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PC Release Date: First half of 2005
Developer/Publisher: Codemasters/Codemasters
Official Website: https://www.codemasters.co.uk/colinmcrae2005
Colin McRae Rally Game Guide
Gameplay teaser:
The Peugeot 206 was a handy little beast and it behaved very well on the tarmac at the Japan circuit yet there was slipping and sliding on the gravel surface of Australia. I also hit a sign that, as one would expect, fell down and after contact with a roadside tree, leaves poured down. Both stages were beautiful and fun to drive, with a narrow road and with good combinations of corners, particularly in Japan where there were some wooden bridges to cross. The PS2 version of CMR04 seemed to out shine the PC conversion. I could only hope that SixbyNine would take more care when adapting the game on the PC this time around. It's too bad the replay system remained the same...
As the two previous incarnations of the longest running PC rally-series were somewhat disappointing to me - even though 04 managed to get rid of the troubles that were the trademarks of the 3 - I had concerns and a list of points to discuss during our meeting with Project Leader Graham Rigby.
But, just before our discussion started, I tried out the PS2 version of the game, showcased at the Codemasters booth. The Peugeot 206 was my choice of car, which I first drove in Japan and then in Australia. Both stages were new, just some bits were connected to already existing stages of previous McRae titles. The physics were the same, but seemed to me a little bit altered. The feel and control of the car is still McRae-ish, meaning that the car reacts and moves pretty much as you wish (pivoting the car around a central pole). The bonnet-cam is back in business and a new a damage-indicator hull was put in place in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Some other changes were obvious from the beginning:
- signs are now falling dynamically on the ground once you crash into them (we've waited for so long to have this feature) as well as other trackside objects too,
- rocks are no longer considered as walls, but dynamic obstacles that will unbalance your car and can easily send it in a roll
- weather condition and time of day choices provide the game with more variability
- menus have been changed and are now much more readable
These were really some of the things that I realized immediately during this sneak preview of 2 stages, but once I sat down with Graham, I literally funneled him with my questions. As you may already know, 05's core is the Career Challenge, which is a branching structure (if you ever played "Gran Turismo3" on the PS2 or "NFS: HP2" you pretty much have an image of it), where players are not required to play through each and every event, but they need to qualify for the events by gathering points. The completion of an event means gaining points for the player as well as unlocking cars by completing goals. As it was implemented in 04, the shadow of the car is present in the car-selection menu together with a description of how you can unlock it. The points gained provide access for further events and so on. The events themselves vary from challenges to cups through shields and championships. The developers' goal was to create a long and entertaining journey throughout the world of rallying, but making the game accessible for casual players too, who are not willing to play through an excruciatingly long full championship. The Career has two difficulty settings, although its not sure if there will be any test-drives before you qualify for the harder setting. Besides the Career Challenge, players can also race in the 4WD Championship with their previously unlocked cars. A new Extreme difficulty setting will be in place, where there'll be no limitation to your camera this time (it was fixed in 04 to the in-car cam).
The game features a new German tarmac rally along with the now traditional other 8 countries that encompass 76 stages (with the few super-specials) from which Graham told me 52% are completely new. After driving 2 of the new stages all I can say is that they are narrower and require more technical skill than the ones in 04. Hopefully the quality of all new stages will be equally as good. In Stage Mode the weather and time of day settings add an exciting dimension to the game but those conditions are preset for the Career Challenge. As with previous installments, only McRae and his ex-co-driver, Nicky Grist will be real. Derek Riggs is out of the seat for good. The player will have access to a very short bio for Mr. McRae with all key statistics involving his illustrious career. To the delight of the fans, a total of 34 cars can be played but only 5 of them are available at the start of the game. All cars are modeled after existing ones, but not their latest versions.
Graham's description of the Career Mode is that it depicts the "World of rallying" that's why they needed to separate it from the Upgrading, which will now be a game on its own as players can play hours and hours on just upgrading their vehicles (as each vehicle needs to be separately upgraded). Some new challenges will be also present here, but the specific details are not available at this time.
The development team already has a long list of features to be implemented in the version after 05 and they're also hoping for a schedule that could allow them to make changes, for example, to the replay system.
Six by Nine Ltd. will do PC conversion and there will also be a demo available a few weeks before the release.
Photos:
Codemasters E3 Booth
Graham Rigby, Lead Game Designer on the Colin McRae Series of games.
  
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