Top Gear Rally

The Good
I liked the combination of arcade and simulation that was setup in this game, much like the Need for Speed series was. But in this case, it's rally racing instead of circuit racing. You can change the options of you're car quite easily too, which is good for an semi-arcade game. You can also change the weather, which their is a good variety of it. (Sunny, Rain, Fog, even Snow.) The selection of cars are also good. Even though none of the vehicles are licensed, the bodystyles are modeled almost exactly like the real cars, and the names are even abbreviated to reference of what car it is. (For example, the Type-ES is a Ford Escort, a Type SP is a Toyota Supra ect.)

The music was very decent, nothing memorable as say a Mario game, but it fitted very well for the game. Graphics are typical for an N64 game, draw distance is average too, so you won't have to worry to much about fog unless you select fog in the weather selection. One interesting thing I found about this game, is that it was one of the few racing games at the time to feature a paint editor. It's pretty much like Microsoft Paint with whichever car silhouette you choose, but you can pretty much paint the car into whatever you want it to look like. It's nothing spectacular, but for something that was made about 7 years before Forza Motorsport, it definitely adds more replay value to the game.

The Bad
There's not really much I can complain about this game, but I will try. I think the tracks are more like rallycross than rally, which means driving in laps, rather than point to point. But they are not bad tracks. The steering on the N64 controller can be tricky at times, but they can be adjusted to whatever preference the gamer wants, so it's not a problem. These are just minor problems, and do not get in the way of the overall gameplay.

The Bottom Line
If you have an N64, and like the motorsport of rally, then I recommend checking it out. As of this writing, you can get it for around $3-$5 at most video game stores, so it's a good bang for the buck. It may not be the most advanced racing game during the fifth generation console era, but it has it's few surprises here and there. I've liked it ever since I first played it back in the late 90's, so chances are you might like it.