Colin McRae Rally 3

George Soropos and Colin McRae have a ‘minor disagreement’ in the mud.

‘I am afraid that the only multiplayer option is split screen. There are no network or Internet options, sorry.’ Codemasters Customer Service, Codemasters CMR3 Forum
It’s an unusual way to begin a review, but it perfectly sums up most of what’s wrong with not only the Colin McRae Rally 3 game on PC, but also the attitude behind its release.

The last installment of the McRae series was mostly accepted by the PC community, but not without a few gripes, and it was hoped Codemasters would learn from the experience. Sadly Colin McRae on PC is a game designed from an accountant’s office, not a developer’s, and the only thing accountants learn from experience is how to screw people even harder.

There are a few problems with the actual conception of the game, but before we go there let’s look at the problems associated with its console nature. If you use a Microsoft or Logitech wheel you’ll probably find the pedals won’t calibrate correctly or register as y-axis controllers, putting you in a situation where you can have a brake or accelerator, but not both! The CMR3 code also overrides Microsoft’s controller setup software and disables settings such as the auto-return feature. Which is nice. Audio scratching and dropouts are not uncommon either, particularly with Fortissimo cards. There also seem to be some missing crash effects -- either that or your car is made of Nerf.

The marketing screenshots for Colin McRae 3 look amazing but are unfortunately just bum fluff. This is a game written for a 24MB PS2 so the scope of the landscape and scenery is very limited. Sure the actual cars look great, but as this is a rally game you don’t actually see them (except in the marketing screenshots of course) and while the recommended requirements for the game state 512MB RAM, its extremely difficult to understand why this is so as the roadside graphics are just painted curtains, the spectators cardboard dolls and the horizon a dodgy backdrop.

The absolute worst thing about the port-like nature of this game is that Codemasters hasn’t seen fit to add any online support. For many, online racing is the only kind there is.

For a decision like this to be made at a time when more people are gaming online than ever, one has to believe Codemasters didn’t want to spend the money paying anyone to do it. PC gamers have given a lot to Codemasters in the past and now that Codemasters has a chance to give in return it has said ‘nah, we have the expensive tastes of our trophy wives to consider.’ It made the effort for CMR2, which many still play -- quite a few now-disappointed people who were looking forward to CMR3. The truth is, now that the PS2 and Xbox are out there in numbers, developers like Codemasters are seeing the PC as an albatross around their necks that needs to be tolerated but not truly supported.

Are there too many PC configurations for developers to test economically? Nonsense: with only two grahpics chipsets (GeForce and RADEON) three or four audio chipsets and DX 9, PC developers have never had it so easy! Codemasters, you have no excuse.

And speaking of the inexcusable, Codemasters has adopted the practise of locking features away unless gamers pay. All new Codemasters titles try and double-dip into your pockets by making you phone the UK and pay an extra US$5 (on top of whatever it costs to call!) for an unlocking code to get at the extras. As Derryn Hinch used to say: shame, shame, shame!  

Aside from those significant issues, there are unfortunately also problems with the overall conception of the game. There are only two modes of play, Championship and Stage.

Championship mode recreates the whole race weekend in depth and would have been quite good if it weren’t for the fact you can only play as Colin, and therefore only use the Ford Focus (McRae actually drives for Citroen now) This mode is where you ‘unlock’ cars and tracks to play in the Stage mode. Without online play though the mode is quite boring and Colin McRae’s replay value is consequently very limited.

It really is sad when you have to say a game like this has no competition on the PC, but it’s true. Colin McRae 3’s cars are nice to drive and if you’re after a bit of casual single player fun it’s quite capable if you can sort out the controller problems. However, if top notch online racing is what you’re after take a look at Live For Speed (www.liveforspeed.com) Gaze upon it and be ashamed Codemasters. It isn’t rally but here is a racer developed by two (count them, two -- that’s two) guys that make your game look lame and stupid. Colin McRae Rally 3: Codemasters worst PC game ever.