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What a blast...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: May 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am very impressed with Colin McRae Rally. It provides an all around great gaming experience.

In the game itself, the tracks are widely varied in both their look and feel. If you have a force feedback controller you'll really appreciate the different surfaces. The cars have noticeable handling differences and setting them up for a particular surface/weather combination requires some work. The icing on the cake are the verbal calls from your navigator letting you know about the track up ahead.

As other reviews have mentioned, the damange model is very cool. You can hear and see the damaged parts of your car. Windows break, hoods crumple and bumpers drag on the ground. I've also noticed that if your electric system is damanged you'll occassionally find yourself driving along with a turn signal running. You might also see your headlights fail -- not fun on a night course.

That said, I was still looking for more out of the damange model. I regularly slam the passenger side of the car into a tree.. I was expecting my navigator to be "damanged" after some of those hits. :) Also, I was never able to get a car to completely break down. I don't know if there is a way to DNF in this game.

The 3 skill levels seem non-linear in difficulty. On the lowest level it is pretty easy to win the championship, but as soon as you jump to "intermediate" your competition gets substantially better and it is difficult to pull off top finishes.

One last gripe about the gameplay... when flip the car or go off the road you are immediately returned the road and continue the race. Even if you can't DNF, there should be some sort of large time penalty.

All in all a great game. The gameplay is a lot of fun and it will give your force feedback wheel quite a workout. I've even found the car control I learned in this game helped in other racing sims.

Definitely awesome!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: May 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The realism and the roar of the engine definitely made Rally McRae Rally 2 the best rally car game on PC. If I can give a 10 star for this game, I will give it to the realism of RMR 2. The turbo charge sound of an engine and the rock rolling under your car make it sooo real. I feel like I was driving the a real car. Some people might not like the idea of no back ground music during Rally mode...but for me...it is fine with me because it add a bit of realism for me. Arcade mode is definitely fun with your friends over the network. This game is defintiely an A++!!!!

A Very Good Example that PC Games Will Not Die!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

While playing the rally mode, which employs real world physical model for the cars, the hood of my red Mitsubishi Lancer IV began to bob up and down due to loosening from frequent crashes. This alone shows the unique, detailed portrayal on rallying by producers of this game.

In rally mode, - you do not experience this in the easier arcade mode - glasses crack and break, the lights smash and its parts fly when you hit obstacles, the cars overturn and tires scream. After a moment or two, you will begin to feel the adrenaline rush and the pain on your hand as you grab on to your controller, as you try in vain to avoid oversteer.

Graphics are visually stunning and highly accurate down to advertisements on the cars. I have a Pentium II 450 Mhz w/128MB, nVidia 16MB card and it runs quite smoothly with high detail - you don't see some low irritating candy-eyed bitmap graphics. However, people potrayed in the game are 2-D flat photos, and so are the trees. This and the lack of good background music are the only let down; all this has been sacrificed to make the game run smoothly as possible and let you hear your navigator talk to you.

Initially, you get to drive a Ford Focus, Puegot 406, Seat Cordoba, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Lancer, or a Subrau Imprezza. The number of tracks offered intially are limited; you have to gain the access to rest of the cars(I don't know what) and the circuits as you win through championship.

All this at under $30 is quite a bargain; if you love to smell tires screach, hear the rough exhaust node of 300 hp engines and the adrenaline rush the moment before your car crashes in to the woods, this is the game for you.

P.S. WHO DARE SAYS PC-BASED GAMES ARE DEAD!!!!

Excruciating thrills for armchair rally champions

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a fabulous game. If auto racing is something you're interested in, the price of Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is probably far below what the software is actually worth. At this time the most realistic form of racing is rally, in the sense that any Joe on the street can relate to the cars and courses. Although the cars are customized far beyond the norm, this is highway driving taken to its extreme. The speeds approach 100 mph on twisty and rough roads. Formula One computer games are pretty good and since Jacques Villeneuve learned to drive Spa on F1 for Pentiums, then raced in Belgium competitively by himself, you must admit the appeal is there, although the way an F1 car behaves is considerably different than what you see - or feel. Load Colin McRae's latest and you'll see why this is probably the best driving simulation available. I play mine with a basic ... Logitech steering wheel and so I can't speak for the forcefeedback models ..., but the experience was almost catatonic. There is a warning that people who suffer from epilepsy better watch out, and it is true: the realism shown onscreeen can put you in a trance.

