Reviews / previews
Colin McRae Rally was a wildly popular and very successful title for Codemasters when it was released in Europe over 18 months ago. Now that Codemasters has opened up shop in California, Colin McRae Rally is finally available on North American soil. Unfortunately, the game wasn't updated in any way prior to its North American release. That, combined with the fact that rally racing in North America is as popular as a zit in the middle of your forehead, makes this title a hard sell for diehard Nascar and Formula 1 fans looking for an alternative to closed circuit racing.
Colin McRae Rally is based on the World Rally Championship and includes eight tracks from that series, New Zealand, Greece, Sweden, Corsica, Monte Carlo, Australia, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom. In a rally, you race solo against the clock through all types of rolling, twisting terrain such as gravel, mud, ice and snow in several tortuous stages that make up an entire rally. Racing takes place day and night in all types of weather conditions ranging from clear skies to rain, fog, or snow. Car choices include the Subaru Imprezza, Ford Escort, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Corolla, and a host of others, including bonus cars.
The challenge of rallying is a constant need to push you car to the limits while avoiding damage that would impair your ability to continue or finish a stage. An interesting strategy element of rally racing is the opportunity to repair damage to your car, within restricted time allotments, at the end of several stages. This is where the first of several gameplay decisions falls under the "What were they thinking" category. It is damn near impossible to damage your car to the point of having to select one repair over another. This is due to condensed track lengths and a very forgiving damage model. A simple time reduction of 50% in which repairs can be made would have gone a long way in restoring the aspect of repair strategies. As it is, all you need to worry about is proper tire selection.
Another irritating design quirk is that you need to place 6th or better after finishing the first two rallies in New Zealand and Greece in a Championship Season to open all tracks in Time Trial and single Rally mode. Why bother having a single Rally mode or Time Trial option when all tracks are not available for practice prior to entering a Championship Season?
Graphics are acceptable, with convincingly rendered environments, although I was surprised to see a fair amount of draw-in, even on a computer with three times the recommended hardware. Handling physics are spot on. Most gamers will be able to jump right into the action and feel right at home, as long as you avoid the chase views, which make your car appear as though it is perched on a lazy Susan pivoting around god's green earth.
Colin McRae Rally is simply too little, too late with the far superior Mobil 1 Rally Championship on shelves at the same price. With Colin McRae Rally 2 scheduled for release in late May, it's hard to recommend CMR to anyone, other than those with a low spec machine.-- Michael Hicks / GamePro
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