With the ever increasing amount of car racing titles available the sports themselves seem to appeal to more than just auto anoraks and with this the games nowadays carry hefty sponsors and big name deals. Colin McRae Rally is the latest offering from Codemasters which gives us a varied set of cars and courses to plough through as well as a driving school to teach you how to drive (Nothing to do with the TV programme and that psycho woman in the Lada!). So is it any good or is it just another average effort with a big name to carry it along?
Let's start at the beginning. From the start Colin McRae is well presented and the options screens nice but simple which is promising. There are time trials, two player split screen racing, a full championship and a driving school which we will address first. "I don't need no teaching, that sort of stuff's for women!" I hear all the blokes screaming. That may well be true in some cases but check it out anyway. The driving school is an excellent feature to the game and does teach you quite a bit about how to handle a rally car. The tasks increase in difficulty an range from manouvering cones to a full course complete with mud and driving rain. You are scored on how competent you are at handling the car and how quick you complete the tasks and you must gain a certain number of points to be able to progress to the next set of events.
Time trials and two player options are self explanatory though it it worth mentioning that the two player split screen option is a good laugh. So on to the main event - the championship. It is split into two difficulty levels and you will have access to different cars depending on which one you choose. Now being very naive about rally car racing and not initially having a clue who Colin McRae was I chose the easy level first, selected the Renault Megane and headed off to New Zealand for round 1. It wasn't until I reached the first time marker and I showed up in fourth place that I realised that I wasn't in the lead, there were no other cars on the track! All the racing is done on your own against the clock which may sound a bit tedious but believe me you won't get bored in a hurry. Your trusty co-driver barks out orders so you can concentrate on the road and get that first place. As you travel continents weather conditions and road surfaces change but between races you can modify your car to fit the conditions as well as make any neccessary repairs. You will be awarded points for your finishing position and will be able to progress to the next country if you accrue enough points in the current stages.
Colin McRae is from the same camp that brought us TOCA and you can see the similarites in graphics and viewing angles. But saying that there are definately noticeable improvements including the car gathering mud as you steam through some farmers rain sodden field. The cars themselves are nicely renered and include visual defects like the back brake lights popping as you spin off into a tree and the cars do occassionaly flip over if you drive too recklessly. The race courses are excellently portrayed and although you know where you are supposed to be going it is cross country and doesn't look ridiculously obvious like in other games. There are also Gran Turismo style replays which are very good and allow you to sit back and enjoy your performance from various TV style camera angles.
As with most racers there isn't much to the audio apart from engine noise and thankfully there is no irritating "driving" music to accomany it. There is however a co-driver who will give you information on bends, hazards and obstacles as you approach which is a neat touch. Other spot effects include crashes, bangs and wallops as your car slowly becomes scrap metal.
On the whole Colin McRae looks good, sounds good enough and plays excellent. As with TOCA Codemasters have created a racer which actually feels realistic (maybe more so than GT) and the cars handle as you would expect them to taking into account the changes in surfaces and weather conditions. The only slightly worrying factor is the lack of physical opposition making the game a little tedious but take it from me the courses are fast and tricky to manouvre you won't have time to worry about other cars.
Gran Turismo reached new heights in car racing simulators and new racers will always be compared to it (including GT2) but Colin McRae Rally definately holds its own and is a superb game in it's own right.
