The Father of Rally Games is this!!! (Colin McRae Rally 2 (PC))

Member Name: karana23

Product:	Colin McRae Rally 2 (PC)
Date:	23/02/03 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very cheap, Still the best rally game, Worthy competitors expensive

Disadvantages: Can be too hard for novices, Colin McRae Rally 3.0 is not out on PC

First Impressions:
It was way back in December 2000 when I was in India. My father often used to visit London, and on one of his visits brought along an issue of PC Gameplay (a very famous magazine in the UK). As the rules go, the magazine had 2 CDs packed with demos of the latest games. One of these demos was of Colin McRae Rally 2.0, which I quickly installed on the system and waited with bated breath. I have always been a lover of rally and racing games...and at time was hooked to V-Rally 2.0. And boy!!! I was in for a completely different world of gaming when the game started!!! I couldn t wait to buy the full version and got it at that time for £19.99, although now the price has reduced to £4.99.

The Game:
I ll probably never know. What I do know is that the game is a belter. You might not be able to launch the car down a precipice and cause reparable damage to your face, but you can do pretty much everything else. In addition to the hardcore proper rally stages, an all-new arcade mode (which was absent in Colin Mc Rae Rally 1.0) allows you to take on up to five other opponents in a simplistic championship. Simplistic it might be, but simple it isn t, and several hours of frantic driving are required to open up further stages.
This is merely an hors d oeuvre though. The real action is to be had in the rally championship, ploughing a lone furrow through the backwaters of Finland, Sweden, Italy, France, Australia, Kenya, Greece and the United Kingdom, each throwing up unique environmental hazards. It s a daunting prospect, but one that is never less than compulsive. Much like the original, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 manages to be instantly accessible without ever making any concessions. The Novice level shouldn t provide too many problems, but the step up to Intermediate is marked, and it soon becomes apparent that you re in for the long haul. As for Expert, only professional rally drivers need apply.

Handling of cars:
Obvious as i
t seems, it s the handling of the cars that provides the key to the game s success. It s exquisitely modelled, with every nuance of the road surface translated through the wheels and into your fingers. The varying settings make a huge difference, and specific techniques are required to master tarmac, mud, gravel and even snow, each of which can be further affected by adverse weather conditions.
There is simply no getting around the fact that you have to drive properly. Attempting to plough through sections by bouncing off the sides at full speed just won t wash. Split-second braking allied to adroit manoeuvring is required, and your co-driver (again voiced by McRae stalwart Nicky Grist) becomes an essential part of the game. To succeed, the car has to be pushed to the absolute limit, and you can sense when you re putting in a good time, not least when you forget to breathe. The range of cars is immaculate as well : from a brilliant Ford Focus (u can get 4 varieties, if u ve opened up the cheats) to an agile Toyota Corolla to a precise Peugeot 206 to a heavy Lancer to fun-filled Mini Cooper and Ford Racing Puma (my favourites!!!) to many many more!!!!

No Accidents please:
Should you plough off the road (and you will), the penance takes the form of more than a few lost seconds. A detailed damage model sees the car deteriorate convincingly, with shattered windows, buckled bonnets, cracked spoilers and trailing bumpers all adversely affecting handling. Not to mention the impairment of gearbox, steering, and brakes, to name but a few. Restricted repairs can be made between every other stage, and this presents a dilemma. Going hell for leather in the first stage could result in barely being able to crawl around the second.
The key is to find the perfect balance between risk and caution. This can only be achieved by being absolutely on the money all the time. Concentration is paramount, and taking your eye off the ball for a second can be fatal. To t
he untrained mind, this might not sound like a lot of fun, but the perverse pleasure is in constantly pushing yourself to the limit so that you can make things even harder for yourself. That s essentially the crux of gaming, of which Colin McRae 2.0 is a finely honed example.

Facts:
1.Codemasters, the makers of this game have sold more than 3 billion copies worldwide.
2. The game I reviewed was a sequel to Colin McRae Rally and is exclusively licensed by world class rally driver Colin McRae.
3. The game can be purchased for any platform: PC, Mac, Gameboy, GameCube and Playstation.
4. The game has now got a third sequel?Colin McRae Rally 3.0, which is immensely successful but only comes in PS2 and XBox formats. Shoul

Reviews by some top magazines:

Magazine: PC Gameplay
Score: 10/10 (first time 10/10 has been given by the magazine)
Award:Platinum Award

Quotes:
Colin McRae Rally 2.0 will suck you in the day you buy it and spit you out three months later when you ve bettered your top score ten times over.
Be it mud, ice, snow, gravel or tarmac, each highly-textured road covering throws up a unique challenge in itself.
Colin Mcrae 2.0 is a tense, thrill-ride of a racer.
Petrol heads need not leave the house to raise their heart rates ever again.

Magazine:
PC GAMER
Award:
Game of Distinction

Quotes:
Delivers great racing experiences on almost every corner
Responds realistically and responsively to vigorous driver input
It s never been truer to say that the car s the star than in Colin Mcrae 2.0.
The handling is glorious with big power slides flowing from one corner to the next
Colin Mcrae 2.0 really shakes our champagne bottle.

Magazine:
PC ZONE
Award:
PC Zone Award for Excellence
Quotes:
The best rally game in the world? ever!
It s bigger, it s better, it s rougher, it s to
ugher
Immaculate handling, glorious graphics, challenging tracks
Colin McRae Rally is back and has retained the crown

Magazine:
The Sunday Times
Score:
5 out of 5 (5 red stars)
Award:
PC Zone Award for Excellence
Quotes:
The attraction for Colin McRae Rally was its realism and for the second version this is worked to the max
Superior
.
6.Requirements for playing on PC: Windows 95/98/2000/XP, Direct X 7.0 (comes bundled with the game), PIII 500, 128 MB RAM (I had no problems with 64 MB as well) and any graphics card. The game also supports network play with the same CD, and must say, its equally enthralling.
7. Useful Web addresses: http://www.codemasters.com/cmr2pc/front.htm

Overall:
I became a fan of this game the day I purchased it...have gifted it to all my friends and cousins, and they are mad for it...I even have the other two sequels, such is the extent of my madness for this wonderful game!! I ll recommend it to every racing game lover in this world...

BUY THIS ONE WITH CLOSED EYES!!!!

Comments and questions are more than welcome.....

Summary: