Colin McRae Rally 3

Published by Codemasters
Developed by Codemasters
Platform: XBOX
Price £44.99
Released: Out Now

With the already excellent RalliSport Challenge available for the XBOX, Colin McRae Rally 3 was always going to have to be very impressive indeed. Thankfully it is very impressive but although they both are rally games they are entirely separate kinds of game. RalliSport Challenge offers the gamer four distinct modes of racing fun whereas Colin McRae Rally 3 is a wonderful recreation of rally season with no time for alternate modes. For gamers who want a realistic rally simulation for your XBOX, this game is for you.

Usually when we are describing the contents of a new game, particularly a sequel, there is usually a whole list of features to mention. With Colin McRae 3 however, the whole thing has been streamlined. There is no arcade mode, in which you raced wheel-to-wheel against other AI opposition, which is a shame, this time around. The only modes you can select are Stages, which lets you either, take part in a time trial single player or two player race (which can be played as a split screen or alternate mode) on a stage and country of your choice (although initially you'll only have access to the first stage of each country) and Championship. The heart of the game is undoubtedly the Championship mode.

Championship mode puts you in the shoes of Colin himself, no, literally it does because you can't choose to set yourself up as an individual. For those who have played previous CM Rally titles you'll notice some key differences here too. First of all the whole proceedings have been given a more professional edge. It won't be game over if you fail to make the top places after a few rallies. You don't get the chance to decide what repairs are made to your vehicles when you come to service stages in a rally. Some gamers may be upset by this but I suppose in real life Colin is a driver not the works mechanic. You still get to set the car up as you like though but be warned if you decide to tinker, the effects of wrongly setting the car up, something I have been known to do, are more pronounced than in virtually any other rally game I've played. Each rally you participate in has six stages and a super special stage in which you go head to head with another driver. This super special stage offers a great way to finish off a rally and it is good to be able to race wheel-to-wheel as opposed to point-to-point for a change.

Of course, the visuals were always going to be a significant leap from the last CM Rally game and they do not disappoint. The textures and detail in the cars and environments (and environmental effects too such as rain) are fantastic and actually seem a fraction more impressive than those in the PlayStation 2 version. The damage model is also impressive. It looks very impressive indeed when parts of your car fly off as a result of a bang, it doesn't give you much confidence but looks great. The framerate is excellent too and there doesn't appear to be any slowdown at all. Unlike the PlayStation 2 version of CM Rally 3 there is no pop-up in the normal stages. In the super special stages however the pop-up is still there, it's not a problem though.

Of course you can probably guess that the co-drivers comments are not subtitled. The visual pace notes are colour coded though to highlight the severity of the turns which is very useful. A white background indicates a fairly safe turn whilst a red background indicates a right pig of turn. All other information is shown visually though and the game is absolutely fine for deaf gamers.

If you own both the PlayStation and XBOX then you'll have to decide which one to opt for. Personally I think the XBOX version just has the edge in terms of slightly better textures and zero pop-up in the normal stages. Both modes have a widescreen option too. Of course a lot of people who own both will probably make there choice depending on what controller they prefer. I reviewed the XBOX version using a Controller S and for me it was better that the Dualshock 2 because I prefer the triggers for accelerating and breaking and the Controller S has the traditional layout of the primary buttons. If you only have the original XBOX controller though you may opt for the PlayStation 2 version. In all honesty, there is not much to choose between the two and both are excellent.

Colin McRae Rally 3 sees the series become a serious simulation and yet it still retains it's excellent gameplay. Some people might be upset at the withdrawal of the arcade mode and the ability to decide what parts of the car are repaired etc. but at the end of the day Colin McRae Rally 3 sees the series becoming more realistic and these features shouldn't really feature in such a game.

Overall Game Rating: 9.4/10 Colin McRae Rally 3 is the state of the art for the console rally driving genre.

Deaf Gamers comment: No problems for deaf gamers.