Ik heb een review van Colin McRea Rally 4 gemaakt. Het is wederom in het Engels. Hier is de bron
http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~hg/forum/view...pic.php?t=65187 . AUB geen commentaar dat ik het gestolen heb of zo.
marco
Introduction
I could not believe my eyes when I read that Codemasters was bound to release version 4 in their Colin McRea Rally race series. This means two CMR games in one year. “If it’s the same crap as version 3…. How dare they!!!”, I thought.
I bought CMR3 on te day it was released. Immediately I was disappointed with the central pivotting physics. It was such a mess to look at. I prefer the chase view in rally games because I love to look at the sliding cars. But even the cockpit view in CMR3 kept telling me that there is a vertical rod pinned through the roof and coming out of the bottom of the car. Awfull.
Codemasters also thought it was a good idea too let you play as Colin McRea and only him. Bad idea. In the end you could only drive the Ford Focus in championship mode. There were other cars in the game, but only to do some time trialing. Boring.
Soon after CMR3, the beautifull WRC2 from Evolution Studios came out. I really thought that Codemasters had lost the Rally crown to them. This game was soo much better than CMR3. But soon I discovered a bug in the the steering code of WRC2: the wheel motion was not directly linked to the movement of the analogue stick. The wheels would allways move to the maximum steering angle. The only thing you controlled with the analogue stick was the speed of turning the wheels to the maximum steering angle. I found that frustrating enough to give up on WRC2 and sold it. I understand form Gek54 that this bug has been fixed in the Asian NTSC version.
Colin McRea 04
The first things I saw where some screenshots. I was not impressed. It looked exactly the same as CMR3. Codemasters stated that they had rebuilt the physics engine to get rid of the loly pop physics model. I doubted that they could even do that. As time progressed new screenshots and movies appetized me. Luckily they got rid of the Colin McRea story line. Good thing!
Game structure
CMR04 offers you the usual options you’ll find in any racing game. You can drive single stages, rallys, custom rallys, championships. There are stages in eight different countries with a total of 52.
There are four different car classes:
1. 4wd: Subaru Impreza, Ford Focus, Peugot 206, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, Citroën Xsara
2. 2wd: MG ZR, Ford Puma, Fiat, VW Golf, Citroën Saxo
3. Group B: Audi Quatro, Peugot 206, Lancia 037, Ford RS200
4. Bonus: MGC GTS, Citroën 2CV, Lancia Delta, Mitsubishi Pajero, Ford Transit van, Subaru Impreza 22B, Ford Escort 1600.
Some cars are directly available, while others have to be unlocked. You can buy the unlock codes from Codemasters. It costs around E 4,50. As the game costs E 59,- (most new ps2 release are E 65,-) I thought it would be good spent money on the codes. I know I should unlock them myselvf for keeping the life of the game longer. Due to work and other hobbies I just don’t have the time to be that good in order to unlock all cars. Besides that I was really curious after the Group B and bonus cars.
CMR04 has some mini games. They are there to let you win enhanced parts for your car. I have yet to win one of them. They are really hard. For example, you must test new shock absorbers by running a SS in Finland. During the test you must compress the absorbers to their maximum level and still finish within the time limit. I fail at either one of them. Another minigame is the rollertest bank to test new gearings. Fun to do, but extremely hard to beat.
The physics
Now this is the interesting part of any racing game. Does it feel as if you’re in a real rally car? No, it doesn’t, or at least I think it doesn’t (I never drove a real rally car).
Codemasters have tried to remove the pivotting pin point physics, but… they did not succeed in removing them totally. Now I know that lots of you will not tollerate this. At first I was a bit disappointed by this too. But after putting some miles on the cars, I actually am quite happy with the way Codemasters defined the physics model.
A major change with respect to previous CMR games is the weight of the car. It feels much heavier now. Which of course is a good thing. You cannot save the car in the latest second anymore. You must pick the right lines or else you can shake hands with trees and rocks.
