If there’s one thing I really love, it’s a great racing title. Having a large garage of vehicles to drive and wonderfully crafted tracks to drive just really cannot be beaten. Whether set in an open-world environment or on closed tracks, I cannot get enough of it. So when I heard about Saber Interactive’s own Dakar Desert Rally back in 2021, I was very excited to see what they had come up with in their final product.
Saber Interactive promised an open-world rally game unlike anything gamers had ever seen, with an expansive open world spanning 20,000 KM for players to explore and race across, with perfected racing controls to make it feel as real as ever. After having had my fair share of playtime with Dakar Desert Rally, I’m saddened to say that I don’t think this game is really worth your time unless you’re absolutely a die-hard Dakar fan.
Dakar Desert Rally Review Biggest Takeaways
- Dakar Desert Rally is completely unfinished at launch, omitting some of the largest features that it marketed.
- It suffers from major performance issues.
- The game looks, sounds, and overall feels dated.
- Dakar Desert Rally can be fun but it doesn’t last long.
- Its environments are the only glimmer of something good here.
- Steer clear and play anything that’s more deserving of your time.
Final Score: 4
Gameplay Can Be a Mixed Bag
I have to say, Dakar Desert Rally does offer players a few difficulty modes that allow for almost any kind of player to enjoy the game. Whether on the easier, arcade-like mode, pro, or even simulation, the game is really going to feel different depending on your choice. But that doesn’t mean it’s really going to feel good. I found this title’s physics to be somewhat lacking at times.
Though the vehicles feel nice and weighty, the way they crash into each other or rocks, for example, all just seem flat. This is most apparent when racing on either a motorbike or ATV, as your character will fly off of the thing for the smallest reasons. It isn’t just when you’re hitting a rock though either, as my driver has flown off of their bike for seemingly no reason at all in many instances.
To make matters worse, the respawn mechanics in this game are really bad. It takes way too long to respawn after a crash, and it becomes really frustrating. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t the fact that you will most definitely be respawning often due to the constant crashing on bikes, and that isn’t even just limited to terrain or sheer randomness, as your rival AI racers will also stop for no reason during a race which will cause you to crash into them.
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It’s Missing So Much of What Players Paid for
It feels like this game is, at times, still in its early Beta phase. And nothing really proves that more than the fact that, at launch, there’s really nothing to do in this game but just race. And while that may sound like a silly complaint when talking about a racing game, it really isn’t. One of Dakar Desert Rally’s biggest selling points was its massive open world which players can race throughout, and even create their own events within.
Unfortunately, for one reason or another Saber Interactive hasn’t given players the open world nor the Road Book Editor (track/event creator tool) at launch. These are two major parts of the game that are just missing, and you can really feel the holes without them. I mean, there isn’t even a photo mode or livery editor being introduced to the game until 2023, with no actual date announced!
I just don’t understand how there are games being released like this, in such a state that they don’t even include more than half of the content they should have at launch. It’s laughable and makes it feel as if Saber Interactive thinks they can do this and people will just buy it anyway.
Dakar Desert Rally Can Feel Wooden
Overall, this game feels sort of like a hollow shell of how it wanted to be in its final form. To add insult to injury, I’d also say that the graphics and sound design do feel a bit cheap and dated. Though this isn’t a full $60 release, I would’ve liked to have seen better visuals at least. The WRC games as of late are a great example of a budget racing title that can deliver some unexpectedly positive visual offerings.
Dakar Desert Rally really feels like a game that would’ve come out in the early 2000s. You have cheesy rock music that plays during races, plastic trees and grass, and even rocks that look as if they were made of modeling clay. It’s unappealing at best and a real wooden, dead game.
And honestly, it’s made worse by the fact that it always looks as if vaseline has been smeared across your camera. It’s similar to the way high-resolution games look when they aren’t properly ported over to Nintendo Switch. There’s also a lot of motion blur. It would be nice to be able to mess with some of the graphical settings, but that’s unfortunately not here. You can only adjust the gamma, at least on Xbox Series X|S anyway. Oy vey.
Who This Was Made For
In all honesty, unless you aren’t a die-hard fan of the real Dakar Desert Rally, then this game is definitely something you can pass on, at least currently. I can see this game becoming something fun once things are ironed-out and it’s actually a finished game, one day.
There were some fun moments, but they mostly came down to how the world was actually built. Though it’s not a typically pretty game at most times, the different POIs and tracks are wonderfully created. I also do think the game looks good during storms, but I think that’s because it hides most of the textures and things like that when it happens.
So, at the end of the day, Dakar Desert Rally is only going to be worth it for you if you can’t live without it and are patient with what Saber Interactive says it’ll offer in the future. Unless you fit that description, I’d check out some of the other, larger racing titles you can purchase now as they have all of their content readily available for you.
Dakar Desert Rally is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC.
So those are our thoughts on Dakar Desert Rally. Be sure to check out our additional coverage of the game as it continues to get published!
