Colin McRae Rally 2

List Price: $39.95 Discount Price: $10.98

Accessories:

PC Gamer (1-year)

Customer Reviews:

Game's Ok, setting it up ... bigtime, zero stars [Posted on 2003-01-30]
It seems as if the developers of this game have never heard of a mouse. It seems as if these guys still prefer to move thru a menu using arrows. In this day and age, setting up a game should not require scrolling thru a menu with arrows on a keyboard.

It would also be very nice if the developers would create a thorough helpfile. In searching for info on how to setup a force feedback steering wheel and brakes/accelerator setup, the manual says to search the CD's readme file. Except there's none there. The Windows Startup button/program reveals a 'help' file that is also useless. Website help files is also useless. These guys need to know how to thoroughly document a help file.

Manual is useless. CD's so called 'HELP' file is not there. Game's Help file is useless. These guys need a lesson on how to develop games for PCs.

So, the only way to play this game on a PC is to use the keyboard's arrow buttons. How quaint!! If you're thinking of using this on a PC with a force feedback steering wheel setup, avoid it at all cost.

Excruciating thrills for armchair rally champions [Posted on 2003-02-01]
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.

Disagree totally with gamer from NYC [Posted on 2003-02-12]
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!

No car racing game can touch this [Posted on 2003-03-10]
This is hands down the best racing game ever made for any platform. The way the car acts and drives is as close as it gets to real life. Im sick of those fake rally games made by people who have never driven a rally car nor been to a rally. What you see on tv doesnt compare to it in real life and this game gets you very close to real life. I cannot wait for the Third version to come out. This is the best racing game out, gran turismo doesnt even compare to the reality of driving. This game came out long ago and still is the number 1 game out there. Car reaction and game play should be all you need in this game and learning controls or worrying about using a keyboard instead of a mouse tells me your playing the game for the wrong reasons.

WOW [Posted on 2004-07-08]
This game is a brilliant game. If you like racing games you will love this. Even if your not a big fan of racing games you will love this game. The amount of tracks is truely amazing, even though there is a lot of them every single one of them is very good. The graphics are great, its very realistic. You will be stuck playing this game for hours on end. The only bad bit about it is when your not playing it your not very happy. It truely is amazing. A must Buy! :-)

Click here for more details and discount information...