I couldn’t help but notice the massive and obvious amount of pop-in.

Unfortunately, at least on the Switch, this was definitely not the case. And with the chilled aesthetic, you’d really assume handling would be a pretty relaxed exercise too. Unfortunately, despite all these positives – I could just not get the hang of controlling any of the cars well. Each car feels different from the others – and as you progress up the ranks – even the step-up in speed is noticeable. And I’ve got to say that, somewhat impressively, the wide range of cars and even the variety of locations & weather conditions in Art of Rally, seemed to really affect gameplay. Now, I will be the first to admit that I’m more of an arcade racing guy than a realistic sim connoisseur. The second and sadly more general gripe I had was with how the cars actually handle. This is especially so whenever your drive past a tree or a bush, which, as you can imagine, happens around just about every turn. And even someone like me who doesn’t really often notice graphical issues and will even usually forgive visual aberrations (especially when coming from indie games) – couldn’t help but notice the massive and obvious amount of pop-in. And unfortunately, Art of Rally just doesn’t. So you’d assume even the so-called ‘underpowered Switch’ would be more than capable of handling the game especially when you think of how good other more graphically demanding games look on the hybrid console. And, weirdly, the very art style that attracts you to the game has a lot to do with its simplicity. However, it’s rather disappointing how poorly it performs visually on the Switch. It is very clear that this is made by people who love rally – and they really want you to love it tooįirst of all, I want to say that when you consider that Art of Rally is coming from a tiny studio, the fact that you can play this game on basically every platform, is definitely worthy of praise. However, the visuals actually also highlighted the two biggest gripes I had with the game. It is very clear that this is made by people who love rally – and they really want you to love it too. This is particularly the case when you turn the corner and open up on a beautiful African sunset, or slide through a frozen lake as snow falls all around you and it all looks like a pretty painted canvas. Then, you combine that with the short, humorous bits of rally history the game offers (including a wonderful array of fictional car names that sound ‘almost exactly quite unlike’ their real-world counterparts) – and you can’t help but feel charmed by it. And no matter what platform you play it on, the visuals are a big plus. It’s such an arty take on the genre that you just don’t see very often.

Pretty pop-inįirst and foremost, this game looks very interesting. Unfortunately, the seemingly inferior Switch experience combined with what I found to be a rather unenjoyable take on car handling meant I found it more frustrating than fun. The game will likely have some very passionate fans, especially if you play it on other platforms. And yet, that’s what the small Canadian development team, Funselektor, was offering – a chilled-looking, stylised love letter to the rally experience.

Beautiful blankets of pastel colours are not something you usually expect when you think about a rally focused game. Undoubtedly like many others, I was first drawn (if you’ll mind the pun) to the Art Of Rally thanks to its visuals.

The art of rally review