For some weird reason I prefer games that are obv variations of Pac-man, rather than the original itself. That doesn't mean I don't like PM; it's just that I like it's offshoots better. It's no coincidence either that Rally-X and PM are so similar. They're made by the same company; to run under the same hardware, for starters. Even the names are dually dash composites for gawd sakes! Yet, it does offers several improvements over PM, nevertheless. The most significant is the segmented level view. Ie, you only see a small portion of the whole stage; the one you're currently driving. The rest is displayed in the form of a radar on the left. This has the advantage of creating a seemingly random virtual space, larger than could previously be presented. Because it really is the same maze one over and over again. It also shows a larger, zoom-in view that was much detailed than before. A nice powerup would've been a map icon that displayed the whole "racetrack" in radar; because only the cars are represented otherwise, which of course would only make sense if tracks were actually different. &BTW, there are no powerups in the game; except a dual value bonus flag, and I don't think that really counts as one. The on-point, purposed realism works better for me too, as PM was too abstract to relate to. Still, graphics could've been more colorful and detailed, and sound FX and music more polished and thought out.
But it's the mechanics of the gameplay that are the real giveaway of a PM derivative. Here instead of a PM you "drive" (move around really); what appears to be a blue F1 car from top view, in a ridiculously convoluted maze like city "racetrack". Instead of ghosts chasing you around, here you are followed by a squad of red competitors. The only other thing you can crash to, besides them, are some giant obstacle rocks. And for the big power dots there are check flags that you have to "pick"; except that they don't have anything special, protect you from the other cars, or anything other except being the sole purpose of the race itself. There was no point in keeping the little dots then, which I think they transformed into the fuel system. Which is what actually protects you. When you press the action button, a series of small smog screens appears that momentarily stall and confuse the enemy vehicles; effectively blocking them. Don't use too often though, since it obv takes a small amount of precious fuel for it to work. Yet, it could also be interpreted the other way around; ie, the flags being the little dots, and the fuel the big dots; doesn't really matters. What does is that you can ran out of fuel, without the possibility of a reload; and I didn't like it. That's just a lame excuse to make the stages time limited; without actually saying so. Powerups in the form of gas cans would've been a nice addition; even if only for point bonus, since the surplus gasoline gets converted at the end of a level anyhow. As a driving game on itself, is very simple; perhaps too basic to even be considered a proper sim. However, interpreting the maze as the closed streets of a circuit's locale; eg, Monaco; then it kind of works out. The real problem remains the whole racing for flags thingie; since there's no definite finish line, nor particular pathway to be taken then. So in that sense; I don't think it can truly be considered a real race. Hence the rally name, although it'd be obv more like that, if it had a known, predetermined order to capture the flags; for instance, by showing their associated number on the radar. But finally, all things considered, RX is a good casual and quick arcade game; for when a real racing game may be overkill.