Desert Rally Review – I’m In Me Mum’s Dakar, Vroom, Vroom (PS5)

Dakar: Desert Rally is an interesting beast. Rather than leaning on the convention of either being a simulation of the real Dakar event, or being more of a user-friendly arcade racer, Dakar: Desert Rally offers both options. It balances the two beliefs pretty well and that balance results in a game that’s a jack of all trades if the rough edges can be ignored.

Dakar: Desert Rally is out now and is available on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox.

Don’t get me wrong, by rough edges I don’t mean what the game looks like. Dakar: Desert Rally is a visually stunning game across the board. The vehicle models, destruction animations, particle effects, and lighting are all great sights to behold. There are certain moments in it Dakar which are nothing short of visually stunning.

Though the star of the show is undoubtedly the vast desert environment that players race through Dakar: Desert Rally. Not only does it provide a unique sense of scale for a racing game, not only is it thrilling to race across it, but it looks damn good while meeting those other parameters.

In terms of Dakars ability to co-exist as both a realistic simulation game and an accessible arcade racer, this is achieved by including a range of racing modes that double as a difficulty setting. Sport is the ideal mode for beginners to get acquainted with Dakar and features yellow checkpoints in the environment and non-player AI to beat, while the player gets a feel for the five different vehicle classes and their respective control schemes.

Professional and Simulation are the other two modes players can switch to after familiarizing themselves with the game through Sport mode. The two advanced modes have more aggressive AI and fewer HUD features, with the simulation mode sometimes feeling more like an orientation expedition than a high-speed race. While that may sound like a negative aspect for a rally game at first, I really enjoyed the fresh feeling that came with the added challenge of finding your way to the end of the race.