Colin McRae Rally

This seminal title includes a standard set of modes, the main feature being a championship that spans the globe and can be played on three difficulty settings, higher levels allowing access to faster cars from the game's selection of classics. Even the Novice setting presents a challenge, so you'll need to adjust your vehicle to track conditions to succeed, but the game provides helpful and concise explanations of all available adjustments, which cover the usual suspects from suspension to gear ratios. Interestingly, Colin McRae also has a Rally School mode, obviously inspired by the previous year's Gran Turismo but used here to ease you into rally driving rather than gate content.

Visually, the game is quite detailed, particularly when it comes to the foreground and cars. The heap of effects on display look great too: rain, sun flares, rainbows, dust clouds and more. Cars are splashed with mud during races and take cosmetic damage, which is a nice touch. Engine sounds are excellent, as are most other effects, but the sound of gravel audible in the closer of the game's five available viewpoints is an atrocious static. Co-driver calls are robotic and occasionally disjointed, yet clear and accurate.

Handling is decent and noticeably affected by pre-race modifications. The driving experience is satisfying to this day once you get the hang of things and get on a roll on a section of track. The feel of suspension and sense of gravity is unrefined, though, cars tending to feel as though they snap back down to the track after becoming airborne. Reactions to the environment don't always feel entirely realistic, either, cars seemingly programmed to behave in a predefined way when driving over certain texture types or objects. For example, ditches feel more like driving through sludge than an attempt to free your car's wheels, and hitting a bush sends your car into an unrealistic upwards jolt given the foliage is made of 2D sprites.

Despite its flaws Colin McRae Rally is a piece of history rally fans will enjoy even over twenty years since release. The key to the game's success was and is that it's accessible and just so fun to play, as would become a hallmark of the series.