Kylotonn’s annual Official WRC game has been a staple release for 6 editions now. The French developers took over the series with WRC 5 released in 2015. They were the 3rd development team to hold the official World Rally Championship game rights having taken over the franchise from Milestone and Evolution Studios before them.
Now Kylotonn’s tenure as stewards of the franchise is also coming to an end: WRC 11 Generations will be the last edition that they produce. From next year through until at least 2027 the Official WRC games will be produced by Codemasters, who last held WRC rights 20 years ago with 2002’s Colin McRae Rally 3.
As a result of being their final run of the WRC title holders (at least for now) Kylotonn have decided to back this edition of the game full of both this year’s official WRC Championship entries and events, and as much of the legacy events and vehicles they still hold licenses for as well.
2022 will see the WRC transition to the hybrid era. This is a revolution for the rally world, significantly affecting performance, changing strategies and making drivers and teams adapt.
In terms of gameplay, new mechanics have been integrated to represent the demands of the hybrid engines. In order to win, you have to carefully manage your battery by adapting your engine mapping throughout the special stages you take part in.
As community satisfaction is always a priority, you can now share customised livery and stickers with other players. The best creations will be rewarded and highlighted.
For fans of competition, the new Leagues mode lets players challenge opponents with a similar level online. Finish ahead of your competitors to move up the ladder in the Legends category.
WRC Generations includes more content than ever before in a rally game.
- 750 km of unique special stages in 22 countries
- 49 teams from the 2022 season (Rally1 / Rally2 / Junior WRC)
- 37 legendary cars plus additional bonuses
- 165 timed special stages
In order to make the representation of the championship even more realistic, a completely redesigned Rally Sweden environment has been added, with 6 brand-new special stages in the Umea region.
New features:
- The new hybrid vehicles
- New, even more realistic vehicle physics
- A LEAGUES mode in which you can challenge other players
- A new Rally Sweden environment with 6 brand-new special stages
- Share livery and stickers with the community
- In-game team creation and management
WRC Generations releases on Thursday, 3 November for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and for PC (on Steam and Epic). Nintendo Switch versions will release in early December.
Two editions will be released - Standard Edition and Fully Loaded Edition.
(There were no PC pre-orders for some unknown reason, so no pre-order bonus car. PC players who purchase the game within the first two weeks will receive the Peugeot 206 WRC (2002) Marcus Gronholm Pre-Order Bonus.)
PC Steam @ TBC on Release
PlayStation @ R719 - R899
https://store.playstation.com/en-za/product/EP6665-PPSA07579_00-9677883137844518
Xbox @ R669 - R839
https://www.xbox.com/en-za/games/store/wrc-generations-fully-loaded-edition-preorder/9pc3n7tn4fjc
For the most part, WRC Generations seems to round out the ups and downs of the previous few games with an arguably ideal combination of what worked best in recent installments. While I wish it went further than surface level with its upgrades, it has by no means phoned in this entry.
Its gameplay is just deep enough for big-time enthusiasts to justify spending dozens of hours in, while its learning curve is just shallow enough for more casual or arcade style racing fans to get plenty of enjoyment out of it too. While it does ultimately pay the price of probably not wow-ing most people in either camp, it does handle the task of maximizing the knowledge the developer has clearly gained from the past few games while minimizing the price paid for the few wrinkles they were never quite able to totally iron out.
Had the stability and variety been stepped up just a bit more, it would be a stronger recommendation, but as it is, I certainly wouldn’t ward you off if WRC Generations is something that you’re interested in. If you’re familiar with the series and generally know what to expect, then this is arguably the apex of the series up to this point but even if you’re new to the series, I still think there’s plenty of reason to give it a shot with some moderated expectations.
Gaming Both Review - 7/10 (PlayStation 5)
