Arguably one of the world’s best-known rally raid events has returned to consoles for the latest in titles with Dakar: Desert Rally. These games have come a long way since the first game back in 2001 which was titled Paris-Dakar Rally. Developers, Bigmoon Entertainment, and publishers, Saber Interactive, have brought this absolute automotive rally elite experience to our homes with this title.

There is no denying the Dakar Rally is one of the hardest and most grueling events in the rally world. Hosted by the Amuary Sports Organisation and hosted in Saudi Arabia since 2020, the developers have not left anything out in this title, and the difficulty of this harsh landscape will have you smashing into rocks, trees, and anything else not on the actual track. The developers have said that this title has the biggest map currently in racing games, and with it being 20,000 kilometres squared, you feel like an ant with the surrounding mountains, dunes, and other features on the map.

The career mode in this game is full of race-paced action, or in my case, spending lots of the races repairing my vehicle on the side of the track so that I can actually finish the race. When you load the game up, you are given a little sneak peek into what is coming as they give you access to drive one of the Rally Raid cars, bikes, or trucks, which was a fun experience. Once you have finished that little snippet, you are put into the menu where you get to purchase a vehicle from with the limited funds you have as a driver. The different options include Cars, Bikes, Trucks, Quads, and SXS, which are all-terrain vehicles. There are lots of different options from genuine car brands in the options, and I never thought I would say this, but flying around the desert and jumping trucks is something else. When purchasing vehicles, you have the choice from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 roster, so if there is a certain person you followed in Dakar from these years, you are in luck.

When you start the race, you are prompted with three different difficulties. The first difficulty is Sport, where you have a more casual approach to racing and navigation. The Sport mode is for the newcomers to the Rally or Rally Raid scene as the cars handle a lot more different than the standard racing car on an asphalt track. The next difficulty settings move you up to Professional, which has realistic navigation, adds harder AI to race with you and increases the cost of repairing the vehicle on the track and back in the workshop. Simulation is the last difficulty and is unlocked when you hit level 25. This game mode is not for the faint-hearted and is never level with everything.

The career mode races are good fun, and like any Rally or Rally Raid event, you have different stages you need to beat before you can continue to the next stage, and everyone is trying their hardest to get that lowest time possible to make themselves look that little bit better on the global leaderboards built into the ranking system. The main aim of the game is to finish the stages, get the payouts so you can move on to the different sections of vehicles, and purchase more vehicles to make the full Dakar experience something real.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get into an online game, but you will be able to find an online update here soon with more information on the modes and gameplay whilst online.

The ranking system brings the competitive side out of anyone, being able to see the breakdowns on each race or game mode and what times people are making around the tracks. I found myself hitting tracks multiple times to try and get my name on the leaderboard, and I can report that I was successful after multiple attempts. Within the rankings menu, there is also one called Global Statistics, which shows everything you have done in-game, from the distance driven to the amount of time you have spent behind the wheel racing, it also breaks down the information on stages you won whilst racing, to the amount of XP you have earned for yourself.

Like all racing games, the controller setup is much the same, using RT as the acceleration and LT as the brake, the left analog stick being steering and the right being camera movement. All these can be re-bound if you are wanting something a little different. Dakar: Desert Rally also has wheel options if you want that little bit more of a realistic experience, which can all be configured in the options menu tab under controls. The controls were great, but I found one slight issue with the handling of the cars. The slightest bit of oversteer would send you flying into the bush and there never seemed to be a way to fix this happening. It was amusing whilst watching the AI have this issue, but not so amusing when I found myself in the drink due to slight oversteer whilst using the Xbox controller.

The camera angles in this game are something else with the number of options you have been given, and some work better than others, but the ones that don’t work as well look the coolest if you are making content or want that next level of realism. The first is the standard trailing camera, where you see the full view of the vehicles and have a couple of different options with depth and distance from the vehicle. The next two camera angles are the one in front of the vehicle, so all you see is the track, then there’s more of a third-person view, looking over the bonnet with the fan and roll cage.

The next four move you into the interior of the car with the first being a full cockpit view, including the wheel and instruments used whilst racing. There are a few other camera angles, but my favourite is the view from the helicopters you see flying around while racing. It adds another level of difficulty to racing as you don’t always have the clearest racing route with the view you have from the helicopter, but I would highly recommend giving it a go.

This game is absolutely stunning when you’re flying through the desert during the middle of the day or lucky enough to witness the sunrise or sunset, and the terrain is stunning to look at. The vehicle models and the details put into them, both inside and out, were something I was amazed at, with small things like watching the driver pull back the shifter on the sequential gearbox. The cosmetic damage created on the cars when you smash into rocks and trees brought that awesome feeling of knowing you just smashed your windscreen out, leaving the wipers you can control now as useless as ever. All the vehicle details, down to the engine and roll cage, have been made to look so good, and as a car lover, this is something close to my heart – details in models. The developers also did an amazing job with the dirt particles; whilst behind another driver, the visibility goes down and you have a big cloud of dirt in front of you. When this happens, you’ll need to ensure you’re listening closely to the spotter.

Your spotter reads out the track, letting you know when you’re coming up to big humps, or how quick or slow you need to take the corners, so you need to make sure you are listening to them, and they have done a fantastic job with this making sure the spotters are clear spoken and loud enough so you can hear instructions. The audio in the vehicles has a nice sound to it; not too overpowering, but loud enough that you can hear the engines roaring as you are red linin, flying up the straights, and hitting the bumps and jumps.

If you love racing, or just love cars in general, and want to try out the Rally or Rally Raid scene, I would highly recommend this game. You need to be fully immersed to make it the full experience and it’s not an experience that lets you down. There is so much going on.

Written by: Hayden Nelson