The most famous rally game series of all returns with a shiny new 2005 version, so is it a bling bling Pimp My Ride job or a quick coat of paint and a Halford’s spoiler?
Well let’s get this out straight away; CMR 2005 is bigger, better, faster, prettier, smoother and more enjoyable than ever before, with more trees, grass, cars and more stages (over 300). I seem to remember reading somewhere that the new game is 30% faster, and when you play ‘04 and then hop straight into this game the difference is extremely apparent - WRC cars feel really fast, Group B cars like the Audi Quattro S1 and the Ford RS200 feel like rocket ships. The cars have more traction, better acceleration and a weightier feel, giving them a more realistic ‘pendulum effect’, making spin outs more common (they hardly ever happened in ’04) and allowing for more satisfying and believable power slides and handbrake turns than ever before. See the two games running side by side and the relationship is obvious, but we’re talking homely sister/hot sister here – new lighting, shadows and damage effects, larger animated spectator crowds that cheer you on through the stages and more realistic camera positioning, focusing and movement makes the settings look better than ever – you will want to watch yourself drive these stages whether you did well or not - And despite being a multiformat title, the game even gets close to the gorgeous Rallisport Challenge 2 at times in terms of “wow” eye candy moments.
And if Rallisport 2 is the perfect arcade rally game, and the painful Richard Burns Rally is the ‘sim’ benchmark, then CMR 2005 seems to be positioning itself cleverly in the middle of the road and muscling the other two out of the way. Rally fans have never had it so good, with a car list that includes 34 of the best cars both from this year’s WRC (although not in their official colours) and some favourites and classics from years gone by.
Class: 4WD
Subaru Impreza WRX, Ford Focus Rally Car, Citroen Xsara Rally Car, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, Peugeot 206 Rally Car, Volkswagen Golf R32, Audi A3 Quattro.
Class: 2WD
MG ZR, Citroen Saxo Kit Car, Volkswagen Polo Super 1600, Toyota Celica GT-S, Ford Fiesta Rallye Concept.
Class: Group B
Audi Sport Quattro S1, MG 6R4, Peugeot 205 T16 Evo2, Ford RS200.
Class: RWD
Lancia Stratos, Lancia 037, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV.
Class: Super 2WD
Alfa Romeo 147 GTA, Renault Sport Clio V6, Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Class: 4x4 Offroad
Land Rover Freelander M-sport, Mitsubishi Shogun Montero Evolution II, Nissan Pickup - Dakar 2004 (Colin’s drive in the Dakar rally this year).
Class: Special
Volkswagen Beetle RSi,, Ford Escort Mk1, MGC Sebring Special, 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S.
Class: Classic
Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST185), Subaru Impreza 22B STi.
It’s a cool list by anyone’s standards, and when you realize that you can scratch, dent, smash or rip off virtually every single bit of these cars, and that each vehicle has its own individual damage model it’s even more impressive. New damage modelling looks even more realistic, light scrapes show the paintwork scratched down to the metal (or fibreglass depending on the car), and more detailed and varied damage is evident on every vehicle. You can still puncture tyres if you’re too brutal or pick the wrong type, and new dust and dirt effects look incredibly realistic; no longer does the car get a uniform “muck” effect but “dirties” up in an entirely more believable way, with most of the mud/dust gathering around the wheel arches and the rear of the car – and if I’m not mistaken the wheels even steam after going through a water splash.
To give you somewhere to try out all these motors, 2005 also allows you to drive any (unlocked) stage at various times of day in any weather. The new lighting means that a stage raced in morning sunshine can look completely unrecognisable if raced in afternoon rain – testament to the quality methinks. Although there’s still no dynamic weather, the rain seems to vary in strength more now, and you have to see the new, heavier rain effect to believe it – and bring your wellies, Greece in heavy rain is like hell on Earth.
Options-wise you can choose from the oddly-named ‘Challenges’ (time trials over a single stages or entire rally), Multiplay (1 -4 players), or system link games. Championship is for 1 or 2 players and the all-new Career mode that kind of apes RC2’s, with a forking path through 23 individual rally events that give you a real feeling of progression as you unlock new cars, events and tune-up possibilities along the way. It’s more linear than RC2’s but still a cool idea. Championship and Career mode have Normal or Advanced difficulty settings, the former will allow for plenty of mistakes and a casual approach, whilst the latter will challenge even McRae veterans and require you to pay good attention to Nicky Grist’s pace notes. The Testing sections return, and have you putting all the vehicles through their paces to unlock improved engine power, gearbox response, better suspension parts etc. Nine international locations give us events in UK, Sweden, USA, Finland, Australia, Spain, Greece, Japan and the new German rally, each with 8 stages. No stages have been re-used, but as with previous games you’ll recognise locations and run partial sections of old stages, or maybe in reverse – it gives the series a wonderful feeling of continuity and makes the locations seem more real.
