Colin Mcrae Rally 3 mini-review

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Good game, for fans of the sport and the previous games alike. Shame that the selection of cars is limited and that in Carrer mode you can only play as Mcrea and thus in the Focus. Overall the game seems biased towards the Focus, the Impreza isnt up there and the Xsara handles like a plate of sphagetti off tarmac

Another annoyance is a bug that causes the game to randomly crash to the desktop, apparently the Demo had it although i never experienced it.

All in all, more of the same with a spit polish and some newer cars (although they are the 2002 season and many favourites are missing (206)). Lacks a couple of things such as the ability to run a single rally, which made its predecessors easy to pick up and play.
Still the best rally game about but if your tight on funds id advise you wait until the bugs are ironed out, or wait for CM4 which is supposed to be out soon-ish

--Jakk

[DocEvi1]

I disagree completely, I bought it today when really I shouldn't because my funds are too tight and I am completely disappointed.

Where is the Pug 206 and the Skoda Octavia, Why do you have to unlock parts for the cars & you can't set the car up the way you want it (i.e hard suspension for tarmac) until you've unlocked that part, why can you "upgrade" the car, why do you have to unlock the most simplistic cars, why does the focus go like **** and beat everyone easily (that doesn't mirror life), where are the other rallies, why are there only 6 countries & 6/7 rallies per each, why can't you choose what to repair on your car instead of it been decided for you, why can't you run a rally rather than a just stages, why does the intro movies flash past not allowing you enough time to see your position, why does Grist tell you "watch the corner" when you've hit the tree, why are their limited views, what on earth does it take up 3.5Gig HDD space for, why do you have to press "return" to enter the game, why are the menu's missing a mouse, why do you have that handy press-the-arrow-keys-to-select-your-letter when typing in a name? Easy answer its a poor console port just like Toca Pro Race Driver was.

Oh and best of all, CMR 04 comes out in a couple of months, not only do we get a poor product but the consoles get a better one in a couple of months.

Again, if you want a true Rally game that is brilliant on the PC you should check out CMR2.0 or Rally Championship Extreme (the former been better). It's getting to the stage where I might ignore new Codemaster products - they simply don't cut it on the PC because they are console games with console playability. Don't get me wrong the graphics on this are good, the controls are nice and the way the car moves about is sweet but there are too many faults for it to be a decent game, and not many of those faults are bugs - it's game design.

I am just glad I bought it from EB/Game, it's going back when I can get down to the Metro Centre.

Stefan

[Bigjakkstaffa]

hat on earth does it take up 3.5Gig HDD space for

I agree with that, wasnt none too happy bout it.

As for the cars, i agree bit annoying when it advertises 20 cars and basically its the same ten cars with a different paint job

I see where your comng from about only bing able to access certain parts for the car, i felt this added a bit of a challenge at first, but when it came to the loose gravel tracks where i needed the extra breakign i was a bit annoyed i still only had access to small pads

Ive furthur fiddled with the cars and im getting annoyed at the fact the focus is so much better than everything else. The Xsara is near impossible to drive off tarmac, the Lancer and the Impreza are pure rubbish in terms of handling, in fact the only car ive managed to get aorund a track fairly decently is the MG

Plus the crash to desktop thing is getting more common much to my annoyance an dhas halted my progress in carrer mode as it keeps dying on me at the third stage of the UK

Im annoyed at the lack of Skoda, 206 and indeed the fact the cars are a year outta date, however the guy who did the 2002 update for CM2 will prolly be doing one for this and giving everything a nice update so im not really worrie din the longrun.

I still liek it, and still think its the nest rally game going..as long as you drive in the Focus, all the other cars are horribly disadvantaged that it spoils it

--Jakk

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Oh, i managed to find out from the codemasters forums that the reason they made all the cars and parts 'unlockable' is to increase revenue on their phone in cheat lines, because more ppl wont wanna sit and work their way right thourgh the game for em.

Money grabbing swine's.. im not impressed by that at all

--Jakk

[DocEvi1]

As I said, codemasters has gone downhill a long way in my opinion and it is all to do with the console market taking over. The people you are talking about aren't PC people, it's console players.

Personally I'm keeping the game long enough to worry about an update - it would be £34.99 wasted.

I quite like the idea of playing someone (i.e. playing Colin McRae only) but it would have been so much better to be able to say, right I want to leave Ford and move to x...

Oh, thats another thing, I reckon Ford must have sponsored the development - the Focus is the best car in the game, there are always Ford advertising signs around, at the start finish lines are Ford Transits, all the in-game footage has Ford cars/trucks in it, the Marshals car is a new RS, you often see the CONNECT HGV's in the background of shots....

And the graphics aren't that great, they are fine as you fly past but if you hit a tree of something and stop... And whats with this "go off line and get put back on", you're trying to reverse/sort yourself out and bang it's white space. Rolls are far to dramatic & the damage model sucks. The information given to you at the beginning (flash wheels damaged..) was nice at the start but how long does it take to go through?

No doubt it will get rave reviews because TOCA did but if you are interested in Rallying & know the sport a little this game lacks an awful lot, so much so it's criminal!

****, I have to worry about taking it back now, I hate taking games back I always feel like a criminal.

Stefan

[fishybawb]

****, I have to worry about taking it back now, I hate taking games back I always feel like a criminal.

I know the feeling. I've taken several games back to Game on account of their general crapness, and filling in that name and address form is fairly intimidating. Plus the (possibly imagined?) look that the staff give you... I was looking forward to CMR3, maybe I'll give it a miss now

[DocEvi1]

Thats exactly what I worry about, we shall see, taking it back today - my parents go on holiday tommorrow with my car so I would have to get the bus

Stefan

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yup, this game is blatantly FOrd biased, even the puma handles better than the Impreza and Lancer Also ford Rallye Sport get a massive mention in the credits and the other teams dont. The only car that handles half decently and isnt a ford is the MG, other than that though it looks like all the non-ford cars have been deliberatley disadvantaged



--Jakk

[DocEvi1]

ah, it's gone back now anyway. Shame really, the game was quite good, especially the finland levels - the speed of it was good just a shame it wasn't a Rally Simulation/Game rather than a piece of publicity toss.

Stefan

[DocEvi1]

of course now, when looking for reviews, I spot that car skins have been released and you can replace the look of the Ford Focus....

http://www.bhmotorsports.com/CMR3/

Stefan

[Bigjakkstaffa]

They all simply replace the focus with another skin though

I hope someone hacks the code and redresses the physics and control discrepancies to make the cars more realistic, however it looks unlikely to me. Also with any luck we'll get a full 2003 season conversion.

Oooh, Shakedowns on tonight

--Jakk

[DocEvi1]

hmm, so is the F1 qualifying!

Stefan

[Bigjakkstaffa]

F1's not my bag at all

I think im off to write a snotty email to codies, the crashing to desktop thing is becoming a pain, ive managed to complete two stages now in about an hour due to the crashing and the final SS stage of the UK just will nto go without crashing

--Jakk

[Bigjakkstaffa]

For heavens sake

The 2CV i just unlocked handles better than the WRX. Impressed i am not

--Jakk

[DocEvi1]

It's got a 2CV I want a 2CV in real life. No, stop laughing I really do.

Let me explain - it's group one insurance, no-one will pinch it, I'll be noticed & be to embarrased to drive it so it won't be damaged, it's cheap to run & looks funky

Stefan