Colin McRae 3 (PC Game Review)

Although, when compared to consoles like the XBox or the PS2, the PC platform is technicaly the most advanced, the gaming business is on a trend of giving priority to the first. Consoles hold higher revenues and are less hurt by piracy, so the industry is slowly neglecting the PC to the 2nd spot.

As programming technologies evolve, it'll become easier to develop cross-platform solutions. For example, if the .NET initiative ever matures to the extreme of being possible to code .NET games that will run on a .NET enabled XBox, then coding for one *and* for the other will hold zero differences. If that day had already arrived, Colin McRae 3 (CMR3) would have no excuses at all to justify how arcadish and divorced from the previous versions, it plays.
Yes, CMR3 is a disappointment.

You'll read here and elsewhere that the game features highly impressive graphics - and it does. CMR3 does look awesome. Any snapshot you take looks very similar to the "real thing". Unfortunately, snapshots can be a lousy metric for true game quality. If you're looking for pictures, you'd better go out and buy some rally magazines. If you're looking for fluidity and playability, you might want to go back to Colin McRae 2 - that is t-w-o.

CMR3 for PC is a blind translation of CMR3 for the XBox. It is very childish, when compared to the previous version. The car handling is impossible to tweak from "nervous", at best. If you're using a steering wheel - like Microsoft's Sidewinder - you'll find that it is effortless to drive through the sharpest hooks, let alone the "easy rights" and the "easy lefts". Just sneeze on the wheel and the car will obey your command; you'll have to be in very bad physical shape to sweat with this one.

Another lame feature is the damage model - all looks and no feels. Go ahead and smash the car against trees and walls! Graphicaly, you'll get broken parts, beautifuly rendered; however, the car's behaviour will hardly change.

CMR3 is miles away from the real thing, except for its (static) graphics. Snapshots suggest more credible visuals than what you'll really experience. The problem is the frame rate. Make sure you own a mega monster PC, if wanting complete fluidity at high resolutions. Otherwise, cut on both detail and resolution, or you'll constantly be (very) aware of when the scenery's complexity changes...

Car setup options are very limited. Many relevant components only become available after triumphs. This setup-for-kids, the crash-all-you-want "feature", the poor handling and the playability being second to snapshots, all contribute to a strange game greatly apart from the tradition of its previous installments.

CMR3 is not a bad game. But it certainly isn't a step forward.

You can buy Colin McRae 3 here.

for european costumers, here is a selection of titles from amazon.co.uk:

title: Colin McRae Rally 3 (PC)
price: £10.47
url: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008NB4C/arturmarques

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for american costumers, here is a selection of titles from amazon.com:

title not yet available.
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for real time monetary conversions, please use the XE service.