For the first time a McRae game gets full Xbox Live support, no Rallycross circuits here, it’s all hardcore special stage racing against up to 7 opponents’ simultaneously. The online racing allows you to either have full voice communications with your opponents, or alternatively the reassuring pace notes called by your co-driver. Your opponent cars aren’t solid but different coloured ghosts, and it works surprisingly well – I think rallying is a solo or turn-based experience, but I really enjoyed the Xbox Live racing, more so than RC2 arcadey door-banging sessions.
Other new additions are a new, more distant chase cam that’s ‘looser’ and let’s you see more of the side of the car and the return of the popular bonnet cam. A new on-screen damage gauge that shows what parts are errm… damaged or worn and how badly – who needs it? – The drops in handling and performance of the car should be enough of an indicator (or you can see what’s falling off if you use the chase cam), so what do you need a damage gauge for? There’s also a new ‘dazed’ effect when you hit something – I don’t like it, it reminds me of being tear gassed in Rainbow Six and it’s stupid (and it doesn’t always work either). There’s also a new ‘Fast Steer’ button to help you get quicker steering response – presumably this is for the weirdo stick-in-the-muds out there that eschew the analog stick and use the D-Pad for steering, so I can’t really see the point of that either (these diehards are presumably scared of aeroplanes and telephones as well, so why encourage them?). So these three new additions are all a waste of time as far as I’m concerned – Codies, if you want to fanny around with twiddly bits and give us something new, how about making it useful - like a rear view, or the ability to turn the windscreen wipers on when WE want them?
Okay, now some bad bits. While they were adding these new bits some muppet also decided to mess with CMR 3 & 04’s in-car view - what was in most people’s opinion the best driver’s eye view EVER! Now the positioning of the view is much the same, but for some reason the driver’s hands have disappeared, making it look less realistic as the wheel turns seemingly by telekinetic power – why mess with something so good? The physics still lack subtlety and don’t convince like the other top driving games – despite feeling lovely and believable to drive, when you watch replays the cars still seem to “glide” (and this is the COMPLETE opposite of Richard Burns Rally, in which the cars felt like damaged hovercraft to drive, but looked good in replays), and the response of the car's suspension to some slopes or rocks in the road is unrealistic and jerky (to say the least). Another couple of things on the visual front; there's a bit of pop-up that I don't remember being in last year's game, and what the heck happened to the water? The nice, rippling stuff from '04 seems to have turned into a solidified sea of poo in places - surely the sewage treatment regulations in Finland and Japan (amongst others) can’t have lapsed so quickly?
The game also seems to have developed an overly fussy and seemingly random “reset” system (which may or may not have something to do with the Xbox Live functionality); sometimes you’ll be able to take decent shortcuts - nicely, going off-track doesn’t slow you down as much as before, which makes corner cutting much more profitable (if risky) - another time you’ll get reset even if you weren’t actually taking a shortcut, and sometimes you’ll zoom off the track, go down an embankment and curse as you have trouble getting back on, wasting valuable seconds whilst you cry out loud for Rallisport Challenge 2’s reset button.
Back on the good side of the track, CMR’s slick minimalist presentation, selection and menu screens are all as tight as ever (tuning/repairing your car is as easy, quick and rewarding too - having the right tyres/gear ratio/suspension setup really makes a difference), and there are smart car selection screens that allow you to rotate and examine the cars. During a rally the service area shows the car on a tarpaulin with all the tools laid out around it, you can see the bodywork repairs, the wheel changes or suspension height adjustments - nice.
The sizeable career mode and decent selection of multiplayer options (including Xbox Live support) mean 2005 will have more staying power than any McRae before it. The improved speed of the game and more beautifully designed stages (many have narrower, truly demanding technical sections) means far from being the “Colin McRae 3.2” that a lot of people were expecting, the game really flies. The cars are without a doubt the stars, never mind GT4, PGR2, Rallisport Challenge 2, Toca Race Driver 2, Forza, we've seen and played them all, and you won’t see more detailed cars this generation. Despite not being the “all new” game we might have hoped for (it was developed in 9 months for goodness’ sake), having a few niggles, and a few new rivals appearing, the question you have to ask yourself is: is there a better rally game around than Colin McRae Rally 2005? – and the firm answer is: nope.
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