Get the braking right into a dirty hairpin and the back end steps out exactly as far as you dared. Rush Rally Origins is a top-down rally racer for iPhone that rebuilds the original game's overhead view with the physics from Rush Rally 3. It comes from Brownmonster, the one-person studio that has made the whole Rush Rally series.
You run 36 stages across snow, gravel, dirt, mud, and tarmac, each able to switch time of day and weather. The camera sits overhead, either a helicopter chase or a retro isometric tilt, and the car slides under you while you feather the throttle. There are four car classes to earn and upgrade. Multiplayer is online leaderboards and downloadable ghosts only, with no local split-screen, so the racing you do against people is asynchronous.
148Apps' Campbell Bird called the slide through a dirty hairpin better than just about anywhere else on the App Store. That drift is the draw. His reservation is fair, though: Origins ships fewer assists and modes than Rush Rally 3, so the overhead view and the new courses have to be what you came for. Difficulty is the other knock. The AI runs fast and the touch steering runs loose, which is why the Pocket Gamer App Army panel kept reaching for a controller.
What works
- The best drift feel on the App Store, in 148Apps' words, across 36 varied stages
- Full PlayStation, Xbox, and MFi controller support with a customizable layout
What to know
- No local multiplayer; the online side is leaderboards and ghosts only
- Fast AI and loose touch steering make it punishing without a controller
iPhoners with a controller get the closest thing to a console rally here; on touch alone, budget a few stages just to learn how loose the tail feels. The single-player championships and time trials run without a connection.
