Colin McRae Rally

The Good
Rally driving, the oldest sport known to man. Well not quite considering that cars were only invented a century or so ago. But still is there anything more fun than racing against yourself on a dirt road. Well maybe but there is no denying that Rally games can be a lot of fun. Well 2 years after I got this game in the UK those chaps at Codemasters finally see it fit to release this game in the UK.

Before you start the race proper you can take a rally tutorial. Now this is very helpful and gets you to grips with the game. Your Scottish and slightly hard to understand Instructor helps you on the basics of the game but this all adds to the realism and fun of the game.

After you're all done with the tutorial, you can choose you race. Pick one of the eight cars and choose from 3 different modes. Championship mode is a season of rally driving in 8 different countries around the globe, with each country having six “stages”. Rally mode lets you play a single rally on any one of the countries you have unlocked while competing in championship mode, with or without a friend. Time Trials let you race on any course and even go head-to-head via split screen.

The cars themselves handle very well and the overall feel of the game is good and there are plenty of tweaking stuff for the real rally fan. But of course the rally partner blabbering on in your ear is what makes this game cool. The "Turn sharp left" crys from you friend for once is actually helpful and you mustlearn to listen if you are to do well.

All in all Colin McRae is great but it has one flaw which is..............

The Bad
When the game came out in Europe in 1998 it was excellent and the cutting edge of rally games. But since then everything has improved and a 2 year wait for it to come out in the states has severly stopped this great game from shining.My advice is get animport copy of the sequal outin the UK now. Probably out in the USA in a year or so!

The Bottom Line
A great Rally game but outdated by its long overdue states release. get the sequal on UK import.

The Good
The varied environments, the different cars available, setup challenges, cheatcodes to enable more cars

The Bad
You have to "earn" the cheatcodes by winning, the tutorial mode is useless, there's no explanation on what is good and what is not, some of the times are ridiculously low with no explanation on how you can improve it, no explanation on which setup is good for what situations, the graphics could use a lot of improvement, as they look rather blocky by today's standards

The Bottom Line
Colin McRae Rally was a major accomplishment for the sport of rally racing back in 1998 when it was released in Europe, with its list of cars, drivers, and varied environments. Unfortunately, by the time it reached US markets, it has been overtaken the the other titles, such as Mobil 1 Rally, Rally Championships, and other titles with better graphics or better car handling. While it's still a lot of fun, it is no longer state of the art.