Colin Mcrae Rally 04 Review (no fat)

Game Description

The new member of Codemasters’ rally racing franchise, Colin McRae Rally 04 has kept the style and qualities of its predecessors, improving the series quite a bit in various areas. The most welcome improvement is that you are no longer stuck playing as Colin McRae.

You can now choose from 20 cars, depending on the type of championship. There are 2-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive and Expert championships, each having a different difficulty level. They bring you through 48 tracks in 8 different countries each with its unique environment (UK, Japan, Sweden, Greece and more).

While winning the 2WD championship is possible with a bit of practice and patience for any new player, the Expert championship more than lives up to it’s name. Unless you’re an experienced player you’ll have to work hard to even get access to it.

For multiplayer fans there is good news and bad news: the game features one-to-four-player split-screen multiplayer but only offline. It has a limited Xbox Live support though, which consists of an online scoreboard where you can upload your best scores.

CMR 04 Gameplay

The first thing to notice is the dramatic improvement in the graphics department compared to Colin McRae 3. Especially the car models are very detailed and realistic. They also respond to turns and commands more naturally and you can actually feel each car’s unique handling. Especially when changing from a 2WD vehicle to a 4WD you will sense a big difference and you’ll have to adopt a different driving style.

CMR 04 Crashes and Repairs Jobs

Learning how to handle each car is very important because mistakes have severe consequences. Colin McRae 04 has probably the most advanced graphical damage model ever seen in racing simulations. You will see each accident have consequences: broken windshield, bursting tires, smoking engine, faulty suspensions and much more will follow upon crashes.

The damage also affects the cars performances and handling, but, unfortunately (to the adepts of realism), not quite as significantly as it should. You can only repair your car at the end of a stage and with only 60 minutes at your disposition to do so, therefore you’ll have to limit damage as best as you can.

The sound of each car’s engine is unique as well. The mix of the engine sound, brakes, tires squealing or the windshield breaking, during a crash all sound very real, giving depth to the game. The incorporated Dolby Digital support only enhances this effect.

The tracks and surroundings are modeled according to reality and they look good although not as good as the cars themselves. If you take a closer look you can notice some lack of detail and few lower resolution textures (especially for bushes) but this doesn’t really affect the gameplay because you won’t have time to admire the landscape.

To successfully win races there are a lot of factors to consider. During your career as a rally racer you will have to race on many surfaces, and the cars behave differently on each of them. Just to name a few, there’s gravel, tarmac, snow, each with many variations (light, medium, wet etc) making tire choice the most important thing when you setup your car.

The car setup is pretty intuitive and easy to learn, there are only several options you have to fiddle with like tires, suspension, brakes, gearbox and a few more. Having a good setup is crucial in championship mode. The weird physical interaction with objects in CMR 3 has mostly been fixed in CMR 04. The car no longer stops when hitting a small rock on the side of the road, but traffic signs are still indestructible.

CMR 04 Bonuses

There are some inspired extra features that enrich the game experience. In the championship mode, at the end of each rally you can choose to test a certain upgraded component like ceramic brakes, better tires, gearboxes and suspensions. The testing consists of different mini-races with various goals. If you achieve these goals you get to keep the upgraded component, and you’ll have better chances in the upcoming races.

There are also many unlockable cars. Some of them are extra racing cars from the 2WD and 4WD category while there are also mixed interesting bonus cars like a Ford Transit van for example. You can also unlock super cars from the legendary Group B and there is a Group B championship as well.

CMR 04 Conclusions

Colin McRae Rally 04, even if it has some minor deficiencies, is still one of the best racing simulators out there. Available for just $9.99, its definitely a must have for any racing fan.