Colin McRae 3

Looking at the game in action is a pleasure. The animation is very smooth throughout with a lot of detail put into the environments as you soar through tight tree lined paths, twist and turn through mountain passes, and kick up dust in the desert. What is of particular not is how the car visually takes damage when slamming into obstacles. If you misjudge a turn and slide into the barrier you may get off lucky with a broken tail light, or you may totally shatter the window depending on how hard the car hits. Even more impressive is losing almost the whole front end of the car. On one instance I happened to go over a jump way to fast, launching my Ford Focus into the air. When it landed the front end slammed right down, causing me to lose my front spoiler and the body panels around the grill...not to mention that the car wouldn't go much more than 95 KPH on the straightaways from then on. You just don't see this sort of realistic car damage very often in racing games, mostly because car manufacturers don't like seeing their cars beaten to a pulp like that on the video game screen. Seeing here in Colin McRae 3 was very refreshing. The whole visual presentation is very well done on the PS2, but in the grander scheme of things RalliSport Challenge on the Xbox still holds the crown for being the prettiest rally racer on the market. Nonetheless, Playstation 2 owners will be very pleased with the graphics in this game.

In terms of sound Colin McRae 3 gets the job done quite well. Hearing the engine buzz up a storm on the straightaways, and the exhaust popping as the car shifts gears is very satisfying. Even the sound of the cars switching from driving on asphalt to gravel is done very convincingly while tearing around the courses. The navigator, as usual, is a Brit giving players the heads-up on turns, jumps, straightaways, and so forth. Sometimes I wonder if all the games use the same guy, because the voice sure sounds similar in the many rally titles on the market. Whatever the case, the navigator works just fine. He's not obtrusive, and he's not to quiet, doing a bang up job of helping players plan ahead so their car doesn't get banged up. The one disappointing facet of the game's audio experience is the lack of music while racing. Obviously Colin McRae 3 is going for a more simulator-based rally racing experience, but it would have been nice to have the option to play some tunes while driving. As it stands, if you want to be serenaded while on the track in this game you'll have to fire up your stereo, so consider yourself warned.