Dakar Desert Rally

 Xbox Series X
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Xbox Tavern
    Oct 17, 2022
    90
    Overall Dakar Desert Rally is a diamond in the rough. With the upcoming features adding another layer to the game and a little bit of rounding off and Saber Porto/Saber Interactive have come up with a winner. Newcomers and casual racer fans will love how the game looks and have plenty of fun in sport mode while hardcore fans or players who love a challenge will have a great time mastering.
  2. Generación Xbox
    Oct 10, 2022
    75
    Dakar Desert Rally brings the most dangerous competition in the world to our consoles four years later. Despite the failures that it may present, we are facing a delivery that has everything to become a very beloved and fun franchise.
  3. Jeuxvideo.com
    Oct 6, 2022
    75
    Despite a lack of content, perfectible driving and unsophisticated opponents, Dakar Desert Rally comes to dust off the automotive genre with style. Based on the sumptuous landscapes of Saudi Arabia, Saber Interactive's game displays a remarkable achievement and should delight those looking for a different racing game. If the developers have kept the requirement of Dakar 18 (with co-pilot, compass, roadbook, etc.), it is now possible to try out Sport mode and its arcade approach. Thanks to these additions, Dakar Desert Rally opens up to a wider audience without cutting itself off from purists. With its impression of successful speed, its panoramas and sumptuous effects and its huge map, there is plenty to have fun while waiting for possible extensions. Undoubtedly the automotive surprise of this fall.
  5. TheXboxHub
    Jan 11, 2023
    70
    Dakar Desert Rally can feel great, until you start trying to drive anywhere, and then it is quite a let down. There is the opportunity to learn to drive around these issues (and just accept that AI drivers will hit you, avoiding them as best you can), but Dakar Desert Rally fails to ever really flow.
  6. MondoXbox
    Oct 12, 2022
    70
    Dakar Desert Rally shows great potential accompanied, however, by many minor shortcomings, but it succeeds in effectively transposing the spirit of desert racing, its colors, breathtaking views and sense of adventure.
  7. SECTOR.sk
    Oct 7, 2022
    70
    Dakar Desert Rally still feels like an Early Access game, and while there is huge potential and the driving will win you over, there is very little content and important options and features are missing.
  8. IGN France
    Oct 4, 2022
    70
    Sport mode is a mess and doesn't do justice to the incredible qualities of Dakar Desert Rally. The game is way better on Pro and Sim modes. Following to roadbook to find your path in this absolutely huge Saudi Arabia feels really great.
  9. IGN
    Oct 10, 2022
    50
    To its credit, Dakar Desert Rally has a fabulous sense of scale and is capable of some great, unique racing – especially when bombing over barren, building-sized sand dunes in a big rig while kicking up huge rooster tails of sand in search of a mysterious navigation marker. It is, however, dramatically undercut by unstable and annoying handling for several of its vehicle classes, its uneven performance mode frame rate, and some significant bugs that can cost you hours of progress. This game needed more time in the service area before being cleared to compete.
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  1. Xboxygen
    Oct 13, 2022
    With an official Dakar licence, a bewitching and gigantic playing field, arcade and simulation modes, vast improvements as regards the driving of the various vehicles compared to Dakar 18 and a navigation feature via road-book as exhilarating and immersive as ever, Dakar Desert Rally has enough solid foundations to become a prime showcase for rally-raid and its flagship event as long they keep on working hard on it. The new Career mode even welcomes neophytes with open arms to gradually introduce them to the discipline. Unfortunately, the title suffers from a premature release that spoils the game experience due to a feeble framerate, chaotic AI and a frustrating lack of content for fans of the simulation mode. In the coming weeks, the ambitious roadmap should meet the latter’s expectations. Let us hope the studio manages to solve the technical issues as well. If this happens, Dakar Desert Rally will surely become a must-have game for all motorsports fans.