When it comes to the games industry, Kasabian, British alternative rock and creators of music for a generation of teenagers whose parents didn't love them, have done pretty well for themselves. For in my short (and soon to be short-lived should I continue to stuff so many words into a single sentence) time as a reviewer, I have come across several titles that have put their best 'club foot' forward and introduced their title with accompaniment from the debut singe of unwashed, untrimmed, 'fair-trade' toting rockers. Makes you wonder weather anyone has mentioned fair-trade in the same breath as their monopolisation of video game theme tunes. However, as much as I would love to rip the clubbed foot from the five popular band members and collectively beat them with the wet end, I have to say that the song adds to the intense speed filled atmosphere of WRC Rally Evolved. Even hearing it blasting from my tiny television (AceGamez don't pay me very well!) is enough to make my vocabulary enriched mind say to myself, "This is going to be really, really good."

Once our appetite has been suitably dampened by the real footage of recent rally events, we can 'X' button our way straight into a choice of championships, stages or single rallies, and I was quickly racing at high speeds, flying around intense courses in detailed forests or parks. A few miles in, I was beginning to think, not only is this game brilliantly presented, but I seem to have a natural flair for rally driving that would definitely cross over into the real world. Then, as my thought process began wandering off to being presented with an enormously impressive championship trophy from an equally as enormously impressive model, I began to notice something a little queer (unusually so considering my thoughts at the time). As I approached increasingly tighter bends, I began to throw caution to the wind; after all, I am WRC's bad boy Rob Byron, and really hammer my foot to the floor. However, there was a noticeable feeling of my usual over-ambitious gusto being held on a leash, almost as if my co-pilot had a tentative cutch on some dual controls, secretly put in to stop me ploughing down people, trees and various forms of cattle.

Dashing back to the main menu and into the options, I made a startling discovery. The driver aids are automatically set to maximum for braking, steering, traction and toilet breaks. Okay, so not the last one, but my discovery of these water-wings felt like Evolution Studios had whipped away my dreams of world rally domination and replaced them with a large dummy and a nappy. That said, removing this feature was a lot like the days of my youth trying to master the trickeries of riding a bike. My father used to steady me at the top of a hill, placing a brick on the ground by my front wheel. A swift kick to the brick sent me hurtling down the hill and often into the nearest bramble bush that would leave me picking thorns out my arse for the next few weeks.

As yet, PlayStation have not announced any plans to provide their console with arse bramble connectivity. But, as race simulators go, WRC Evolved is a breath of fresh carbon emissions in the lungs. The controls are a little challenging at first. Over-steering can be a frequent occurrence and like Britney Spears you'll spend the early part of your career with your rear end swinging from side to side. Fear not though; grasp the basic concept that turning and accelerating don't mix and you'll soon be weaving your way down the windiest of courses.

If the game lacks anything, it's speed; I felt that most of my time was spent struggling to accelerate out of rising corners rather than sliding at breakneck speeds round ninety degree bends. However, this isn't Burnout, and as a driving simulator it's very accurate. Those who watch rally events will know that completing a course is an achievement in itself, and that battling with both car damage and the elements is a major part of the sport.

The fact is that those developers of rally games are always going to have to battle with the lack of interaction with other drivers. So to combat this, Evolution Studios have attempted to fill the void with all manner of features during each stage. Whether you're swerving round bales of hay, dashing though water splashes or just avoiding fellow competitors that have taken a spill, you rarely think that the game would benefit from more drivers on the road. You're kept constantly informed of your own position so that you can either take your foot off the pedal to save on car damage or put it to the floor to try and climb up into first place.

On the whole, this game plays well but looks fantastic. Everything is official and the vehicles themselves are a perfect representation of the cars we see racing around local parks. The courses are accurate and superbly detailed, right down to the trenches on either side of the track that can cause some real damage if not avoided. When completing a course, take the time out to sit back and watch the well-directed replay of your venture around the track; the billowing dust that pours from the back of the car really feels like you tore up the road in every sense of the word.

However, despite this realism, I have always believed that driving games benefit from having their controls simplified to an extent. Most of the more popular driving titles are successful because they don't complicate the essential elements involved in the movement of the vehicle. The car movement in WRC Evolved can be a little too erratic; one minute you're easily coasting round a corner, the next you spin out when slightly adjusting your position on a straight.

It's true that practice makes perfect but who wants to practice? It's a lot more common and often preferential to progress through the game whilst learning the ins and outs of the control interface and features. Although the opportunity to create a career is available, it's too open-ended; a more structured career path involving tutorials would improve the learning curve involved in grasping the fundamental driving controls, and would help explain the changes that can be made during the preliminary stages, as well as the pros and cons to various elements of inter-stage vehicle repair. This would provide progression whilst learning how to play the game successfully at the same time.

It would be unfair to say that the few problems in WRC Rally Evolved make it unplayable. The gameplay is enjoyable, but for gamers who want something more than a driving simulator, this isn't for you. Having said that, if you have even glanced at a TV screen in a shop window and let your mind wander over the prospect of becoming a rally driver then you'll enjoy this title; for diehard rally fans, this really is a must.

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).