V-Rally 3 Screenshots   The Final Say! Gameplay 8.9 Graphics 9.0 Sound 7.0 Value 8.5 V-Rally 3 - reviewed by Tory Favro Review Date: 05 August 2002 Review Score: 8.5/10  Distributed By: GameNation

Strap yourself in and prepare to be amazed by an thrilling rally game from GameNation in the form of V-Rally 3! Firstly this game screams class as soon as you turn on the GameBoy Advance. A stylised 3d Atari logo spins forward toward you and it feels like home. You could be forgiven for thinking that this game was actually being shown to you somehow running off the Playstation One, it almost looks that good. Every effort has been made to bring the title to life and the physics engine will impress no end as the car behaves and handles almost like I would imagine the real thing to. There are a number of gameplay options available to the player as well including: V-Rally mode V-Rally Cross Time Trial V-Rally mode covers the conventional rally circuit with the exclusion of the night rallying in order to keep the racing short and sweet. The title is fully featured with the player having the option of choosing their car, team, signing contracts and then customising their vehicle to suit the surface they are about to race on. It's all there and it's almost perfect. Once in the game proper and driving, you will thrill to the grunt of the games engine. The developers have implemented a lot of impressive features and have convincingly conveyed the impression of 3D movement. Your vehicle reacts fantastically to the driving terrain and it really looks as though you are airborne when taking a jump. V-Rally Cross is a different kettle of fish altogether. During this event you must compete against other vehicles through 10 closed circuit tracks. Each circuit gets progressively harder as you battle it out against the AI on a variety of terrain. There are two races in each event that you have to compete in. The first of which you must come first or second and then the final in which you must win whilst taking on the circuit in the opposite direction. Time Trial gives you the opportunity to practise your driving against the number one enemy: you! After completing a circuit, you can race again but this time you will be up against yourself, visible as a ghost car.

The Heads Up Display (HUD) is incredible in the title, showing practically everything you would like to know about the condition of your car and where you are whilst racing. Quite frankly I couldn't believe how good it looked. Information relayed to the player includes what areas of the car are damaged, a map showing the track and all cars positions on the map and a host of others.

One of the things that truly amazed me was the fact that you could change view to in car view, giving a highly detailed car interior, your hands on the wheel and changing gears. The exterior view did not suffer at all as a result. In fact I did not notice any slowdown in the game at any stage, although there was quite a bit of popup in the game. The popup however did not detract in any way from the gameplay and seemed to make sense the way it presented graphically.

It is my belief that V-Rally 3 is quite possibly one of the best car racing games currently available on GameBoy Advance at the time of writing this review. Highly recommended to all rally enthusiasts, you will not be disappointed.

- Tory Favro

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