One comment I’ve made before is that when reviewing games it’s always easy to write about really good or awful ones, it’s those that are somewhere in the middle that can be a challenge. You’ve played them before at some point, those that appear to have accomplished what they set out to do for the most part, and don’t have glaring issues, but also fail to really suck you in and distract you from the thousands of other games out in the eShop. I’ll admit that though I’m a fan of the overall genre, that rally-style racing specifically doesn’t tend to be my speed, though I’ve played some titles on the system that have managed to at least partially convert me. In the case of Rally Edge though? Consider me a bit on the fence.

What you have here feels like a mix of some different classic racing styles, blending together arcade rally racing with a more pulled out and almost top-down feel. As a consequence, the result has at least a slight feel of nostalgia to it in the overall presentation, between the game’s decent 3D look that’s accented with dark outlines, as well as what feels like appropriate music accompaniment and the announcer's voice as well. While developing a feel for confidently sliding through turns can take a few beats, unlike more simmy variations on this sort of racing, this has a friendlier and more arcade-like feel overall.

One element that can be taken as a positive or a negative, depending on what you’re looking for, is the relatively bite-sized races you’ll typically be taking on. This absolutely makes it well-suited to the handheld nature of the Switch, but if you were hoping for something a little more meaty it may well come up short. Also, though I do appreciate the use of changing elevations to try to ensure different tracks have their own feel, I will admit that despite having different environments and specific layouts, I also can’t say I walked away from any particular track thinking I’d remember it for any length of time. The result is a perfectly serviceable racer, but one perhaps a little too limited in its ambitions.