Some time ago, we did o comparison of StuntRally and Speed Dreams, and analyzed how two completely different bases result in what you’d expect from their forks.
Although I found StuntRally very unfinished, buggy and “cheap” then, I was sure that as VDrift becomes more mature and more settled down as a project it would result into a better road of development for Stunt Rally. As version 1.7 was released a few days ago, I had to take a look and see what changed since 1.5.
Apparently a lot has changed. The project has moved forward adding more material, fixing optical bugs and offering more fun. What I did like most, is the inclusion of 8 VDrift tracks and with the 12 new ones the game now counts 91 different tracks categorized according to their terrain.
The tracks are now more than enough and can cover any kind of taste. What still isn’t enough is the number of cars. Although the community is doing great in contributing new magnificent tracks thanks to the also improved track editor, there are no new cars to test drive.
The gameplay was both a disappointment and a pleasant surprise. I was disappointed because all the cars still feel more or less the same with the main charasteristic that defines them being the speed. If you ignore this fact, there were many improvements that concern the gameplay.
First thing I noticed are the crash sounds. They sound very realistic and change according to the collision, from the grinding metal sound when you rub your side to the concrete wall, to a full boom when you hit an object or building.
Another thing that completely changes the way you play Stunt Rally is the ability to rewind as long as you like. You just keep backspace pressed and your car goes backwards to a past position fast. This is especially helpful for when you crash and flip, or when you enter the “sky abyss” that unfortunately is still here.
Other than that, StuntRally also received some graphics fixes on the shadows field and also a god rays effect. The performance is still not good and work needs to be done on this part as the game is currently almost unplayable in weaker systems.
I still don’t like the cars feel and I still don’t find the game very realistic. Even after I set the car to collide with vegetation, some maps trees kept being invisible. Also, that flipping thing that you always land on your tires is completely “arcadish”.
Version 1.7 was a big step of improvement and it seems that StuntRally is on the way of being a magnificent open source game soon, but the developers should focus more on improving the performance of the game and do something with the cars behavior. Right now it is steering wheel or nothing(keyboard)…
