Easily my Game of the Year but there is something missing (updated review)
Let's start with the pros (compared with the others):
1. No combined pedals (Milestone/Blackbean are you there?)
2. The game is playable straight from the box (Atari/Eden are you there?)
3. Its graphics are optimised, the framerate is great even with most of the settings in high levels. And you don't have to pay a s**tload of money for a graphics card (EA/Slightly Mad are you there?)
In detail:
Visuals (Score 10/10)
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If you are familiar with Codemasters games you will probably know both the kind of quality and optimization in their games (honestly, I am not an employee of them and I wish more companies paid the same attention in their games).
Controls (Score 9/10)
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This game should be played with a wheel (otherwise it's no different than any arcade racer like Super-Mario Kart ;-) )
and with all of the assists turned OFF (yes even ABS and stability control...). This is the only way to appreciate it. The Force feedback should be also set in lower levels (50%,50%,70%) in order to get a different reaction from the wheel and not a constant rumbling. The only issue with the controls is that if you are using the keyboard during the initial screens of the game YOU WILL LOOSE the wheel settings... (this is a bug and needs a fix of course). And there is a reasonable variety of preconfigured and recognisable controllers for this game.
Physics-Handling (Score 8/10)
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The above settings will definitely give you a great experience. Of course this game IS NOT Richard Burns Rally but let's face it guys (and gals) there will be no RBR in the future. Honestly. *** Update. And for the love of god don't use the flashbacks. There are none in real life. If you get off the road, just replay the stage***
Cars (Score 9/10)
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Very nice models and some of these cars are real legends. Plus there are already some fan-created liveries available to replace the in-game ones. And more are coming... But the fact that some of the cars are hidden/locked in the original disc is annoying.
Savegames - Games for Windows Live (Score 0/10)
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What the hell is that? Suddenly I 've lost my savegames after I had 131 races and 850km of racing. Codemasters THIS IS BAD.
Gaming modes-stages (Score 7/10)
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Now that I have played more, I have some complaints. It's ok with the four seasons and their various events. It's ok with Gymkhana. They are there, to please the mass market. But all I wanted was rallying. So the "fifth" season was what i was interested in. But there are rallies with 5 stages only (and too short in length and duration) and actually NO CHAMPIONSHIP. Just single events not linked together. I hope there will be a championship DLC with the ability to save progress in between and of course some kind of service area (just combine 4 rallies and nominate a winner, it's SO EASY CODEMASTERS...)