Like its precursor, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 doesn't attempt to simulate the entire 2000 World Rally Championship or even all the stages of a single WRC event. In fact, the brevity of each rally stage makes it clear that these aren't accurate depictions of real courses, but rather fictional layouts designed to capture the spirit of the various locales. In all, you'll race on courses in eight countries (Greece, Finland, Australia, Kenya, France, Sweden, Italy, and the UK), with each rally consisting of nine or 10 stages that are considerably shorter than what you'd find in real life. This stands in stark contrast to the brutal realism of Mobil 1 Rally Championship--a stage in that game might be 15 minutes long, while in Colin McRae Rally 2.0 you'd be hard-pressed to find many that are longer than four minutes. It might not be authentic, but it does mean you'll be able to finish several rallies in one day.

More than 20 cars are available in the game, from manufactures like Ford, Lancia, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, MG, Cooper, Seat, Subaru, and Toyota. Many are unavailable until you unlock them, but it's basically a moot point because only experienced drivers will be able to get the most of the higher-end cars anyway. For instance, after whipping the Subaru Impreza around several courses, I tried my hand with the faster, newly unlocked Mitsubishi Lancer and found the higher top-end speed difficult to handle. Otherwise, both the engine sounds and dash displays are different for each car, and the modeling of inertia (the first-person perspective sways from side to side in turns) gives Colin McRae 2.0 one of the most convincing cockpit views to date in a racing game. The downside is the semitransparent windshield, which gives everything a slightly blurred appearance and knocks the frame rate down a bit to boot. Therefore, though the cockpit view looks great, most players will probably opt for the over-the-hood view, which provides a greater view distance and smoother performance.


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Posted By Da Beech
Last Updated on 07-04-08