Latest Reviews
FIFA 09Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhoodde Blob Brothers In Arms: Hell's HighwayWipeout HDUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for Colin McRae Rally 2Write your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
Colin McRae Rally 2 Review
Mark Simons
00/12/0000
I can’t really understand people who go to watch rally races, sure I can see the appeal of Formula One, Indy car and possibly even Nascar.
But standing around at the side of a muddy track waiting for a car to come flying past you at some crazy speed, I donāt really see the appeal. As a driver though, I can instantly see the appeal, just you, your co-driver and you car against the clock. You donāt have to worry about back markers or overtaking just concentrate on getting the fastest time you can on courses that are completely diverse and weather conditions that are even more un-predictable.
Therefore itās not too hard to see why rally games are popular, at least here in Europe, for some reason, probably because the actual sport is not too well known in America. The original Colin McRae Rally was the finest representation of the sport of rally racing ever to grace the PlayStation. The graphics were quite nice, nothing amazing, it didnāt offer hundreds of cars all uniquely upgradeable, no, what it offered was the feeling that you were controlling this high powered beast of a car, you felt in control, but that you could crash at any moment, as though you were really pushing it to the limits. Sure, I may be sounding a little melodramatic, but itās true, and before I go on I better say that Colin McRae 2 is better in every aspect that itās phenomenal predecessor.
The first thing that will hit you is the phenomenal detail on the cars themselves, in the one player championship mode ā“ where the car is at itās full detail as itās the only one on screen ā“ the car detail is amazing. Windows are transparent allowing you to see the driver and co-driver, there are even little aerials on top of the car which move about. In order to fully appreciate the car detail though you must crash a few times. Whilst this may not sound like the most obvious thing to do you will understand when dents appear, windows shatter, lights flicker and most impressively, bonnets (hoods) and boots (trunks) flapping about as if theyāre about to fly open. You can even cause so much damage that spoilers and bumpers will become detached, bouncing around behind you before they ultimately fall off. In a word: brilliant. You donāt want to crash you car, the sound effects on impact, as well as the visual details almost make you cringe at damaging you car. Of course the damage is more than superficial, it actually affects your cars performance, and it is certainly worrying to have you headlights flicker on the night stages, or the gearbox slip into neutral when shifting gears.
Whilst at the super slick menu screen you will find all the usual options, championship, arcade and two player modes. In the championship mode, which is the serious simulation side of things, you race on your own against the clock. This is very compelling, and there are various difficulty settings, and the harder you make it the longer the rally. Full car damage is implemented, and between stages you have to make tough choices about what to repair or change about your carās setup in the short length of time that you have available to allocate. This mode offers the most realistic experience, and I have to say that itās totally amazing, the handling is better than the original, I canāt pin it down to anything exact, but the feeling of control you have, especially when using analogue acceleration and braking, is second to none, and that includes any game that contains the letters āgā and ātā in the titleā¦ In all honesty itās hard to convey the joy of pulling off a near perfect high speed powerslide, or the feeling that comes over you when you realize that youāre going too fast and about to ram the side of you car into a near by tree. Fans of the first game will feel right at home with this mode, others however may wish to ease themselves in via the arcade mode.
In the arcade mode Colin McRae 2 takes on a completely different style to the championship aspect, instead of point to point against the clock races, you are now racing laps against five opponents. The handling is tweaked slightly to make the car easier to control and racing against actual opponents is certainly a different experience to going against the clock. Sadly the power of the PlayStation is shown up here, and the graphical excellence on the cars showcased in the championship mode is slightly less here. However, when you see six detailed cars hurtling around the track at full speed, all is forgiven. A great addition the game, the arcade mode could almost be a game in itās own right, certainly giving V-Rally 2 a challenge.
Two player modes are thought out well in Colin McRae 2 as well, you can if you wish do a whole championship with a friend, and because the starts are staggered you will not infringe on each others races. This is a good twist on the standard two player races, and if youāve got a couple of you and some free time on your hands this is a very tempting proposition.
As it stands Colin McRae 2 on the PlayStation is a brilliant game, better than the original and suitably different to GT2 to warrant a purchase even if you own that game. Graphics, handling, sound, depth and polish are all abundant in this game and if you like driving games, or perhaps even if you donāt, you will love Colin McRae 2
