Dakar Desert Rally 2022

TheSixthAxisDominic LeightonOct 20227/10

Dakar Desert Rally promises a lot, and delivers on a good portion of it, recreating the renowned rally event in spectacular fashion. While players may have to wait for all of the features on their wishlist, there's a huge amount of enjoyable rally racing to get stuck into.

Thumb CultureOct 20224/5 stars

Despite some performance issues and minor bugs, Dakar Desert Rally delivers bags of fun. The stunning environments, wild weather and plucky opponents paired with the excellently realised sense of speed make for some truly epic racing. Danger lurks around every corner.

IGNLuke ReillyOct 20225/10

Dakar Desert Rally has a fabulous sense of scale and is capable of some great, unique racing, but it's undercut dramatically by frustrating handling, uneven performance, and some progression-killing bugs.

Worth PlayingTony "OUberLord" MiteraOct 20224.7/10

There is a good game somewhere under all of this, but it is buried under the weight of every part of Dakar Desert Rally being unlikable for some reason or another. There are the briefest moments where it shines through, the sun is hitting you just right, and you're blasting through the stage skillfully at top speed. The problem is it's at that moment that you round the bend and slam into a random truck or the game hitches and you suddenly understeer into a rock wall. Substantial patching would do this game wonders, but as it stands, it's a joyless mess that delivers frustrations at a far greater rate than podiums.