Colin McRae 2.0 has been out in the shops now for a good few months and I have spent many a day playing the game. There are a number of rally games on the market at the moment, and chances are you probably own some kind of rally game. What separates Colin McRae 2.0 from the rest is the sheer adrenaline rush you get from burning rubber and thrashing your rally car around corners at alarming speed. Although the game is very realistic and is stated to be the most realistic rally games you can buy, I feel that the developers have opted for a balance between realism and an arcade easy of driveability. This is brilliant for anyone wanting a cool rally game without having to know the ins and outs of shock absorbers and stuff, but its not a die hard simulation, even though the developers would like you to think it is.
Colin McRae 2.0 is a great racing game with excellent graphics and lighting effects. Everything from the easy to use menus to the car models has been refined extensively from the original game. The cars in particular are superb, and on full detail with cubic mapping enabled, they shine and reflect the scenery beautifully if a little less 3D like. Whilst it can shift plenty of detail at a high rate, the technique of using lots of 2D bitmapped trees to cover up a landscape-wallpapered barrier on either side of the road is now looking very long in the tooth, no matter what the resolution you're playing at. There seems to be a lot of games these days opting for the nasty 2D trees, and it is always very annoying to see 2D objects in what should be a 3D game. I can only imagine they do it for speed and think no one will notice at high speeds, but there is a tendency to crash in to them.
The best of the game has to be the replay feature which lets you relive the action TV-style by use of some very imaginative camera angles. Surprisingly there isn't and option to save your replays which is very disappointing, when you may want to show off your driving skills to your mates.
For the most part, the rest of the in-game audio is also very good. All the usual suspects, such as the tyre squeals, exhaust backfires and sumpguards grounding out have been included. In addition, the engine sounds have been realistically sampled, so you'll be able to pick out the deep rush of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo's turbo kicking in, and the high-pitched whine of the Peugeot 206 WRC.
The smoke and gravel effects when you accelerate from the starting grid is brilliant and its nice to see such good weather effects in a game. The various stages of the game in many counties put the car through a variety of weather effects raining from rain and sleet to bull scale snow blizzards.
Colin McRae 2.0 has been tweaked and enhanced to give extra effects of different setups and road conditions. It's a real pleasure to powerslide and generally throw these cars around. However, these being World Rally Cars, you need to remember that there is a lot of power on demand, and letting the car slide out wildly on the narrower stages will not get you far. Success in Colin McRae 2.0 only comes once you've learnt the arts of left-foot braking (split axes are supported), lift-off oversteer, the good ol' lever-steering (translation: yanking the handbrake) and any other method you can think of to get the car to make the corners in a fast but controlled way.
I would recommend using a steering wheel with this game if you have one, it really adds to the excitement and realism, especially if it is force feedback. Playing this game with a keyboard is a nightmare and would not even consider it, but a good analogue joystick is acceptable.
Colin McRae 2.0 also supports 8 player multiplay via modem to modem, TCP/IP and IPX so you can play again all of your mate in the office or over the Internet. If you only have a 56k modem then I would recommend the split screen mode.
Overall
Colin McRae 2.0 is fun with a capital F. Its the best rally game available, and it has some great graphics and lighting effects, but are let down by 2D objects. Buy a wheel, buy the game, and enjoy a spin around the country at 100mph.