Exo Rally Championship Review A Surprisingly Grounded Racing Sim | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Steam

Price: $24.99

Racing games have always been a fun challenge for me, they’re essentially just physics puzzles, controlling my speed into a turn, knowing how much force to apply to the brake without spinning out. Exo Rally Championship brings all this and then adds to it with its space setting. 

Exo Rally Championship (ERC) as the name implies is a rally racing game. Rallying differentiates itself among other racing games  where the drivers race separately, leaving the start line at regular intervals rather than racing side by side. ERC takes this format and then asks me, “What if you had thrusters on that car?” The game blends grounded racing with the futuristic setting seamlessly.

ERC understands if I’m just given the best equipment I won’t appreciate what I have.

The majority of my time with ERC was spent in the game’s story mode, which has common elements found in many racing games. I’m a new driver that’s been recruited by a racing team that hasn’t seen the racing podium in years. Starting off as the underdog, with very limited resources, I’m asked to push this rover past its limits to gain just a few seconds over the other racers. These story beats have been found in several other racing games but lately that motivator has been lost, opting instead to give me more cars than a studio’s CEO would know what to do with. ERC understands if I’m just given the best equipment I won’t appreciate what I have. But if I fight tooth and nail for every win, saving up the prize money to invest in a new vehicle or mods to increase my abilities, then that rover becomes my baby.

The game always made sure to remind me that this is a dangerous sport where letting myself relax will mean the end for me

Where ERC separates itself from the rest of the genre is its setting. Using its futuristic time to give me amazing landscapes and beautiful skyboxes to race over and under. There are no roads or tracks in ERC, instead opting for a series of point to point gates, letting me pick the best route. This brings its own challenges especially in the early levels of the game when I realized what terrain I drove over matters. When I went through dirt, I could feel my speed drain away. When I got my tires back on terrain it could grip to, like gravel, I had more speed and control. The alien terrain combined with celestial weather events like micro meteors forcing me to dodge pot holes that were not there just seconds ago. The game always made sure to remind me that this is a dangerous sport where letting myself relax will mean the end for me. This is where the RCS thrusters come into play, they’re the little thrusters on today’s current space vessels that let them micro correct their trajectory. In ERC they are used in a couple ways, the first and most important to me is the ability to choose how my rover is going to land after getting some air. I don’t have to worry nearly as much about how I’m hitting a jump, letting me treat my rover like a cat always landing on its feet. The other use is creating an artificial downforce with them, increasing the overall traction of your rover, which of course means more speed and control.

ERC is just as much about managing my time and resources off the track as it is on it. Using my thrusters requires fuel, fuel that will run out if I over indulge in my thruster use. These races are split into multiple stages and I’m not able to refuel or repair between most of them and when I am able to, repairs take time and I only have so much before being forced to decide between fully repairing my rover or focusing on what I consider essential so I’m at the starting line on schedule. Fuel also adds weight to my rover becoming a game of balance between having enough fuel for multiple stages but not too much to weigh me down. Between these options and the customization of my rover before a race means I can tune the rover to meet my driving style instead of changing my style to meet the rovers. The game’s tracks are all procedurally generated meaning no two races are actually the same which assists in replay ability. However I can’t help but think how much more fun these races would be if the maps were hand crafted with the intention of truly showing off what these futuristic races could be.

Final Grade: B

Exo Rally Championship takes the foundation of modern racing games and then launches it into space. With it comes beautifully terrifying alien worlds that brings my dream of simply being on a different planet to life but in this I get to do it in really fast vehicles grounded in todays science.

Review code provided by Press Engine.