DESCRIPTION

V-Rally 2: Championship Edition marks the return of Eden Studio's V-Rally to the Sony PlayStation. This time around, Eden Studios have ensured the full 1999 World Rally Championship license, to go along with the game's seventeen official rally cars. Violently perform power sliding handbrake turns through rally courses set over no less than twelve countries.

The seventeen rally cars are divided into two special groups: World Rally Cars and Kits Cars. World Rally Cars are official cars from the championship, and are all 4-wheel drive, 2-litre turbo charged machines not created for the faint hearted. Kit Cars on the other hand, have been more designed for the beginner, since they are standard car models modified for rally. Since they are a lot lighter with less power, these cars make a dynamic impact certain for even beginners. Manufacturers include Mitsubishi, Audi, Fiat, Hyundai, Nissan, Peugot, Renault, Seat, Toyota and various others. Car options include gearbox ratios, suspension, sensitivity, tyres and brake balance, while players can create driver profiles.

V-Rally 2: Championship Edition is split into various modes of play: Arcade, V-Rally Trophy, Championship and Time Trial. In more detail, Arcade mode is pretty standard, four driver battles where you must make pre-determined time limits to retain credits to reach if you are hoping to complete all three groups of special stages. V-Rally Trophy is a special mode consisting of the Euro trophy, World trophy and Expert trophy. The Trophy system works by adding up all your time taken in the series and comparing it against the other three racers. Place first, and you will advance to the next series.

Championship mode takes a more authentic and true look at World Rally driving. By offering the same three trophies in the previous mode, and recording actual damage to your car that unless fixed in between stages will result in poor performance, this mode is certainly the most realistic of the bunch. Time Trial allows for the selection of all earned Arcade and Trophy courses, and lets players test their own best times. A "ghost" feature has also been included as an option, and lets you face off against a racer simulating your best time on that particular track.

Options in V-Rally 2: Championship Edition include the ability to tweak the display settings with options to set the speedometer from miles per hour to kilometers per hour, center pictures to suit your TV screen and set image format from 4/3 to 16/9. The Audio options menu contains switches for language for voices, volume levels, music selection and audio modes (mono and stereo).

The Track Editor feature allows players to create their very own courses with the help of on-screen instructions. Players can set the country, weather and difficulty level, but also draw the track and adjust the heights. An icon help system and automatic functions will help you loop your tracks and create airborne-potential jumps in a hurry. Of course, if your worried that your track isn't quite what you wanted it to be, take a test drive and put your design to the test!

V-Rally 2: Championship Edition supports Sony's Dual Shock Analog Control for steering and vibration function, memory cards to save data and Multi Tap to allow up to four players to play simultaneously. Eden Studio's rally racer is also selectable in three languages, English, French and German. ~ Brad Penniment, All Game Guide