Rush Rally Origins hits the Steam store this week (Friday 15/04/2022) and it’s a great top down racing game based on 80s/90s rallying.
This is the fourth game in the Rush Rally series and the first to land on PC. The first 2 games of the series were on Android and iOS, winning bronze and gold pocket gamer awards.
Rush Rally 3 was released with high praise on mobile devices and Nintendo Switch, winning a gold pocket gamer award too. Rush Rally 3 is still available for all three devices and has a reviewer rating of 4.7 on both the App Store and the Play Store.
The series comes from an indie developer - Brownmonster Games. The developer Stephen Brown has worked on various racing games over the years - Colin McRae Dirt2, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, GTi Club+, F1 2009, Split Second, MotoGP 10/11, and Sonic Racing Transformed. Stephen was also the lead vehicle programmer for Crackdown 3.
Rush Rally Origins, which appeared in our games of 2022 article is already available for Android, iOS, and Switch - however, do not let that put you off. Rush Rally Origins is not a sim, the top down style should have been a give away, but this game has enough going on to be fun, rewarding, and challenging.
There’s a lot going on underneath Rush Rally Origins, the game engine was developed by Brownmonster Games and runs a realistic tyre model based on the PaceJKA and brush models and runs at 360Hz.
When playing the game, there’s definitely a 90s feel to the way it has been out together. There’s the navigator’s voice that is reminiscent of Sega Rally, the music feels very 90s, and the way the game is structured feels very nostalgic.
A player can complete various stages of a rally, unlocking upgrade credits that can be used to upgrade various aspects of each car. Once upgrades have been made to a certain level, the category of the car is increased - starting from category D and going up to category A. Each upgrade unlocks new challenges and stronger AI.
There are no licensed cars in Rush Rally Origins, though they are all very familiar cars. There’s 13 cars in total and each car has its own characteristics and various ways to be driven.
There’s plenty of tracks too, with 48 stages across Finland, Greece, Sweden, United Kingdom, Kenya, New Zealand, USA, and Japan. Each country brings new challenges, with characteristics specific to each location - for instance Japan has twisty, narrow mountain roads and Finland offers fast and smooth stages with plenty of jumps.
Players can play against each other in real-time, either via a LAN connection of peer 2 peer through Steam and there are plans to allow this game to be cross platform!
As well as a cross platform multiplayer, there’s plans for weekly events, career mode, and additional content. Brownmonster Games has a community on Discord and Stephen pays close attention to ideas and comments about his games.
You can find the game on the Steam Store and also check it out on mobile if you’re looking for a racing game to play whilst out and about.
This is the fourth game in the Rush Rally series and the first to land on PC. The first 2 games of the series were on Android and iOS, winning bronze and gold pocket gamer awards.
Rush Rally 3 was released with high praise on mobile devices and Nintendo Switch, winning a gold pocket gamer award too. Rush Rally 3 is still available for all three devices and has a reviewer rating of 4.7 on both the App Store and the Play Store.
The series comes from an indie developer - Brownmonster Games. The developer Stephen Brown has worked on various racing games over the years - Colin McRae Dirt2, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, GTi Club+, F1 2009, Split Second, MotoGP 10/11, and Sonic Racing Transformed. Stephen was also the lead vehicle programmer for Crackdown 3.
Rush Rally Origins, which appeared in our games of 2022 article is already available for Android, iOS, and Switch - however, do not let that put you off. Rush Rally Origins is not a sim, the top down style should have been a give away, but this game has enough going on to be fun, rewarding, and challenging.
Gameplay
We tested the game for a few hours with a Xbox controller and driving felt intuitive, trail-braking, lift off oversteer, and flicking the car one way and then the other to enter corners are all things that you can do. Rumble on the controller was excellent, translating the types of surface very well. There are multiple road surfaces in Rush Rally Origins - snow, gravel, dirt, mud, and tarmac.There’s a lot going on underneath Rush Rally Origins, the game engine was developed by Brownmonster Games and runs a realistic tyre model based on the PaceJKA and brush models and runs at 360Hz.
When playing the game, there’s definitely a 90s feel to the way it has been out together. There’s the navigator’s voice that is reminiscent of Sega Rally, the music feels very 90s, and the way the game is structured feels very nostalgic.
A player can complete various stages of a rally, unlocking upgrade credits that can be used to upgrade various aspects of each car. Once upgrades have been made to a certain level, the category of the car is increased - starting from category D and going up to category A. Each upgrade unlocks new challenges and stronger AI.
There are no licensed cars in Rush Rally Origins, though they are all very familiar cars. There’s 13 cars in total and each car has its own characteristics and various ways to be driven.
There’s plenty of tracks too, with 48 stages across Finland, Greece, Sweden, United Kingdom, Kenya, New Zealand, USA, and Japan. Each country brings new challenges, with characteristics specific to each location - for instance Japan has twisty, narrow mountain roads and Finland offers fast and smooth stages with plenty of jumps.
Players can play against each other in real-time, either via a LAN connection of peer 2 peer through Steam and there are plans to allow this game to be cross platform!
As well as a cross platform multiplayer, there’s plans for weekly events, career mode, and additional content. Brownmonster Games has a community on Discord and Stephen pays close attention to ideas and comments about his games.
Future Developments
Stephen hasn’t ruled out the possibility to mod Rush Rally Origins, he would love to do this, but also recognises this opens up a whole can of worms. He states that his community love that the leaderboards are fair and acknowledges that this could potentially be broken if he allows players to be able to tweak physics and make custom cars.You can find the game on the Steam Store and also check it out on mobile if you’re looking for a racing game to play whilst out and about.
