Customer Reviews

Xpand Rally

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The graphics and effects are excellent, the handling etc is different between each car, the damage effects are great fun, since the cars aren't officially licensed by the car companies like other games, you get more damage effects than broken windows.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't work with Vista because of their copy protection scheme. (Doesn't even do what it is designed to do, all it does is make it not work with Vista.../soapbox)

Couple more details:
no clutch control, no dual monitor support, so in those regards, it's a typical game.

Overall, if you have XP, give this a shot. It's a lot of fun. The Steam version might work with Vista, so that's worth a try.

I'm about 40% through the game. In simulation mode, the physics are ok, snap over-steer and suspension geometry changes are there to make it hard to drive fast, as in real life. Arcade mode is...well easy.

Graphics: The graphics are awesome for the price and run great on my older pc (7800Gt, Athlon x2 4200+). Not as polished as the later Collin McRae Rally games, but good enough!
Controls: It's *very* difficult to play with a keyboard in simulation mode. It's playable with a game controller with analog sticks (what I have), but, I assume it would be pretty nice and a lot more fun with a wheel and some pedals.

Like: It's a fun little rally game...you get to drive, and it is very challenging (if you don't cheat).
Don't like: You can watch the ghost of the leader car, and he's a pretty bad driver, but still somehow fast. Also, you don't have to go through the checkpoints...you just have to be "close enough".
Hate: The codriver...he...is...soooo...slow. Sliding sideways into a brick wall at high speeds, slamming into trees, or falling down cliffs is common on the first run through since he wont tell you the about the corner speed until *after* passing it or until it's way too late to slow down. Also, road surface descriptions (gravel, mud, etc) come at the end of him telling you the corner speed, which is almost always after you realize there's gravel under you rather that the tarmac that was there a few moments ago, and that tree you see on the outside of the turn will soon be replacing you in your drivers seat. This wouldn't be sooo bad if you could just restart the race, knowing that it's not his fault he's a little slow, and try again...but when you get hurt too bad, your career is over (no retry) and you have to restart a few races back. I've stopped my career at 40% for this reason...it's irritating...but I'll probably play a little in a few weeks, then get frustrated again and stop...that is xpand rally for me.

If you can get it for $5 and don't care if it's not really great...then sure, pick up a copy. If you want an awesome rally game, save up and go elsewhere.

Bought this game to play on my Intel HD Grahics laptop because the NFS ProStreet just wont run satisfactory.
The game runs smooth even without a discret graphics card and sense of speed is there.
Perhaps the publisher is a small player in the industry, there is no car branding for all cars in this game, although one can tell from which maker they are from just by just a glance.
Physics are OK and environment is fair. For this price I dont think I can ask for more.

Doesn't match Richard Burns Rally for sheer realism but for slower computers or when you just want a quick blast this is a great little game.

Had a heck of a job trying to order from anywhere else (including directly from the manufacturer). Amazon saved the day.

The damage element is a bit under-done, but that's true of all games. Overall I'd rate it as superior to Colin McCrae, if only due to more realistic handling (unlike McC it actually steers via the front wheels!) but if you have the horsepower and want more realism, go for Richard Burns Rally, still the King of Rally Games

Known for it's great physics and beautiful graphics, I expected a lot from this game. It doesn't disappoint, though as a geek about such things the physics are not perfect - just as good as you could expect on your PC!

You can pick it up, get into it and have great fun, while it's still plenty challenging. There are a few minor annoyances, such as hidden "obstacles" in certain spots that will throw the car off course for no apparant reason. Hugely frustrating when (where) that happens but no biggie as it's rare.

Any game in this genre has to face the mightly Richard Burns Rally. That game's unforgiving physics and "throw you in the deep end" realism remains my preferred choice as the ultimate rally title, but don't overlook this one. Xpand Rally is actually more fun most of the time, MUCH easier to progress in the championship mode and with the added fun of starting with a feeble car and buying tuning goodies or a better car.

Overall I'd rate it as a more complete game than Richard Burns, as reality takes a back seat to gameplay, while keeping the realism intact enough for those who (like me) cannot stand the "swivel at 5mph" handling of something like Colin McRae.

To me, a real test of any driving game is "What happens if you drive it slowly?" That's where the realism, or lack of it, tends to show. This passes that. The 2nd test is "What happens if I hit a tree at high speed?". Speed, if you can't crash out of the race, is meaningless. Again this passes, in fact it will kick you out of the whole championship if you crash hard enough to kill or injure the driver. Nice!

Two thumbs up, despite the presence of Richard Burns Rally (RIP Richard). Be like me and get both, Burns for when you have a free weekend to dedicate to it, this for when you have a free hour or two.

Both games demand a decent steering wheel (with progressive pedals and feedback), though I'm getting by with a joystick so far.

I love driving, be it sports cars, four-wheeling, motorcycles, whatever. I also like computer simulators, but find most of them leave much to be desired. Not so with this one! The game looks awesome, with great renderings of both the vehicles and the scenery, and the feeling of speed while everything is blurring by is great. The thing that really makes this game, though, is the physics modeling. You get totally absorbed in controlling the vehicle, because it's reacting exactly the way the real thing would. You have multiple surfaces to drive on, both between events, and sometimes within individual events, and you will feel very clear differences in the handling on each. Also, there is a wonderful variety of vehicles to choose from, and numerous performance upgrades with very clear effects on the handling, acceleration, etc..

The game runs quite well on even a middle-of-the-road system (probably because of the lack of other vehicles), but BEWARE: IT DOES NOT RUN ON VISTA! I used a Momo wheel and pedals, and I'm sure it will support others, plus you can program the important functions however you like. I can't recommend this one enough for any driving enthusiast.

I am normally an extremely fair individual about reviewing games. I had so much trouble running this game on my desktop with Win 7 64bit and a dual processor, that I tried to run it on my single core processor laptop. This still didn't work for me. After trying to get some product support, which doesn't exist anymore I got totally fed up and just downloaded a "pirated" version. I figure I sure wasn't stealing anything since I owned the original in my hands. This should make all game producers take note of the DRM fad that's sweeping the gaming industry. In all fairness though, the game is really good if you can get it to run on your rig.

I played most of the rally games so far. Was looking for something for my netbook, but this was not as good of a find as I hoped. It's probably good enough for a cellphone, but not much in terms of graphics and physics for PCs.

This game was better than I expected. I am using keyboard, but controler on the way so it will be even better. No complaints, no glitches. Game runs great windows 7 64.

All I can say is I was amazed at how much fun this game was for $5. You can not go wrong. The graphics are good. The gameplay is awsome. I played it for hours.