Rally Horizon – Android Gameplay Video

Now and then an indie game emerges that is kind of a surprise. It stand’s out from the crowd of titles that are, simply speaking, “asset recyclers”. Rally Horizon is one of those games that are (to be completely honest) not really on par with AAA titles, but for a small (or maybe single dev.) studio, it delivers. Released only on Android, Rally Horizon offers stunning graphics in a package that weights around 300 megabytes.

About the game

The name is generic, some may even say a small collection of buzzwords, but under the hood, Rally Horizon packs a mean punch. Let me be perfectly clear, this is NOT a rally game, it’s an arcade racer that offers around 40 tracks and unlicensed car names (understandable). Among the tracks are sprint races, circuit races, drifting events and off-road stages. Race against 3 AI controlled cars, win, get coins upgrade and unlock new stuff. That’s pretty much it.

Let’s talk about the controls first. There are two choices here, buttons and gyro. Unfortunately, you can’t customize the button positions, but in general they are pretty responsive and will do just fine. Cars, depending on their stats and class will act differently on asphalt or dirt, in fact some will even spin out of control if you oversteer.

Luckily, there is a rewind system. It’s not exactly on a “Forza Horizon” level, but it does work and will help you salvage the race if you make a mistake and slam into a wall. Speaking of slamming, you can only do it with stationary objects (trees, rocks, walls), while collision with other cars is not possible. If you try it, you will simply “ghost out” and pass right through them.

Damage model is also non-existent, so go ahead crash, rewind, hurl your car in the air. It doesn’t matter, there are no penalties whatsoever.

Check out my gameplay video

Graphics are looking sharp, with nice details, weather effects and colors that makes me wonder how did they fit all that in about 300 megabytes? It’s not UE4 (the game uses Unity), but it doesn’t really matter. Rally Horizon is an eye candy. Cars models are also nice, but there are no different camera angles or cockpit views. Sounds are fine for a mobile game, although engines on class A or S sound way too similar.

Nevertheless, the gameplay is great. Tune up your car, play the tracks, enjoy the scenery, win and unlock stuff. Rally Horizon is a very easy game to just pick up and play on the go. It doesn’t have multiplayer (but it does have daily events), so you can easily play it while travelling, even without an internet connection.

Downloads

Rally Horizon is free to play, with optional in-app purchases. I can’t claim that everything is unlockable by simply playing, but you do get coins for winning races and performing stunts (or drifts). For those that don’t want the grind, you can unlock all at once from the in-app store for about $20. Or get the season pass that offers variety of goodies.

Martin Janov – “Rally Horizon – Gameplay Video”