Rallyallyally is a game where you compete against other cars to take a road from one checkpoint to another. This road is brought to each checkpoint through a snowball effect that leaves a trail. You gain points depending on how soon you get to the checkpoint after the road has arrived.
That sounds like the start of a great game, but unfortunately, it also ends with that concept.
This Is The Least They Could Have Done
If you play about three rounds of Rallyallyally, you’ll have a great idea of the entire game. This is because it always follows this simple concept. You get one mode that you play repeatedly that never really changes. This has so much potential, but it’s like the developers stopped the moment it was workable; they were done.
This one mode isn’t even fun. I played many hours of Rallyallyally, and I never felt like I was enjoying my time. It was really a chore just trying to get through each round. I did not care where I placed because it would just be a repeat of the last round.
I used to play flash games on Newgrounds, Kongregate, and Armor Games, and this wouldn’t even make it to the front page. It’s worse than an old-school flash game, in my opinion. It’s so basic that I kept expecting more. Unfortunately, that’s it; the game has one mode where you can get more bots to increase the challenge or fun. I was not fond of it, and that’s coming from someone who loves arcade games like this.
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The Steam page does a really good job of making the game seem fun, but it feels like a letdown. The customization that is advertised on Steam needs to be more accurate. Rather than customizing your car, you choose one from a set selection. While they are different, the developer didn’t consider the camera issue mentioned below. If you buy this game, take my advice and choose a red car because you’ll have fewer issues.
When you get down to it, it’s a game with very little going on, and that little bit is not fun.
The Controls Are Like Playing With Matchbox Cars
Winning takes a whole lot of time in Rallyallyally. This is mostly because the car is difficult to control—it turns and slides all the time. This would work really well if it made sense all the time. Any enemy knocking the road out of your hands sends you in a spiral, so you are wiped out instead of a heated back and forth. It takes about three or four seconds for your car to return to competitive speed, and the round is usually over by then.
It would have been fun to go back and forth trading the road and hoping you have it at the end, but instead, it’s smarter just to steal the road at the very end. This way, your enemy gets knocked out – for a noticeably shorter time than you would – and you can take it to the checkpoint.
This leads me to the point system, which does not help the game. Instead of giving points based on how long you had the road, whoever had the road at the end gets first place. From there, it’s based on whoever reaches the checkpoint next. My plan of stealing the road at the end is a good one because if you can handle the awful controls of the car, you can take the road.
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However, there’s an easier way to win, thanks to this system. You can go straight to the nearest checkpoint, avoiding everyone, and wait until the road is delivered to the checkpoint. You can get second place all three times this way, and you’ll win based on how points are distributed. This is only if you have a lot of opponents because they usually trade victories.
You get four points for every second place, while everyone else gets two or lower, and the 1st place gets six. As long as the first place doesn’t do more than win twice, you win. You’ll win more by gaming the system than by trying to beat everyone on the road due to how weird the controls are and how easily you get knocked out.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
The camera is by far the worst part of this game, although I can understand why the developer chose to have the camera function that way. Basically, the camera always follows the road everyone is pushing, regardless of how far it is from your car. If your car ventures off-screen, a mini timer goes off, and you’ll be boosted back on screen as if an elastic band has launched you.
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The elastic band isn’t the crutch it should be because there’s so much stuff going on that you lose your car easily. Some markers block your car, others can be confusing, and if you choose a color that matches your background too well (like green), it will be easier to lose. Even black is a bad choice because it matches the road color you must use to speed up.
Since there is no permanent marker for your car, you lose it in the shuffle often, which is why other cars cause confusion. Since the camera doesn’t follow you, if you don’t remember exactly what your car looks like, you’ll lose it. If the camera followed you and boosted you whenever the road got away, it would have improved the game exponentially. However, it doesn’t, so it hurts the game.
Power Ups Are The Only Boon
The best part of Rallyallyally are the powerups. You’ll find these boxes that give you powers as you play the game. You can spill oil to make people slip, use a rocket to speed off or use a boxing glove to knock people out. It’s incredibly fun to knock opponents out using these. My favorite was the grappling hook.
If there were more modes made around these power-ups, I would have had a lot more fun. These were the best parts of the game, but because we were racing to each checkpoint, they lasted only a short time.
Rallyallyally is not something I recommend buying, even at a low cost. It plays like a game that should be free, and I think it needs a lot more work. If more modes were dedicated to the power-up system, it would work out well, but there aren’t. As the game is now, I don’t consider it a good game and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Power-ups can be fun. | Bad handling. |
| The camera focuses on the road, not the player. | |
| Easy to lose your car on screen. | |
| Very bland and repetitive. |
Rating: 3/10
GamesHorizon received a Review Copy for Steam.