About the game: you can play either single stages in any one of 4 countries (Finland, Greece, France and Sweden - and this is a pretty good spread of the driving conditions available) or go to championship mode and race against 15 others and hope to finish in the top 6 to move on to other rounds that open up for you such as Australia, Kenya, etc. My driving abilities stalled in Kenya where the muddy roads and serpentines made it impossible for me to finish lower than 9th - and that was in novice mode with automatic everything, no setup changes and invincible car (the computer sets you back on the road after very realistic and scary rollovers.) You will hear the gravel crunch as the car power-slides left and right trying to stay on the road. The trick, apparently, is to stay on the road and not carry too much speed around the bends. Out of the starting gate, the computer launches the car, but then you control it on your own. As you pass the yellow markers every so often and realize your speed has put you at the back of the field, you tend to overdrive and cut corners - and that's how you sideswipe trees and rocks or hit an evergreen head-on. On the "easier" tracks you'll get used to it and slow down a bit. In an environment such as Kenya, you definitely get frustrated when nothing seems to get you out of that last spot - or when you can't stay on the crown of the brown dried mud which feels like clay when you slide. Make sure you save the game before exiting so as not to have to recycle previous performances as you move along in the championship. Also, I may be imagining things, but my driving improved when steering the Subaru, rather than the Ford or Peugeot - presumably the Subaru is 4WD, but I'm not sure whether such technical differences are really built into the cars; I mean, the best car is the Peugeot, but I lost a lot of time with it in Greece, for instance.

As (or when) you get better, you start to experiment with tire choice, suspension setups, steering adjustments and, presumably, use the wheel paddles to change gears. How you manage to crawl your way through the championship in sixth place while doing all that a real driver would is what makes the difference between those who think they can drive alongside Marcus Gronholm and those who enter at Exit 30 and can just cut across three lanes of traffic at 75 mph before cutting back in order not to miss the Exit 31 on any American highway. The graphics are STUPENDOUS! Occasionally you will see the screen "drawing" ranges of trees ahead of you, but the road you're on is as real as they get. The co-driver's voice is there, as is the setting sun in Greece and Australia and falling snow on the windshield in Sweden.

One last thing: for the real banzai in you, there is an option for "arcade" which pits you against 5 other bouncing, trouncing drivers on several short circuits which you must win in 3 laps in order to qualify for another. The computer clearly generates all the others and you can win after enough practice and concentration - at the novice level.

I suppose the only thing that would not measure up to reality is the weight of the car - which in real life you feel and must take into account as you take a banked curve at 75 mph, especially when it's raining. But that aside, I really don't know what else can beat this game. I would be willing to bet that when version 3.0 comes out, it will be virtually undistinguishable from reality.

Colin McRae Rally 2.0 - PERFECT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is by far the finest video game I have played. Coupled with my 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor and 64MB NVIDIA GeForce 4Ti 4200 video card, the graphics are amazing using 1280 x 1024 resolution and setting the games detail option to "High".

I am a software programmer. Seldom do I find an application that, in my opinion, does not have room for significant improvement - this game has it all. Graphics, game play, and the inclusion of an arcade mode, Codemasters has done an outstanding job. Using a 19" digital, flat panel monitor and SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel makes for the most remarkably realistic, exhilarating, and ultra fast-paced driving experience. The tracks are breathtaking. Driving control, game options, and menus are perfect. Great job Codemasters!

Great Arcade Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Typically, when I view Rally races on TV, it's all about the single lane dirt paths (I hesitate to call them tracks), tight turns, and dense foliage. CMR2 has wider paths and friendlier tracks than I've seen on TV. Don't get me wrong, the combination of the physics (don't roll your car in a corner!), sense of speed, and the animation of the car & the suspension as it traverses an undulating track, this is a must buy. Much like the first, the experience gets better and better the more you play, which says a lot considering the rush you get playing it for the first time. I've read there's other games that capture more of the "simulation" part of Rallying, but if you're just a fan of racing and you'd love go to sliding around gravel corners at 70 MPH, pick this game up.

Wow!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The best rally game ever, Colin McRae Rally, has just been beaten. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is remarkable in its realistic driving conditions, scenery, road conditions, weather, AI, car damage....the list goes on and on. It's unbelievable how much realism they put in this game and how well it runs on minimal requirements. I have a Voodoo2 and a 300 mhz Pentium II, which doesn't really meet the playing requirements of most modern games, but CMR2 runs almost perfectly on my machine. I'm going to upgrade to a Voodoo5 just to make this game even better!

Codemasters has really figured out how to make the best racing games. I wish EA would learn a few things from them.

Great handling

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When it comes to driving games it's all about the handling, CMR2 is one of the best driving games in that category.

The graphics and sound are quite nice, but what make this game stand out is the implementation of forcefeedback. If you have a forcefeedback wheel then this game is a must have.

You really have to be a big rally fan though, as driving alone for hours and hours can be a bit boring. You need some companionship to bump into :-)

Unfortunately there are a few hickups. One being the occasional studdering when using forcefeedback. Codemasters have aknowleged this as a bug, but they can't seem to fix it. The other small turndown is when playing multiplayer you can't hit your opponent, as he drives in ghost mode.

The BEST!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is simply MAGIC. Don't bother getting anything else,get this. The Graphics will blow you away. also, many cheat codes are available for this game. simply put, this is the best rally game for the PC EVER. Who says PC gaming is dead?

Disagree totally with gamer from NYC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game works great with a force feedback wheel. The setup is very intuitive, you don't really need to read anything. Just set it up man and go! My 14 yr old son had no trouble getting this up and running within minutes. Buy this without fear and enjoy!

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