Retro Replay – Colin McRae Rally (1998)
Over the last few days I’ve been getting my hands deep under the bonnet of Colin McRae Rally. This one was an absolutely seminal motorsport title in my youth, and one I’ve been excited about spending some time with again. It got mixed reviews back on release in 1998, but it managed to pick up a 9/10 from Official PlayStation Magazine, 5/5 from C&VG, and 95% from PlayStation Plus. Let’s take a look at it now, 26 years later.
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The Basics – What was Colin McRae Rally About?
Looking back at it today, I’m still impressed at the scale of Colin McRae Rally from back at release. The main title includes 52 unique rally stages, spanning eight different countries including the UK, Monte Carlo, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Sweden, Greece and Corsica. In terms of horsepower, players could buckle into the seats of 12 laser-modelled and (at the time, at least) realistic vehicles, including eight real-world machines from the 1998 World Rally Championship.
As well as having a huge number of stages to play through, Colin McRae Rally also brought us a fair few game modes. Players could spend their time in full-on rallies, take on single races in time-trial mode or go for a full championship and give it their all. In addition, split-screen multiplayer made the (at the time) expected appearance, as well as a split-track head-to-head mode.
One particular favourite area, for me, was the title’s Driving School. With an instructor voiced by Colin McRae himself, players could get to grips with the basics of rally driving. This was important because, benefitting from McRae and co-driver Nicky Grist, handling was an important consideration. The title included various surface types, with gravel, mud, tarmac, ice and snow all making a tangible difference to racing physics.
The Verdict – How Does Colin McRae Rally Hold up Today?
Getting hands on with the title today, I’m impressed with how well this one has held up overall. The visuals, of course, look as dated as you would expect from a 26-year-old game but everything is still clear and easily visible. Compared to other titles of the time, it’s still looking nice, and bending tracks and a focus on the road means that pop-up doesn’t have as much impact here.
Where the visuals are decent enough, though, the gameplay and handling of Colin McRae rally really does shine. Even today, it provides a decent challenge, and the various tinkering you can do with the car is still in-depth enough to provide nuances. Audio also remains decent, with the familiar co-driver call outs still really pulling me into the action.
Overall, I’m still saying that 1998’s Colin McRae Rally is a masterpiece of late-90s gaming. While the PS1 version lacks behind PC in some areas, the visuals have held up well, and it provides a great challenge. It’s one which obviously benefitted not only from Colin McRae’s name, but from his love and passion for the sport. If you have a chance to get hands on with this one again (or for the first time!) I still highly recommend it.
As ever, to provide our retro review, we had to pay for the bloody thing ourselves because nobody is giving away copies of ancient games
