Boss Rally

The Good
Decent feel of speed, sense of sliding around corners

The Bad
Just about everything else. Handling's lousy, graphics are lousy (even for the standards then), game difficulty is set so high it's nearly impossible, game's "championship" is a joke, no internet play in multiplayer...

The Bottom Line
Boss Rally is an arcade racer from Boss Games, and it's a decent one, albeit crippled by cheating AI and impossibly high difficulty level.

Boss Rally is an arcade racer that has championship, quick race, or time attack modes. You can also play multiplayer though LAN, modem, or serial port.

The quick race basically had you racing around the circle track, and there lies the first problem... Initially only TWO tracks (out of six) are open! And only two cars! (Both are lousy) You have to beat multiple Championship seasons to unlock the other cars and tracks.

The tracks are varied, mostly tarmac, but some "mud". There's even limited modifications, like soft/medium/hard shocks and slippery / regular / grippy tires. However, that's it. You can't even change the color (though if you can edit the pictures and create your own car paint schemes outside the program).

The cars don't feel that different with different tires on or different shocks. There is supposed to be car damage, but all you see is some dark spots on the car that pass for "damage texture". And the damage sure doesn't seem to affect the car at all.

Some of the tracks have "shortcuts", which you can use to gain advantage on the AI, except the AI gets a "catchup" bonus... If you manage to get more than six seconds ahead, the AI suddenly drives like a superman. Ten seconds later, the AI car is only 2 seconds behind, then it blows past you, and slows down, so you can pass it again!

So you try the championship mode... Then you realize the odds are completely stacked against you. In the first championship "season", you have two races to earn 10 pts. to "win" the championship. So how do you win a race? You start behind 20 other cars, and you have 3 laps to pass as many of them as you can. And some of the AI cars cheat like the Quick Race Cars (though not quite as bad).

In general, if you can get into the top 3, you must be VERY good. Since 1st place only get you 9 pts, and 6th place and lower gets nothing, you must consistently place around 3rd place or so in order to win this so-called "championship".

And if you win the race, you start again at the rear of the pack in the NEXT race. And if you win the championship (godforbid), you'll STILL start in the rear of the pack in the first race of the NEXT championship! That is NOT RACING!

Then the game throws you curves... Add night, fog, and/or rain into the mix of races. When you're ready (or even when you're not), add "mirrored" courses. So there's total of... 12 courses, and a few variations on conditions (night, fog, rain, etc.), and a couple "trick" cars... doh. Big deal, yawn.

The game heads downhill from there. I "barely" won the first championship season, only to find MORE of the same, and this time, it's RAINING, and the AI cars are impossibly fast, and you have to win MORE races (15 pts, over 3 races). It's simply NOT FUN to play any more, after several HOURS (and a sore wrist). I gave up, having never unlocked any more cars or levels.

You can find much better racers that are fun to play than this one.