Where are the Colin Mcrae 3 reviews? (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Becker]

For some reason IGN and Gamestop seem to have forgotten that Colin Mcrae 3 was released for the Xbox last week! I don't get it. They just haven't reviewed it yet and it's kind of annoying waiting for it.



Dan.Becker

 

[Iain Lambert]

Its been out in Europe for an age; I'd do some digging on the UK sites if you want lots of reviews.

Mainly, though, they consist of the facts that

1) It looks really nice, but not really any better than Rallisport

2) Handling is very "marmite". Some think its great, others (like me) prefer WRC2.

3) The focus on the Focus and McCrae is somewhat limiting; much of the car tuning and repair aspects from CMR2 are missing now, and you're very limited in the cars available.

 

[Daniel Becker]

Thanks for the reply but I know it's been out in Europe for months now. If you go to Gamerankings.com you can find reviews for any game from around the world. Great site.


However, i'm just wondering why IGN and Gamspot have ignored the game so far. Believe me, i'm so angry that we americans have to wait for both Mcrae 3 and WRC 2. I want them both now and i'm excited to see how they turned out.


I've already heard the faults with Mcrae and they sound bad. In particular the fact that you can only play the Championship mode with the Ford Focus. That sucks! Plain and simple. WRC 2 seems to be an improvement on the first game which was already pretty good. So, if I had to choose right now i'd probably pick that game over Mcrae. Simply for the fact that you can race the Championship with any car and the options and features sound great. If they had just added the option for any car being allowed in the Championship mode i'd be more excited about Mcrae.


Dan.Becker

 

[EdR]

If I had to choose between the two, I'd have to drive them both first. I won't pick a racing game based on options (or graphics) alone. Right now, IMO, CMR3 offers the very best driving experience of any game available for the current platforms in North America.

Alas, there is no choice right now. And in any event, I would never pass on the experience of playing Colin McRae 3, it's just way too much fun and very challenging. Yes, it's limited, it's almost austere with the lack of options, but it's got the goods where it counts. IMO, it's well worth the $50.

I'm really looking forward to WRC2, I have been since it was announced as I was a huge fan of the first one. I'm happy to hear they've improved the physics and added more tracks of greater length. I fully expect it to rock. If both were out here, I'd almost certainly own both.

 

[EdR]

I realize that I never bothered to respond to your original question.

I think Iain is right to some extent that the fact that it's been out in Europe for a while makes it 'old news' in some weird way.

In addition, rally games aren't very popular in the US, certainly not as popular as they are in Europe, and not as popular as other varieties of racing. I personally find this baffling as rally games provide more edge-of-your-seat exciement that any other kind of racing, IMO (except for the Sprintcars game, which has it's own variety).

To be honest, rally racing was a maybe slight blip on my interest meter until I tried a rally game. I'm not exactly a huge rally fan now, but I do follow it (which is hard, living in the US). I get the WRC newsletter and try to keep up on what's going on. Rally games are 100% responsible for my interest in the sport. If I lived in Europe, I would probably go see a WRC event (I'd also go to the Tour De France).

 

[Dan B]

To answer the question, the fact is that they are still working on the reviews because they did not get any advance copies of the game. They got them after they went on sale, so expect them any day now.

An IGN editor also noted in a post at their message boards that they didn't get an advance copy of Apex either, then received a call from the game's publicist wondering why they hadn't reviewed it yet!

 

[Dave F]

If I didn't already have Rallisport, I'd pick up CMR3 in a heartbeat. But I haven't even played Rallisport enough to warrant a new rally racer.

I like that a lot of cars and tracks are immediately available. It's nice to be able to test a lot of cars in different environments without having to slog through a career mode first.

-Dave

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

There is a review up at IGN. I think it's Insider-only at the moment. Here are the closing comments:

One of my favorite racing games of all time has both impressed and disappointed me. On the one hand, the physics, sense of speed, handling and graphics are dazzling, top-notch effects that rocket this game to the top of the heap, in those regards. On the other hand, the sheer lack of game modes is disturbing. Couple that with the fact that you can only play through the Championship mode in the Ford Focus, and that you cannot modify your vehicle in the stages mode, and you've got a quizzically lopsided, partially finished title on your hands. Perhaps you can open something special later on in the game, but I haven't found it.
So, Colin McRae Rally 3 is an outstanding achievement, and any rally fan should, without hesitation, play this game, either through direct purchase or by rental. Suit yourself. Just know that you're likely to feel a twinge of disappointment soon after you get over the visceral delights that it so readily offers.

IGN's final score was 8.9.