"Around the world in 1,000,000,000 pellets...."

Let me start off by saying that I'm a long time cart racing fan, from back in the days of the first Super Mario Kart for the SNES all the way to the current, but I have not played many of the Pac Man titles that are more recent. From someone who's not a huge Pac Man fan, this game is a blast to play, but will be short lived if you don't like playing 2 player, or repeating races against computer opponents. And now for the breakdown....

1. Story= There really isn't a story mode in this game at all, there are 4 cups to race in total, a single race, and a battle mode. Being that it doesn't have a story, I'll give this a 2.

2. Graphics= The graphics are pretty solid for this title. Everything looks crisp and colorful, and there don't appear to be any technical issues. I read somewhere there is a worse framerate drop on the PS2 version, but I have not encountered it yet. Everyone has vastly different looking cars, and driving animations for things such as dropping weapons, etc. The backgrounds look good too, they are not breath-taking realistic, but they aren't supposed to be. They range from a haunted town to outer space, and all are very well designed.
My score would have to be 9

3. Gameplay= One of the best aspects about World Rally is the gameplay. Either in race mode, or in the battle mode, the controls are very easy to get used to, and are well thought out. The racing game feels like every other good kart game you've ever played, weapons that shoot from the front and rear of the cars, plenty of shortcuts to take on the track, and its about 8 racers at a time. There is a hop/powerslide button, which if pressed at the apex of a jump hill, will give you boost when you land. It also....you guessed it....POWERSLIDES.....and as you race, the level of the power slides increase, allowing for more boost when coming out of the slide. There is also the new Pac Mobile mode. There are pac pellets all over the track, and if you eat enough of them, you can turn into the Pac Mobile with the push of triangle. This turns all the other cars to blue ghosts, and you can eat them to gain a big advantage in the race. Overall the cars are fairly responsive, and drive as their weight class suggests. Terrain also has a great affect on handling, with tracks that have ice, dirt, pavement, etc. My gameplay rating is 10.

4. Sound= Not much to say here, the sound is done well enough. Everything sounds as it should from the engine noise to the boom of the weapons. The sound track is avarage, nothing too special, but its not horrible music either. I do like the remix of the Pac Man theme as the title screen music. There are no technical issues with the sound either. My score here is 6

5. Replay= As this game has no story mode, multiplay is where its at with this title if you don't want to be bored. In an interesting move though, there is no 4 player splitscreen mode, only 2 player. Even though its only 2 player, there are computer controlled players in every mode, including battle, so it won't get boring. All modes are 2 player as well, including the cups. There are hidden racers and tracks to unlock, but not a bevy of them, so if you like unlocking lots of stuff, there's not much. If you like just booming around in the races and battle mode, as I find it fun, this game might last you awhile, but if you are looking for a story, and lots of longevity, maybe rent it first. My score is 7

Overall, this game is very entertaining for the budget price of $30.00, but is not the next big thing in kart games. Unless your a big Pac Man fan, and like kart racing games, you may want to rent first.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/06