GTC Africa is the latest racing game from Rage. It features licensed vehicles racing in, yep, you guessed it Africa. The game is no-frills rally racing that focuses more on jumping in and driving fast rather than learning the intricacies of a course or endlessly tinkering with car settings. For people that want a different kind of arcade racer, the games fun, but sim-racing fans need not apply.

GTC Africas cars are not visually appealing, especially considering the fact that there are only nine of them in the whole game. The vehicles look more like what was seen in the PS2 launch game Ridge Racer V than anything seen in Gran Turismo 3. Specifically, they dont look very detailed, dont have many decals, and on a whole dont look very realistic.

What the game does have going for it, however, are some fantastic lighting effects, and some nice, but sparse particle effects. While the nice lighting can be seen in reflections off the cars, it is most impressive when on courses where you battle a setting sun while navigating the courses tight turns. Throw in some hefty dirt clouds as you squint through the sun, and the possibility of running off course is significant.

The games framerate isnt bad, but sometimes causes the cars to feel like they are going slower than they are. It isnt overly erratic, but it does slow down occasionally. The courses are normal rally racing fare, and sometimes poorly marked as to which way to go. This is mostly only a problem on the first lap, and the AI is usually forgiving enough to let you catch back up, but missing a turn and watching everyone zoom by is never fun. Before each race, as the course loads, a screen showing information on the course, and the area of Africa that the race is taking place in is shown. For some reason this is rather interesting, and helps the load times, which arent too bad, pass by faster.

GTC Africas audio is very average. The music, which combines African beats along with some Techno, is decent, but ultimately forgettable. The cars sound okay, but again, nothing spectacular. Creating an interesting aural environment didnt seem to be a top priority with the game.

The gameplay in GTC Africa is simple and straightforward racing. The championship mode involves picking a team and a car, and then trying to win a points championship as you race across Africa. Theres a confusing points system involved with your team that affects how much time you have for each race, and gets lower with every poor performance. Of course this means that one bad race can eventually snowball into many bad races lets just say the system doesnt work too well. The fact that its not explained in the game, and you actually have to leaf through the manual is also a problem in this day and age where people dont read the instructions.

The inclusion of so few cars is disappointing. Rather than have only nine cars in the game, perhaps some fake cars based on real models could have been used, but alas, this didnt happen. The few cars that are in the game each have unique attributes that are easy to feel once you take the car out on the road, but its still only nine cars darnit!.

Each race is usually closely contested, and they get more and more difficult as the game goes on. As you get deeper into the game, the AI becomes downright difficult, but it seems that this is because they are able to drive much faster, rather than an increase in driving skill. Sometimes the AI seems quite sharp, as the cars will take all the right lines, and even use clever moves to pass you, but other times they bump you endlessly as they try to get on their pre-programmed path.

All in all, GTC Africa is a solid, yet unexciting game. Other games have provided more courses, more cars, and more depth, and one of those games, Gran Turismo 3 is only $25. If youve had your fill of those games, and want to try a more arcade-like approach to rally racing, GTC Africa is worth a look.