Colin McRae Rally Review

Our Review by Blake Grundman on July 3rd, 2013

Rating:

:: RACING BLIND

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Colin McRae rally started its life as a PlayStation 1 game, and now it's on iOS. Sadly, there's no accompanying visual upgrade to make it look better on today's Retina screens.

Developer: The Codemasters Software Company Limited
Price: $1.99
Version: 1.11
App Reviewed on: iPad 2

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What is it about NASCAR that people seem to enjoy so much? For Pete’s sake, any idiot can drive a car in a series of left hand turns. For my money, I would rather watch a driver with a bit more precision and skill. For this reason, the off-road insanity of Rally racing far more effectively indulges my need for speed. Can the newly released Colin McRae Rally bring the intensity of the sport to iOS, or should this PlayStation original been left in the era it was first released?

It is a testament to how far the iOS platform has come in the last five years to consider that PlayStation games are being ported to current iDevices. What’s more is that most of these games look terrible in comparison to most of the newer games custom-designed for the platform. Unfortunately, Colin McRae Rally is a perfect example of this exact phenomenon. But ugly visuals don’t always equal terrible gameplay, which is also luckily true in this case.

While far from the perfection of titles like Real Racing, Colin McRae Rally plays like a hardcore racer in need of a slight tune up. The winding roads can easily turn the player in knots if they are not careful and aware of their surroundings. Each of the game’s rather expansive tracks goes to great lengths to force the player to pay close attention to the co-drivers comments about what is upcoming down the road. That said, the non-manual transmission makes it difficult to put most of the helpful commentary to use to its full potential.

While the game feels like a nod to eras of gaming long since passed, it sadly also looks that way. The textures used throughout are embarrassing to say the very least, even laughable. It sure is a good thing that the rest of the racing mechanics are up to snuff, otherwise this simulator would have been running on fumes before the gun even sounded.

As a trip down memory lane, Colin McRae Rally does a great job of channeling the classic it is based upon. Even though it has been slightly modified in order to better fit the platform, it is more than competent enough to stand on its own amongst the other rally racers on iOS. The problem lies in whether the player can justify spending $4.99 on such a visually lackluster experience. Just squint your eyes and play on. It will be worth it in the long run.