WRC Collection (8, 9, & 10)

Genre: Compilation / Rally Racing

Players: 1-8 Competitive (Online)

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Review:

WRC Collection (8, 9, & 10), released on Xbox One in 2022 and then on Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a Compilation containing the three named games, all Rally Racing games, released on Nintendo Switch from 2019 through 2022.

I have separately reviewed all three of these games. Here is what I thought of all of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship	Rally Racing	1-8 Competitive (Online)	C+
tl;dr WRC 8 is a Rally Racing Simulation-style game where players manage their crew and schedule and race in various conditions. The core game here is a solid but highly challenging entry in the genre, but it has clearly suffered massive downgrades in its transition to the Nintendo Switch, particularly in its graphical fidelity and clarity. If you’re a fan of this genre and Nintendo Switch is your only gaming platform you will still likely find this to be sufficient, but if you wan play it on any other platform you should absolutely do that instead.
WRC 9 The Official Game	Rally Racing	1-8 Competitive (Online)	C+
tl;dr WRC 9, like its predecessor, is a Rally Racing Simulation-style game where players manage their crew and schedule and race in various conditions. The core game here is a solid but highly challenging entry in the genre, but it has clearly suffered massive downgrades in its transition to the Nintendo Switch, particularly in its graphical fidelity and clarity, and the changes and improvements from WRC 8 seem minimal. Overall, this is still a decent game, but its appeal is limited and those who enjoy this niche genre are better off playing this game on any other platform.
WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship	Rally Racing	1-8 Competitive (Online)	C-
tl;dr WRC 10, like its predecessors, is a Rally Racing Simulation-style game where players manage their crew and schedule and race in various conditions. The core game here is a solid but highly challenging entry in the genre, but it has clearly suffered massive downgrades in its transition to the Nintendo Switch, and seems even worse off than the prior game in the series, with little to nothing in the way of improvements. Skip this one.

To sum it up, I thought all three of these games offered a well-made but niche experience that’s not going to appeal to everyone, and the Nintendo Switch version is clearly compromised when it comes to graphics and performance, with WRC 10 suffering the most in this regard. Of the trio, I think WRC 9 is the best, but only marginally so – apart from WRC 10’s particularly bad graphics and performance issues, all three games are pretty similar.

This makes it even harder to judge the value of these three games as a bundle. Are you really getting a deal here when it kinda’ feels like getting three versions of the same game? Heck, even the menus are largely the same in all three, and you could easily be fooled into mixing up which game is which if they didn’t show the game’s title on loading screens.

I suppose at least taking a nominal look at value, separately these games would cost $150 on Nintendo Switch, and the bundle chops off a third of that price, selling at $100. Looking at sales, this bundle has already gone down to $10 on Nintendo Switch fairly regularly, starting as early as one month after it was released. You know what this tells me? This bundle is woefully overpriced at its normal price, and its publisher knows it.

If you’re interested in Rally Racing on Nintendo Switch and don’t mind the severe graphical and performance issues this series has, I suggest you either get WRC 9 or WRC Generations, the two games I consider to be the best showing this series has had on Nintendo Switch. But these games are so similar, I don’t think most players should even bother getting more than one of them, and this bundle certainly isn’t the bargain it wants you to think it is. And even then, all of that is if you’re interested in this niche genre and if you don’t mind the terrible ports of these games on Nintendo Switch. That’s a lot of “ifs”, and it would be easier for me to just say that for most players I don’t recommend this bundle.

tl;dr – WRC Collection (8, 9, & 10) is a Compilation containing the three named Rally Racing games. These are already a somewhat niche sort of game, and they are so similar that the average player would have difficulty telling them apart. However, they’re made worse by terrible ports to Nintendo Switch, and a bundle that’s absurdly overpriced given what’s on offer. You don’t need three of these bad ports, most Nintendo Switch players don’t even need one. Don’t waste your money on this bundle.

Grade: D+

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