Developed by Kylotonn and published by Nacon, WRC 10 is the latest game in a long-running series of rally racing titles. We checked it out with a PlayStation 5, and it can also be purchased for PlayStation 4, Xbox, PC and Switch.
The WRC series goes back about 20 years already, and is one of the most prolific racing franchises out there. While the first few games in the series were exclusive to the PS2, a reboot (which created a confusing numbering scheme for a while) took the series to multiple platforms. Milestone developed the first four games in the new series, but WRC 10 is already Kylotonn’s sixth entry. They hit their stride with WRC 9 last year, being one of the first racing games with next gen support, so we were curious to see what they would do with another year of development time.
The biggest new thing for WRC 10 is the emphasis on the license’s 50 year anniversary, complete with plenty of throwbacks to iconic events, venues and vehicles to enjoy – the 1973 rally at Acropolis being a highlight worth mentioning. There’s a roster of iconic cars from the likes of Lancia, Subaru and Toyota included, though some of the content is exclusive to (pre-order) DLC content or needs to be unlocked through the career mode first. If you were anticipating diving right in, that’s a little disappointing.
Luckily, the driving itself is rock solid, feeling very similar to last year’s driving model with its mix of simulation and accessibility – offering a great alternative to racers who find Codemasters’ take on the sport a bit too grueling without becoming too arcade-like. If the latter is what you prefer than customization gets you a long way as well, which also works great for the included split screen multiplayer mode if you’re playing with someone who hasn’t had the kind of practice you had.
Just like last year, the controls in WRC 10 are excellent thanks to support for the DualSense’s force feedback and haptics – which receive an entirely new dimension thanks to the anniversary concept, as cars from other eras feel noticeably different, as do cars in different weight/power classes from the current era.
WRC 10 is extremely feature-rich when it comes to its game modes, which is led by a solid career mode in which you manage the entire team, build your reputation up and promote yourself to the higher classes of the sport over time. There are relationships to manage, there’s research to be done and your car needs to be taken care of in between races. It’s quite involved, though you can also go with the racing-centric Season mode instead if that’s what you prefer. In addition, there’s a quick play option as well as several practice/challenge modes to help you tune your skills in a variety of conditions – including some extremely poor weather.
The audio in WRC 10 is convincing, but visually we were hoping for a little more from the second next gen title in the series. There’s some screen tearing that will no doubt be patched out in a post-launch update, but more noticeable is that some of the off-track scenery doesn’t look any better than what we were used to in the last gen era. Perhaps this is in part due to a shared code base that allows the game to have a Nintendo Switch version as well, but it makes for a game that looks good but could have looked better.
There’s no doubt this will receive post-launch love though – even if you look past technical issues there’s also some content that will be patched in for free, including two new rallies to compete in. The new anniversary content is the main draw this year, and should definitely please long time fans of the license.
Score: 7.9/10
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