➤ Six times mud 🎮

After taking the reins of the franchise dedicated to the official rally championship, previously in the hands of Milestone, the French Kylotonn Games (KT Racing), now specialized in racing titles, tries again with a new iteration, which arrives exactly one year from the previous one. . WRC 6 is proposed as an evolved version compared to the last chapter, which certainly denounced various uncertainties, despite an encouraging first attempt. The expectations for this second date were therefore quite high, whereas the excellent DiRT Rally has dramatically raised the qualitative bar in the genre, we were therefore very interested in discovering the improvements made to this episode and how it could represent an alternative to the splendid work of Codemasters. Read on to find out how it went.

WRC 6 manages to entertain thanks to its hybrid driving system

A feast of content

Once we started the game we were somewhat surprised by the chronic lack of novelty in the presentation of the menus, almost indistinguishable from last year. Everything remained unchanged, including the choice of colors and the depressing symphonic music relegated to the background.

It must be said that the menus are quite functional, but as a first approach it denotes a certain laziness on the part of Kylotonn Games, also considering the fact that the combination of acid green and white could at least be changed, not exactly ideal. The game options are the same as we already know, including the quick race and the career, which however benefits from some significant changes: we are still a long way from more refined products like those Codemasters, but at least there is a certain commitment in proposing a single player mode more complex than the previous one. In addition to the entire WRC championship and related categories, it is also possible to customize your rally by choosing the desired stage. The choice is vast and it is also the most important advantage over DiRT Rally, as many as 14 stages that include different circuits, in total more than 60. We find the inevitable rally in Sardinia, the German one and even the Chinese one, the Beijing Rally 2016. Another novelty to highlight is the presence of super special stages, absent in the previous chapter, which further increase the number of circuits and lead, as in the case of the Spanish rally, the city tracks. Each stage can be covered, in the case of the free game, at different times of the day and weather conditions, but the rain remains confined to specific locations. At this point, only Rally Cross races are missing from a truly satisfying package, which includes the entire 2017 eSports WRC season as standard. The contents are many and guarantee a high longevity.

Hybrid mud

The driving system used for WRC 6 does not differ from the previous one and still consists of a hybrid between simulation and arcade simplicity, and is a reasonable choice not to directly collide with the simulation rigor of the competition. It only takes a few minutes to become familiar with braking and drifting, thanks to a deliberately approximate interpretation of the terrain to ensure considerable stability of the vehicle.

The circuit design itself adapts to this not ambitious but practical system, allowing less to realism and enriching the races with some more articulated and rather funny passages, even if sometimes not always readable. This does not mean that WRC 6 is an easy title, far from it, the curves must be interpreted correctly to avoid unpleasant road offs or impacts on the track.Furthermore, a new very severe penalty system has been implemented: even just a reset of the position of the car, often necessary after serious accidents, is paid for with the addition of precious seconds. This is a novelty that we have not completely appreciated, since the error itself already costs a waste of time often fatal in terms of records, this system makes it more difficult to get among the top positions of the ranking. The rewinding option to recover wrong maneuvers has also been completely eliminated, a courageous choice consistent with penalties, but which ends up exacerbating the consequences of the above. Another novelty of the career, which includes teams and names faithful to reality, is represented by the setting of the car, much more elaborate than in the previous chapter but which does not influence the performance in the race too much. To highlight the commendable inclusion of the split-screen for multiplayer games.

PlayStation 4 Trophies

WRC 6 presents a fair number of trophies to be conquered, considering the amount of content present it will take some time to get to the coveted Platinum, but at least you are sure that by finishing all the stages, therefore facing the game normally, you will immediately conquer 14 bronzes.

In search of fluidity

Technically Kylotonn Games has worked hard to improve its title, if the menus do not bear witness to big news and rather suggest an update, once you get on the track the differences compared to last year are immediately evident. The Xbox One version of WRC 5 ran at 30 frames per second and many uncertainties, the PlayStation 4 version of WRC 6 used for the review is more ambitious and aims for sixty frames, although more or less abrupt drops remain, especially in corners and in base. the complexity of the scenario or the effects. The result is an inconsistent rendering that does not do much to the fluidity, burdened among other things by an invasive screen tearing. Basically, in an attempt to keep the frame rate stable, the graphics engine is forced to split the screen in two, with severe image deterioration.

The compromises are not limited to this, but also involve the same details of the settings, which are more simplified as a polygonal load and have numerous pop-in effects. Distant textures lose considerably in detail. The cars, on the other hand, are very well made, detailed and rich in effects on the bodywork. Another step forward is recorded in terms of lighting and effects, clearly superior to last year and which can express themselves at their best in races at dawn, with a truly pleasant rendering. On the other hand, the audio is fluctuating: some bugs of the previous chapter have not been solved, such as a sporadic echo effect on the engines that should only occur in the galleries, but the general quality has fortunately increased. The audio accompaniment - completely in Spanish - has not always appreciable results, WRC 6 is characterized by a decidedly talkative commentator, who accompanies us explaining the menus but also commenting on the races and previews of our rivals, with a pleasant television presentation style effect . Once in the race, however, the same voice takes on the role of navigator, with sometimes hilarious effects: the speed with which the curves are read and the tonal difference used during the recording, with vigorous exclamations out of place, makes the very chaotic interpretation of the tracks.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 49,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.2

Readers (8)

8.2

Your vote

WRC 6 has improvements over the new chapter, but not all changes manage to convince, including an overly severe penalty system, confusing audio, and a noticeably struggling graphics engine. However, going to the heart of a rather crude product compared to the average of the titles of the genre (the comparison with DiRT Rally remains merciless), we still find a racing capable of entertaining thanks to its hybrid driving system and a considerable amount of content, thus resulting interesting for those who want to try their hand at a not overly simulative rally title. Kylotonn Games shows that they believe in this franchise and we are curious to see where it can go.