Rally games are great, and quite possibly my preferred style of driving. Forget those show-off drifters with their low-profile, bodged wheel arches: give me gravel, dirt and dust any day. From classics like Sega Rally Championship to the classy Art of Rally, I love the genre. I wasn’t prepared for Exo Rally Championship, however. There’s nothing like it. It’s rally driving, but not as we know it.
I’d be reckless enough to say it reminds me of Warthog driving in the first Halo. When that first came out, I found it deceptively hard to control but ended up loving it, and it’s what sold me on the Xbox all those years ago. There was, of course, an FPS tucked in there, too. The game is published by one of my favs, Future Friends, isn’t their typical title, which tends to be more wholesome, cosy, feel-good stuff. That said, they were behind Exo One, which was Flight of the Navigator: The Game. Bloody brilliant, but tricky to handle to start with.
I started my trip on the Steam Deck to begin with, but it stuttered all over the place and skipped way too many frames. On the laptop, it was ace. Really nice visuals, great locations, and quite an interesting UI with character arcs. But wait: we’re erring on narrative threads in a rally game!?! Let’s establish the scene first – yes, this is a rally game, but like Wipeout pioneered the anti-gravity game with sci-fi, so too does this with the rally genre.
Set on alien worlds, the core campaign of the game is to race for a somewhat washed-out corporation named Lindsay, where you’re pitted against numerous aliens all doing the same thing. These scenarios are quite often barren aside from the drones that welcome you to the race and sort you out when needing a repair. There are no fans, no race girls with cards, or dust clouds and nitro boosts. There are boosts, but definitely not the type we’re used to.
Exo Rally Championship doesn’t handle like a conventional rally game, but it adopts many of the same principles. Races are tackled in stages, and the goal is to get the fastest overall times compared to others. The first way Exbleative challenges what we’re used to, instead of driving through checkpoints (which you will still do), you’ll have to drive to the left of one, the right of one, or even pull off a doughnut around one. This is all represented by an icon on screen, though, due to the urgency of being quick, it’s tricky to get used to planning your run. There are also no roads.
There’s a great deal of customisation in the game where you can swap out parts and select the right tyres, and this really can make a difference to shaving off the seconds, though also a good way to be strategic with the different types of terrain. While you don’t get a navigator shouting hard left or easy right, there are a lot of Metal Gear Solid-like interactions with your crew. You can interact with them, too, double-tapping commands on the d-pad. A bit strange, but do you know what? It works well. There’s still one fundamental mechanic I’ve omitted: thrusters.
Your vehicle comes equipped with thrusters that can help you pitch your landings when jumping over a dune – irrespective of the terrain. This feels incredibly natural and adds another layer to an already intelligent racer. In theory, this should be the hardest learning curve as it’s not something we’re often doing in racing games, but it’s not. The hardest learning curve is finding racing lines and getting accustomed to the handling. I’ve never spun out so much in a rally game. Ever.
Whether this is a skill issue or not, this does make it a bit tough to get in the top three racers to begin with. It also didn’t help on the Steam Deck, as mentioned, as there was often a bit of slowdown. Still, the thing I disliked most about Exo Rally Championship was probably the presentation. The graphics are good and all, but because we’re racing on alien terrains and picking our own trails, it felt very barren. On the flip side, for Exo One, that was beautiful, as you would often see the ground close up, but flying through the alien worlds was something else.
As usual, I can give an objective overview. Exo Rally Championship is an excellent rally game unlike any other, but it’s not an arcade experience (nor is it an overcomplicated simulator). The handling on the ground is very good, though the spinning out takes some getting used to, and the thrusters and even rolling are just excellent. If you’re as tired of every WRC as you are of those old FIFA annual releases and want to try something different, I have to recommend this. To be clear, it’s not my go-to, but impressive nonetheless an encourage you to watch a gameplay video or sumink like that to see how it handles.
