Dakar 2 | DJcube

The Pinnacle of Endurance Motor Sport

EU release: 28th March 2003
NA release: 31st March 2003
JP release: N/A
Developer: Acclaim Studios Cheltenham
Publisher: Acclaim
NGC Magazine Score: 79%
Mods Used: None

Dakar is a long running Rally competition that takes across France, Spain and a large portion of Africa. It features a few different kinds of events to work through, one in each region. In Dakar 2 you’re also not even limited to cars, either, but tucks and bikes as well.

Compared to other rally games on the GameCube, Dakar 2 is far more arcade-like in terms of handling, and on top of featuring the regular time trial mode, also lets you race against three others in the arcade mode. It’s quite fun to zip around, although you still have to be careful as you can sustain damage, which affects your performance.

The three different kinds of vehicles do affect performance, and gives an interesting sense of sale as the trucks really do make everything feel small while the bikes let you feel every part of the ground. You’ll also come across some circuits tracks, A to B races and more open checkpoint races in the desert, which helps with variety. Due to set weather and times of day, each track feels unique as well, it’s all good fun.

The GameCube version also features GBA comparability, and what they did with Dakar 2 is interesting as it sends over a version of each track to the handheld. It’s a top down racer, but with cute little 3D vehicles. There’s a lot of tracks, each with four levels of challenges. It seems like a lot, and there’s a reason for it: the GBA version of Dakar 2 was cancelled late on, so it seems they took what was left and made it available from the GameCube. Pretty neat.

Fun

Except Dakar 2 is really good. We know – we can’t believe it either. Sure, it’s got the technical nous of X covers Acclaim Cheltenham behind it, but it’s still a potentially, and by right, tedious point-to-point racing game where you don’t see other drivers unless you’re passing them and the only challenge is preventing your vehicle from rolling. But somehow it works.
Tim Weaver, NGC Magazine #80

Remake or remaster?

I’m not sure what current rally games are like.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Dakar 2.