I guess in 1980, Namco looked at Pac-Man's success and said, "how can we get people to basically just keep playing Pac-Man without having to really design anything new?" So they came up with Rally-X. A game that is basically Pac-Man with cars and more zoomed in and features more than one map (thankfully).
And it isn't bad. The little tunes in it and the bonus flag are enduring elements of Namco history, and the game itself is fun enough. I like that instead of trying to create something with a lot of graphical fidelity, they chose instead to create a more blocky game with thick outlines, etc, giving it a stylized feel even for the early time period.
The core element of trying to find the bonus flag first to double the score of each flag picked up afterwards is a neat one. You can also use fuel to blow smoke out your tailpipe, temporarily halting chasing cars. Everything plays together nicely mechanic wise. There's some fun to be had here for sure.
3.5 - Good: A good game that lacks something to take it to greatness
And it isn't bad. The little tunes in it and the bonus flag are enduring elements of Namco history, and the game itself is fun enough. I like that instead of trying to create something with a lot of graphical fidelity, they chose instead to create a more blocky game with thick outlines, etc, giving it a stylized feel even for the early time period.
The core element of trying to find the bonus flag first to double the score of each flag picked up afterwards is a neat one. You can also use fuel to blow smoke out your tailpipe, temporarily halting chasing cars. Everything plays together nicely mechanic wise. There's some fun to be had here for sure.
3.5 - Good: A good game that lacks something to take it to greatness