(check the pinned comment for why this is merely a "demo)
New Rally-X Arrangement (PSP version)
©2005 Namco LTD.

Note: the title in Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 is Rally-X Arrangement. This is an entirely separate, albeit similarly designed, game that originates from Namco Museum Battle Collection for the PSP.

Back in the golden days of Namco, their most popular driving game was Pole Position. Before then, of course, came Rally-X and its successor, New Rally-X. When the Namco Museums began pumping out, it seemed that Pole Position I and II were more on the forefront of their minds. Once Battle Collection came around, however, that seemed to shift. Now, I rarely hear about Pole Position, and it's always Rally-X and New Rally-X that get ported to compilations and whatnot.

Since New Rally-X improves on the original in almost every way imaginable, any remakes of the game afterward were more based on New, even if they retained the original "Rally-X" title. This game cuts straight to the chase and considers itself an arrangement of the New title. All of the background tracks are based on the New Rally-X music and certain other elements (such as the Lucky Flag) remain.

Like with all the other Arrangement titles, New Rally-X Arrangement maintains the same base gameplay as the original... sort of. There are 24 levels in total, divided into 6 worlds with 4 levels each. In each world, you go through the same set of tasks: in the first level, you simply collect all the flags. In the second and fourth, you get all the flags to unlock a goal that you must exit through. And in the third, you also collect all the flags, but the red cars have flags that you must steal from them using the smokescreen.

Speaking of which, in addition to the classic smokescreen, you also have a dash ability that can help in gaining some distance on the cars. Both of these cost you fuel, though, so I try to use them sparingly. There are also many new stage elements including sand patches that stop you for several seconds, dirt that makes turning awkward, mud that causes you to tumble, boost arrows, and ramps.

In terms of flags, you have the regular flags, Special Flags (which add a multiplier to your score for each extra flag), and Lucky Flags, but there are some power-up flags that can spawn randomly. Green flags temporarily jam the red cars' radars, making it so they can't find you unless they're on screen with you. Grey flags increase the range of your smokescreen, and blue flags give you a 1up. The position of each flag is randomized every time you play the stage, so consistent routes can't be made for this game.

That's all great and all, but there's one problem I have with this game: It's really, really hard. Unless the green flag is in effect, the red cars hunt you down mercilessly, and it's not like there's many flaws to their A.I. There can be up to four of them in a single level, which is surprisingly overwhelming at times. They can get stopped by the obstacles and run into each other to buy you some leeway, but that doesn't really do much for you. Unlike the original games where you can mostly BS your way through each stage, in this game you need to use your smokescreens strategically just to keep them off your tail. The mini-map isn't worth a damn either. Even when knowing where the flags and red cars are, the fastest path to them isn't entirely obvious, and there's a lot of sections in each stage with only one way into and out of them. And need I mention that there's dead-ends in some stages? Great design, Namco. (It isn't.)

World 5 easily has the worst design that I've ever seen in any variant of Rally-X. The aesthetics of every world are extremely impressive, and there's a lot to take in. This is still true for world 5, except that in this case, it actually makes the game harder to play. The lighting is completely dark, and when combined with the dark buildings, makes it nigh impossible to see where the turns are. The buildings are also in 3D, and they can obscure turns, flags, and red cars quite often. Also, the red lights on the track make it very hard to distinguish between them and a red car, making it very easy for them to gang up on you without even realizing it and trapping you. The boost pads are somewhat helpful, but it's so hard to control the car at high speeds, and you'll probably get too far ahead of yourself and accidentally crash into a car anyways.

Other than its annoying difficulty, great remake of New Rally-X otherwise. It's still visually stunning and has some clever spins on the formula to make it a worthwhile adaptation of a beloved classic. Though maybe you shouldn't play it on Hard mode...

Played on my PSP using Namco Museum Battle Collection.

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