V-Rally 4 (Nintendo Switch) Review

Without trying to make the obvious comparison to other rally-type games that have been released in the past couple of years, V-Rally 4 puts the emphasis on an easy-to-learn gameplay, so fans can quickly experience it without too much fuss. With a quick tutorial that is easy to learn, Kylotonn have streamlined this experience to make it one of the easiest rally games for newcomers to jump into, as opposed to some of the more realistic titles of their competition. Easy to play however does not mean this is easy to win...

AI cars are still quite competitive in races, and the set times to beat in time-trials can take a few goes to beat. Luckily, there is the ability to replay the stages and try again. Sometimes, the time-trials can be a bit inconsistent with where the game sets the time, and this can affect the difficulty of completing the stage. For instance, a course may set the task of beating the time of 2:46. However, replaying the stage a second time may still result in a fail as the new time was changed to 2:39. Then on the third go, the stage is completed with a time to beat of 2:51. This inconsistency on the exact means tracks may be too easy or way too difficult.

The animations and displays look quite attractive, the forests and flora look lush, and the environments range from the spectacular canyons, to the bland and colourless snow stages. When playing this game on handheld, or on the big screen, the stages do have a hefty dose of quality design to make the game feel real. That is of course, until the racing begins. Racing itself is a more streamlined version - the basic controls are all there, with the handbrake to assist with turns. There are slider-options for racers to make more crucial and delicate adjustments to the way they want the car to act, and these options are reserved for those with an in-depth knowledge of rally cars. These sliders allow for racers to set their car settings to suit the terrain: ranging from gravel and snow to tarmac.

There are five different race types or events to partake in: Rally, Hillclimb and Extreme-Khana, are time-based races that involve having to beat the fastest finished time to win the race. V-Rally Cross and Buggy are the more multiplayer-esque races that feature competitive multi-vehicle races. While there is loads of fun and frustrations to be had, each of these race types have their own cars that can partake in their events, and they each come with their own learning curve to master these races.

Unfortunately, the game modes are very limiting. The main career mode begins with just enough money to purchase a lower-ranked car with one-star races to compete in. Then, upon winning a few races and earning some money, racers can purchase engineers and mechanics to implement car upgrades to enhance the racing ability and prowess of the vehicle. Once the car is maxed out with upgrades, which doesn't take too long at all, then racers can move on to purchasing a higher-ranked car to repeat the process.

However, for those who don't have the patience to slowly work their way through unlocking cars, the quickplay mode has all the cars and tracks unlocked from the outset. While this mode lacks any form of progression apart from being an 'Exhibition' mode of sorts, it does take away from the career mode, considering that all the vehicles that are "locked" at higher levels is readily available for party-play with friends or against the AI.

Online mode rounds out the offerings - allowing racers to set times and race alongside other opponents from around the world for those who are looking for a greater challenge than the AI opponents. Note that, while on the process of reviewing this, there were not many opportunities to compete against other players due to a lack of players online, so this mode couldn't be tested to its full potential.