"A good effort but....."

I'm a mad rally fan so I was waiting for this game in great anticipation. The Colin McRae series for the PS1 got me hooked so when I heard that an official WRC game was coming out for the PS2, it got me quite excited. I bought the game the day it came out and found that the game had some good and bad points.

*Presentation - as it's the official WRC game for the PS2, it was presented as the actual TV show would (in Australia, shown on Channel 10) with videos and commentary on each round. Easy to navigate menus are good but nothing special. Loading times and lack of rewards (ie. no new cars to unlock) are a weakness.

*Graphics - definitely a highlight of the game. Top notch graphics which included both immediately noticable (ie. foreground scenery, the cars themselves, roads, fences) to some that I tended to notice later (eg. mountains and background graphics). Also, faces on the drivers are distinctive most of the time. For example, Alister McRae and Richard Burns are almost lifelike but Petter Solberg isn't. Co-drivers, to me, looks like just a generic face though. Dust/dirt/snow build-up on cars as you go through stages also look realistic. The only downslide is that there are no watersplashes during the game.

*Gameplay - in my opinion, a weakness. I've been spoilt with the superior controlling in the Colin McRae series. However, I have read posts on forums of people that think that the controls of WRC are much better than Colin. I guess this topic is subjective. The developers tried to simply the control to appeal to the mass market (ie. not make it too difficult) but they over did it and made it too simple. Damage model is also almost non-existent as you'd have to crash your car pretty badly to sustain any sort of damage that will affect your driving. Clipping banks and fences will give your car cosmetic damage (missing headlight, torn bumpers) but not affect your car's driving capabilities in any way.

*Sound - car noises are, as with graphics, a definite strength of the game. All car noises are actual recordings from the real thing so if you play in exterior (out of car) view, you'll hear a different sounds as if playing with the view inside the car (as the case in real life). Navigator voice is also of real life navigators but the actual directions that they give are a let down. For example, on a stage in Cyprus, the call for a sharp corner was given when I was already braking for it. In real life, the navigator would call well before the corner, giving the driver ample time to judge the corner and negotiate it accordingly.

*Lasting appeal - not a strength but at the same time not a weakness. I personally challenge myself to improve times by taking different angles through certain corners and braking/accelerating at different sections of a corner but I doubt most people would go that far in the game. Racing against other drivers is far too easy! If you've played Colin McRae 2 on PS1 and won on ''Expert'' mode, don't expect ''Professional'' setting on WRC to be a challenge at all. If you want a challenge, try to beat Richard Burns on Professional mode in Rally of Great Britain. This seems to be the only challenge you'll get in the game against the console. Two-player mode is a highlight as you get to race with someone else head-to-head on super stages (real-life spectator stages where two cars are on the track at the same time).

Overall, I was disappointed with the game but impressed at the same time. Disappointed as I had read an interview in a magazine with the developer of the game saying that ''we were suprised that the Colin McRae series did so well because we thought we could done a much better job''. In my opinion, in comparing Colin McRae 2 and WRC, CM2 still rules. But I was impressed with the graphics, sound and just having the ability to ''drive'' real-life cars and race against actual drivers. Being a WRC fan, it's a definite buy for me! But other not-so enthusiastic gamers might be bitterly disappointed (as I've read in other place). Good effort by Evolution Studios but could be improved.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/02, Updated 08/13/02