Many years from now how will people look back on the first 25 years of computer and video gaming? Will it have morphed so well into people's day to day experiences in the digitised world that gaming will be looked at as an anomalous early attempt at cyberspace? Similar to the way we would now view the kinetographs from seaside piers of old in comparison to the blockbusters at the multiplexes of today? Or will it be viewed as so important to the of the world of the future that professors will pore over old gaming zines and try to resuscitate ancient hard drives so as to have a look at 2 for themselves? If gaming becomes an academic subject in the future then its archaeologists will peer at unearthed Dancemats and scratch their heads, while the palaeontologists will wonder at the extinctions in gaming genres that have occurred over the years. With only a quarter a century of gaming under our collective belts we have already witnessed the death of the space-combat sim and the adventure game, while the flails around like a drowning man and the 2D is but a wisp of memory. One genre that has been there since the beginning and which continues to thrive is the game. Its sub-species, the rally game, has been around for around two decades, and with the arrival of Rallisport Challenge 2 we have a specimen that is so strong that the survival of this species is practically guaranteed.

The original Rallisport Challenge was a quality title that helped the fledgling assert its author-i-tie. Its sequel is another tour-de-force, boasting some of the very best graphics yet seen on any console, and some of the most enjoyable racing this side of a monster-truck Pop Idol contestants squish-a-thon. The controls are next to perfect. It's one of those games where you can switch off the conscious part of your brain that manipulates the controls, and just let your mind do the driving. It's a Zen like experience, and shows just how good a grasp of the Xbox controller system that DICE now have. There are seven preset configurations to choose from, but you won't be making your own set-ups. The rumble effects are consistently solid, with acceleration conveyed accurately and failing tyres indicated.

Driving these cars is a lot of fun. When you have an accident you almost always know, and acknowledge, that it was you rather then the game that was at fault. Some of the more intense courses, especially those at night and in the rain, can get frustrating, but the overall pleasure to be had from playing RC2 is so great that you will keep on working the course until you get it sorted. The car's handling is definitely more 'arcadey' than anything else, but that is the nature of the game, and at no point does RC2 really try to pretend that it is a sim. The best way I can put it is that RC2 is an arcade version of a rally sim game. You can fiddle with the set up of the cars, but this doesn't have a profound effect. There is a damage model, and while you can feel things get harder to control the damage system is really there for aesthetic purposes, especially as damage isn't carried over from one race to the next. The variety and number of courses should satisfy all but the most spoilt of gamers. With over 90 tracks and five different event types - Rallycross, Crossover, Rally, Hill Climb and Ice Racing - you won't get bored in a hurry. And while the earlier courses are fun and a right joy to drive, the later stages of the game throw some really twisted tracks at you. But the feeling of mastering and then dominating these exhilarating roads is, divine.

The game is a visual feast. The car models themselves may not have as many polygons as say 4, but they all look great anyway. And not only do the cars get good and dirty after a run the damage model can provide for some hilarious sights as well. Just be sure not to smash your headlights in a night race. The replays are not only instructive as to where the road has a nasty bump or where the best line to the apex lies, but they are entertaining to watch and full of the and camera styles that we expect to see. The rain effects on the windscreen are more than a little good, which sadly can't be said for the fog and dust effects, which just seem to scroll down the screen. Otherwise, RC2 is not only great to look at it runs super-fast. The speed is almost scary. All in all, the developers DICE really have gone to town on this game.