The most obvious upgrade everyone will notice is the improved visuals. Sega Rally Revo really shines in this department, with bright, vibrant locations, real-time deforming tracks, beautifully rendered vehicles, and a pretty solid 30 frames per second. Granted, we would all prefer something in the 60fps range, but the overall experience is still satisfying.

Also, this entry features a decent online experience for those wanting to get a bit of that old school arcade feeling right at home. You can race head to head with another player via split screen at home, or go online and duke it out with up to 6 people. You can also create your own "championship" of sorts, by pairing together up to 6 different tracks in any order you want. There are the standard Ranked and Player modes, and also a time attack mode that will compare your best with the online leaderboard. You can also download a ghost car from the leaderboards to help hone your skill in time attacks. This feature set might look a bit bare boned compared to other titles, but for this arcade racer it's enough to fit the bill. I didn't notice any lag in the matches I played, and from what I understand that seems to be pretty standard across the board.

However, while Sega Rally Revo does stay very true to its arcade roots, it sometimes manages to stay too tied to the way things used to be. Take, for instance, the single player game. While a lot of the big time fans will still be having fun past the five hour mark, there isn't a whole lot of meat for the average player to consume. You have the Championship Mode, which constitutes the gut of the game. From there you can unlock new tracks, cars for both Championship and Quick Race, and new Paint Liveries. Championship races consist of three back-to-back tracks, and in every race you'll start in last place (regardless of where you finished in the previous race), and you'll be forced to work your way up to number one. Points are tallied after every race, starting at 10 points and going down to 1 point for last place. The game keeps track of your total points earned, and these are used to unlock new races and other things.

However, while all of this sounds pretty basic, there isn't much in the way of car selection and available tracks. Your tracks consist mostly of sand, snow, mud, and asphalt with little variation. There are about 12 actual tracks, and then reverse versions of those can be unlocked as you progress. There are three liveries that can be unlocked for each car, with no space for customization that many console racing fans are pretty much used to at this point.

So while it can be easy for people to nitpick what Sega Rally Revo is lacking, you can't really knock that the core gameplay is a ton of fun. It might not last as long as you'd like, but for the time you do spend with the title you'll be enjoying every minute of it. Also, the game provides quite a challenge in later tracks, with the AI really taking you to task for any mistake you might make, so having a short track selection ends up being a bit of a blessing when it comes to memorizing every twist and turn available.

Unfortunately, the fun and lighthearted music of the original games does seem to take a bit of a hit with this title, but at least you have the option of customizing the soundtrack. The music isn't horrible exactly, but it's definitely not up to snuff on the original titles.

All in all, Sega Rally Revo is a great addition to a fun arcade racing series, and is a fantastic entry point for new fans. However, if you prefer your console racing experience to a bit more sim based, this isn't the title for you. If you're on the fence, at least give it a rental to be sure, but for the fans of old school arcade racers this is definitely a title worth picking up.