Colin McRae Rally 04

Xbox review by Philip Morton, published on Saturday 27th September 2003

Rallying is the true king of motorsport, driving in its purest form. Forget all those nancy F1 drivers with their bulging wallets and exclusive hang-outs, this is racing at its roots; seeing who can get from A to B in the quickest time. It’s just you, your car and the open road with no artificial barriers or circuits to get in your way. Rallying appeals to people on so many levels and to such a depth because they can relate to it. The rally cars are recognisable as modified road cars, the big brothers and sisters of the ordinary Focuses and Xsaras. Buy one and they feel a bit special, urging you to floor the throttle at every opportunity. That little bit of rally heritage is something people can be proud of, something you’ll never get with F1 cars. It’s an incredibly open sport, accessible whether you’ve got a £2000 Datsun 1600 or a £2 million Subaru Impreza WRC. Rallying is the people’s motorsport and we love it.

Rally games have been around for about 13 years now and it’s only relatively recently that Colin McRae stepped onto the scene. In 1998, Codemasters released the original game on Playstation and PC, and the series has been at the forefront of the genre ever since. The last few years have seen rally games flood in from all directions, with the fight for king of the road a hard one. The competition has been stiff, with V-Rally, WRC and even Gran Turismo all attempting to snatch the prize. Codemasters’ latest offering, Colin McRae Rally 04 sets out to walk all over the opposition and does so in style.

Codemasters have kept it simple when it comes to gameplay modes; there’s just the bog-standard Championship, Rally, Stages and Quick Race. You can pick and choose what you do and when you do it with the new Custom Rally mode as well, which allows you to choose any of the stages that you have currently unlocked and race them in any order. Each mode can be played in multiplayer, but more on that later though. As usual, the only licensed items are the cars, with Colin as the sole real driver. To be honest though, you probably won’t notice unless you’re trying to find flaws in it. Opps… The cars are divided up into four classes; 4WD which houses the most recognisable cars such as the Focus and Impreza; 2WD has rally varients of hot hatches such as the Punto and MG; Group B with its selection of powerful and hard to control cars and finally Bonus with a variety of odd vehicles, from a 2CV to a Rally Transit.

Championship is the heart and soul of the game and takes you through all eight counties in a bid to win the world title. You play as yourself in any of the four competition classes in any of the unlocked cars. There’s the normal pre-race setup options with Shakedown (test the car on track), Car Setup and Scores, but this time there’s also a set of unlockable upgrades for your vehicle. Acquiring these special parts is done through a minigame where you have two attempts to win the item. Nothing amazing compared to Gran Turismo’s wealth of parts, but still deep enough to keep petrol heads happy. Championship mode also adds a definite layer of strategy to racing with the damage and car setup. After each stage, your car will be damaged to a certain extent (I defy you to try and get a record time without smashing it up!) and you have to repair it to keep it in tip-top condition. Most of the time you can’t repair everything, so choosing what to alter and what to leave could cost you the championship or help you win it. The car setup is detailed as usual so you can tweak all manner of settings such as suspension and brakes. I personally let the game sort itself out; I’ll leave the more complicated aspects of racing to those in ‘the know’.

By far the most important factor in any driving game is the handling. Thankfully, Colin McRae’s is as perfect as they come. The Xbox controller has been setup so that you’re offered multiple ways of steering, accelerating and braking, while keeping the handling responsive. The physics are spot on and it just feels like you’re driving a rally car. The physics engine has changed slightly this time around; previously the car handling employed a steering aid, which had the effect of making the car move around a central pivot point. Now the aid’s been removed, effectively taking the stabilisers off, providing for a more professional and natural handling experience. Codemasters have got the balance between arcade and simulation styles just right.

Charging down country lanes and slicing through the trees is exhilarating to say the least. Not knowing what lies around the next corner makes it so much more of a blast to play than F1 games. The experience is similar to the non-stop adrenaline rush that is the Wipeout series, where you’ll find yourself totally absorbed and focused. You know that one mistake could cost you the stage and all-important time. This is as good as rallying gets.

Each mode can be played with up to two or four players via split screen or alternate play. Split screen is hectic to say the least, as the limited screen size and lack of oral instructions takes its toll. Alternate is preferable if you have a small TV, but only if you’re willing to wait while others play. Xbox Live is incorporated into the game, but only in the form of scoreboards. Every time you race a track the time is saved on the hard disk and you can then upload your scores onto the boards when you wish. It would have been nice to have online play or downloadable content, but it’s not essential. Hopefully next time we’ll see Xbox Live’s full potential being utilised.

Graphically, Colin McRae Rally 04 is stunning. The cars are detailed beyond belief and their damage models are superb, the lighting is spot on and the textures are well done. Grass sways in the wind and is shredded up when you drive over it, the sun glints of the top of your car and icy roads look palpably dangerous. Mud, snow and gravel flicks up behind you as plough through the courses and you car gets gradually dirtier as you progress. Weather is also well represented and adds another layer of difficulty to the proceedings. The stages are extremely well done with the different countries being noticeably authentic. It’s almost like The Getaway all over again when playing the United Kingdom stages; each twist and turn, road marking and sign looks so familiar. Places like Australia and Japan also look exactly how you’d expect them to look, with wide open deserts and semi-jungle respectively. The three camera angles are well positioned, with an external chase camera, a bumper view and a terrifying on-board perspective. The on-screen information is clear and kept to a minimum and the overall presentation is flawless.

Sound isn’t neglected either. Sporting Dolby Digital support, every audio effect is realistic and clear. Each car and track surface and sounds distinctly different and there are a number of accomplished audio effects for when you enter tunnels and the like. Sound also changes when you alter the camera angle, giving the in-car view surprising authenticity. Those with a full set of surround sound speakers will obviously benefit the most, but it still sounds great on an ordinary pair of stereos.

All racing games have a certain problem with replay value. No matter how good the graphics and gameplay are, if there’s not much to do or little variety, people won’t come back to play it. Fortunately, Colin McRae Rally 04 has swathes of things to unlock, from individual tracks and cars to whole rallies and competition groups. On top of that lot, there’s multiplayer plus the Xbox Live scoreboards to keep you busy. The variety of stages and the range of depth allows you to play it for five minutes or five hours. You could have a quick 20 minute multiplayer rally or spend a whole day trying to outdo a friend on the Live scoreboards. However much you play, it has plenty to come back to time and time again.

You can’t really fault Colin McRae Rally 04. Its flawless presentation, stunning visuals, well done audio, lengthy lifespan and superb gameplay set it apart from the competition and clearly places Codemasters back on top. Rally enthusiasts and racing fans alike will love it and I’d recommend it to those who aren’t particularly interested as well. Sure, like any game it can be improved, but as a rally game, it excels. It doesn’t get the Holy Grail of a perfect score purely because Xbox Live isn’t pushed to its limits. Apart from that, I can safely say that it’s the best rallying game ever.