COME AND HAVE A GO IF YOU THINK YOU’RE HARD ENOUGH!So you fancy yourself as a world-class rally driver? Well now you can test your skills with Colin McRae. Duncan Moore did… Once again, we venture into the world of virtual racing on the office Playstation. This week it’s the turn of Colin McRae Rally to provide the entertainment. Here’s a game that allows me to drive world-famous rally cars at speeds of up to 160mph, taking handling right up to the edge of control – and beyond in some cases - competing in grueling World Rally championships and battling against the elements. Initially I planned on reviewing the game last year but it has taken me this long to record the necessary winning times on all 48 individual stages, across eight countries, to be able to complete the game. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not that I’m completely inept. Even if I was, I could make use of the Colin McRae Rally school element of the game. Use that mode and you get the voice of McRae telling you how to drive the on-screen car. No, the problem was the special effects this game is capable of producing. The game’s engine, which drives the stunning 3D graphics, is an enhanced version of the engine originated for TOCA Touring Car Championship. This was Christmas ‘97’s best-selling motor sport video game, a copy of which only left the office Playstation when we received a copy of TOCA 2. It has now been modified to create the gearing and handling appropriate to rally cars. I thought the graphics on TOCA were good until I saw Colin McRae Rally, they really are some of the best around. That’s the reason why it’s taken me so long to write this review. Obviously, rally cars get crashed – causing lots of damage. To illustrate this abuse, the game utilises an advanced graphics system, whereby the mutilation shown has a radius effect from the impact point. In real terms it means the cars look like they have real crumple zones. So good is the effect that I kept deliberately crashing the cars on screen just to watch the marvelous graphics in operation. Well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Anyway getting back on track, Colin McRae is the only official game of the champion rally driver and he was closely involved with the game’s production to ensure it replicates the nerve-wracking handling of real rally cars – including his famous Subaru Imprezza 555. Don’t forget, you can learn from the man himself too. Colin McRae Rally features all twelve of the four-wheel and two-wheel drive World Rally cars - all of which have been accurately laser-scanned from models. Each car’s in-game appearance is, to quote the blurb, "created from up to 450 polygons". In plain English this means the best looking computerized cars you’ve ever seen. As I mentioned earlier, there are 48 treacherous stages, all of them with narrow tracks and featuring close roadside obstacles and hazards, which take you around eight world locations. Each country features individual climate and surface conditions that effect the style of driving you need to employ. You get to drive through, and in our case crash into, such terrain as England’s woody forests, Corsica’s mountainside roads, Sweden’s icy snowcaps and Australia’s dry, dusty dirt tracks. Thankfully, players can select different styles of tyres, suspension and brake balance from a set-up selection screen at the start of each race. This was another reason why the review took so long; I couldn’t stop messing about with the settings; doing all the things I knew would be dangerous in real-life. To ensure the correct balance between authenticity and playability, the layouts of all the stages are individually designed to maximize the playing experience. These fictitious stages offer you thoroughly exhilarating and challenging races, especially in two-player mode. For those of you who want to take the game seriously, Colin McRae’s own co-driver, Nicky Grist, provides audio-based co-driver commentary throughout the game, warning of corners and twists in the course ahead. His assistance becomes even more important as daylight fades and you embark on nighttime stages. Of course, I ignored him because I was so impressed by the crash graphics. Though that’s not all that impressed me. The game offered me four dynamic camera angles to view the action from, including the in-car driver’s "Head Cam" view which, with its constant jogging, simulates the relentless – often unforgiving – road surface’s effect on the car with dramatic consequences. If that leaves you feeling a little sick, you can view the action from one of the other angles – say bumper, bonnet or outside of the car. So, until I get another game with such stunning graphics and realistic effects I’ll continue to crash with Colin McRae Rally. I’ll apologise now if future issues are a bit thin - it’s because I can’t drag myself away from the Playstation. |