The difference between the 4wd and Fwd and Rwd are noticable. I find the Rwd cars especially entertaining as they allow for some serious power oversteering.
The Fwd cars are fun to drive. You must anticipate on the characteristics of the natural understeering. Together with the handbrake these cars can be a lot of fun in twisty stages.
The 4wd are the easiest to handle. No surprises here. Although the high powered group B cars can be a handfull to drive. I did have some moments with the Peugot 205 in the Great Brittain woods.
The cars react in a believable way on the different surfaces. On tarmac there’s loads of grip upto a certain point. You can feel the difference between the surfaces. For example, if you try to cut corners and enter a grass section, you will be slowed down. Most of the time cutting corners can be done. But beware, the level designers have placed obstacles at strategic places. The codriver warns you, so listen to him.
Another improvement is the use of the handbrake. In CMR3 you were sliding all of the place without even using the handbrake. Thinking of it made only worse. Now in 04 they have made the reaction far less pronounced. I think this way it is more realistic yet fun to play with.
The tracks
The tracks in CMR04 are a mixture of the previous Colin games and some new ones. The tracks miss the greatness of the ones in WRC2. They are approcimately 4 minutes long. Most of them have enough variation to keep you focussed. But there is one track in the USA or Australia that is for more than the half of the stage 5th or 6th gear. Boring.
On another Ausie track there is this giant rock on the road in the middle of the woods. Well…. I did not visit Australia yet, but this seems verry unnatural to me. I guess it has to do with making the tracks technically interesting.
I particularly like the UK stages. They vary from tight and twisty tarmac roads to labyrinth like roads through the woods.
The graphics
CMR04 is based on CMR3 with some extras. Added are waving grass (ala Soldier of Fortune 2). Funny thing is that when you start driving the gras stops waving. Must be the limit of the games engine. On many stages the sun is very nice to look at. In Sweden 1 the sun glares over the icy roads ala Ralli Sport Challenge.
The attention to detail in the cars is extensive too. The engine in the Lancia 037 rocks and shudders in the engine bay when you floor or feather the throttle. Excellent stuff. But also the cars with hidden engines do move. I noticed this when I watched a replay with my bonnetless Impreza. Even the legs of the driver move when you floor the pedal.
The damage modelling is the best you will find in business. Lots of parts can break of your car depending on the damage level you select. I’d go for the maximum damage level. You must be really carefull not to totallize the car. At one point I lost a wheel on the top of a hill. I raced down the hill on three wheels. When I stopped the fourth wheel came running down the hill a few sseconds later. The damage has a lot of influence on the dynamics of the car.
There are 3 views to choose from: bumper, in-car and chase. I allways try the in-car view first. It is quite good, but still I get the feeling that I don’t see as much as I would do in a real car. Besides that the graphics of the dash are a bit low res. The chase view is my best pick as it lets you see the reactions of the car on your and the worlds input. Besides that I just love looking at the cars.
In CMR3 the replay camera most of the time missed the car. This has been fixed. Now the replays are fun to watch. Pitty Codemasters did not add adjustable camera positions like in WRC2. No biggie though
Sounds
In my memories Codemasters have never failed to give a excellent aurial experience. All the sounds of the engine, turbo wisthles, pop of valves, wining of the gears, skidding undergrounds and scratching tree branches are all there.
The chase view gives the best sounds. The in-car view muffles the sounds. This may be realistic, but I opt for the hard sounds of the exhaust.
You can choose between Derek Ringer or Nicky Grist as you codriver. Except if you choose to drive the Xsara, then you are allways accompanied by Derek. After three CMR games I am used to hear Nicky’s sharp voice. I cannot (or I am too lazy) to adept to Derek reading the pace notes.
Verdict
It’s a bit hard to judge here. CMR04 is not a full blown sim, but yet very very enjoyable. The overall quality and attention to detail result in a: 9
Marco