Boss Rally

Rally games are popular, with pretty much every format under the sun boasting at least one rally-based title. Top Gear Rally on the much-maligned Nintendo 64, for instance. Why highlight that one in particular? Because Boss Bally is a port of that very same game, with the words 'Top Gear' removed and cunningly replaced by the word 'Boss'.

So is the game boss? No, not really. If ever a definition of 'generic' were needed, this game provides it, doing nothing whatsoever to build on the success of such pioneering games as Colin McRae Rally. There's nothing to find major fault with, it's just that everything is blandness incarnate. The 16 cars are nameless hollow boxes, and the six (count 'em) tracks cover the same old locales, namely coastline, desert, mountain and racetrack, with only stripmine and laguna providing a hint of originality. Incidentally, the game boasts that it was made in Seattle, and the rock soundtrack comes courtesy of the unrenowned Dragline. It's not a deal-clincher.

Races consist of starting at the back of a very stretched-out grid of 20 cars, and attempting to plough through the inferior opposition for a top-six finish, with further tracks and cars awarded on a points basis. Driving, such as it is, consists largely of one big powerslide, particularly with the slower cars, and success is often as dependent on discovering short cuts as it is on any kind of automotive skill.

Boss Rally is by no means unplayable, it's just that alongside the forthcoming Rally Masters and Rally Championship 99 it's going to look very silly indeed.