Barely a year goes by before sequels appear for games nowardays, and the brilliant CMR series returns to Xbox with all the minor improvements and enhancements Giggz could wish for. Once upon a time – well, last year – all wasn’t well for Xbox. For months, Old Mr Microsoft had been slaving away in his workshop, making game upon game for his Xbox console, each more wonderful than the last. But still, the good folk of Gameland didn’t buy his produce. They didn’t know these games, they didn’t care, and every day, Old Mr Microsoft trudged away from market empty handed. “If only I had something people knew was good, then perhaps they’d buy my console as well” he murmured to himself as he turned in for the night, ignoring the empty feeling in his stomach that his evening’s gruel had failed to fill. Then as he trudged down to the workshop for another days hard graft, the Codemasters fairy had been and left a large number of Colin McRae Rally 3 games for Xbox. Old Mr Microsoft’s dreams had been answered, and as he merrily skipped down to market that day, he knew everything was going to be alright. Really, you couldn’t have asked for more perfect timing for McRae 3, but was it gaming perfection? Well, not really. Make no mistake, it may have been the best Xbox rally game at the time, but with handling ever so slightly on the wrong side of the arcade/simulation divide, a rather limited amount of game modes and the small fact that the main game mode required driving McRae’s Ford Focus for a full three seasons before other cars could be driven meant Codie’s debut for their multimillion selling Xbox license just fell short of true triple A status. Cue nine months of nipping, tweaking, adding and refinement to give us the fourth outing of the series, and the improvements are plain to see. The gameplay sees the biggest improvement of all. One of the main criticisms levelled at CMR3 was the way the game was more arcade-y in its handling than comparable rally sims. In a bid to overcome this, Codemasters have switched off the artificial driver aids, and by and large, it’s worked. While those looking for the Crammond’s Grand Prix of rally sims are in for a disappointment, there’s no doubt that the game is a big step forward in realism over the predecessor. Gone are the artificial driver aids that made the cars feel like Scalextric machines, instead, now the cars feel like proper cars, responding accurately to the individual undulations and varying surfaces of the road. Keeping the improvements coming thick and fast, the vehicular variety is second to none. With Citroen’s marketing department being somewhat less demanding than Ford’s, players can now drive any vehicle they want to from the more sizeable selection on offer, including the current machines dominating the World Rally Championship (such as the Peugeot 206, Ford Focus, Subaru Impreza and McRae’s current real life ride, the Citroen Xsara) to Super 1600 Junior rally cars like the MG ZS and Ford Puma to classic machines, including the now banned Group B cars. These aren’t merely chucked into a mishmash of a single championship, but instead are broken up into individual championships for each class, extending the lifespan of the game considerably. Likewise, the wealth of individual locations is second to none. Each rally, from the winding tarmac paths along Japan’s rain swept hills through America’s sweeping dusty through Britain’s muddy woodland passages and Sweden’s arctic wastelands, has its own individual challenge and style. Taking this into account is essential at all levels. Set up your car wrong, don’t listen to instructions and you’ll find yourself losing time through wrong turns and time sapping damage to your car. But it’s not only the noticeable touches that make McRae 4 the game it is, it’s the little things as well. After each rally in a championship, players can participate in testing new parts for their car, testing a given part to destruction in a given time or using throttle control to test an engine part, and once the championships are done and dusted, players can enjoy constructing their own rallies from the stages that are on offer, or participating in specialist themed rallies (such as the best tarmac stages, best hill jump stages, etc) made up from the stages in the game. Even the visuals are treated likewise, with such niceties as trees and grass swaying in the wind in forest sections or dust blowing across the dusty Greek stages giving some life to the impressively detailed, rock solid visuals. The perfect rally sim, then? Well, nearly. There’s no doubting CMR4 is the game CMR3 should have been – the only problem is, it doesn’t feel anything more than that; a case of catch up rather than actually pushing the series onto a new level. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool rally fan, this is unlikely to affect your decision to purchase (indeed, with the tweaked handling and other revisions, you’ll probably love it), but if you’re not, will a rally game with a lack of full Xbox Live support and generally updated main features be enough to draw £40 out of your pocket? With a host of other new racing games in the pipeline, not the least of them Rallisport Challenge 2 (complete with promise of full online play though Xbox Live), those unsure may wish to give McRae 4 some careful consideration.
Gameplay - Not much has changed since the last Colin McRae game. The car handling has been tuned up a bit, but otherwise it's very similar. The rally stages have been laid out very nicely to ensure the best rally experie... Read Full Review
When I saw the price this game was going for, I thought maybe codemasters had cut back on this one. I was wrong. This is definately no less a game then it's predecessor, in fact it's better. All the expected improvements... Read Full Review
