric effects, the interiors of certain cars (not all) and the public could certainly have been done much better. On the other hand, the game practically never slows down, fluidity is guaranteed and we have never encountered particularly serious bugs. The cars have been made really well on the outside and resemble their original counterparts, the development team has taken great care of this aspect which is absolutely essential for the slightly older Rally enthusiast. The work done for the audio is also commendable, with well-chosen music, dubbing and lyrics completely in español and engines with unique sounds of their kind.
Conclusion
Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO it only partially satisfied us, it is a game full of things to do but it also has some technical defects that compromise its quality. We are still talking about a fun title, it should be emphasized, and able to entertain for many hours thanks to a long career and the many cars present. After all, the Sébastien Loeb Experience alone is worth the price of the ticket for the pilot's fans. We hope this game is a starting point for Milestone, with the right tricks these guys could really make a great rally game.
