''Richard Burns Rally'' is a

sim racing Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

, published by SCi and developed by

Warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

with advice of

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

champion

Richard Burns Richard Alexander Burns (17 January 1971 – 25 November 2005) was an English rally driver who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world ...

(1971–2005). It was released in July 2004 for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, and in July 2005 for

Gizmondo The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting in March 2005. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Giz ...

. A

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

release was planned but cancelled, similarly North American releases of all but the Gizmondo version were axed due to the lukewarm reception of the game in Europe. Although reviews were mixed, the game is highly praised by gamers due to its complex physics engine and realistic portrayals of real-life courses.

Summary

The game features 8 cars and 36 courses. It simulates both classic and modern rallying, and is best known for its high difficulty and realistic

physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer gr ...

. This game is considered by many

gamer A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

s to be one of the most realistic and difficult

racing simulators Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tir ...

. ''Richard Burns Rally'' initially did not come with official support for user-made content, but despite this, there are mods available due to a large online community, to which Warthog responded by releasing tools to aid in mod development. The add-on

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

Rally modifies all loading screens to include Robert Burns poetry. The game was originally an offline racing game but user-created mods have enabled online play. A

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the game is unlikely, due to the death of

in 2005 of a brain tumour. In addition, after the PC release, Warthog was sold to

, who went bankrupt in 2006. Since the release, the publisher SCi purchased

Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...

in an all-share offer, winning a bidding war from then-former EA man

John Riccitiello John Riccitiello () is an American business executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of Unity Technologies. Previously, he served as CEO, chief operating officer and president of Electronic Arts, and co-founded private equity firm Elevat ...

and Eidos management – though they, in turn, would be purchased by Japanese publisher

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

in 2009.

Reception

The game had overall fairly positive reviews. Some detractors, such as gamesradar, claimed it was "too unfriendly to be any fun", and that "therein lies the rub" when you go "tits-up when you hit the ground".

References

External links

SCI Games pageWarthog Sweden/42-Bit AB page''Richard Burns Rally''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Sim racing 2004 video games Cancelled GameCube games Gizmondo games Lua (programming language)-scripted video games Off-road racing video games PlayStation 2 games Racing simulators Rally racing video games Video games based on real people Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games with user-generated gameplay content Windows games Xbox games

Summary

Reception

See also

References

External links