Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Anyone who think there are n’t very practiced driving games for the Macintosh clearly has n’t been paying attention to Feral Interactive ’s contribution to A - lean Mac gaming . Colin McRae Rally Macis the fourth major motor racing title Feral has fetch to the platform , and it is their best to date .
The development of this game has been fraught with problem . Apple ’s switch to Intel Macs , some behind - the - scene change at Feral and other issue cabal to keep this biz from being released until fairly late into 2007 , despite it being based on PC - game underpinnings that Windows gamers have been enjoying since late 2004 .
Feral wisely pick out to make this freeing as independent of the PC franchise as potential to nullify any number that might go steady it , calling it “ Colin McRae Rally Mac ” rather than impound a class to it . Alas , fate conspire against Feral one last time — it could n’t possible have foreseen the tragical death of Colin McRae himself , one of rally motor racing ’s most decorate victor . McRae died in a helicopter crashin September , bare weeks before Feral transport its game .
The game features more than 30 dissimilar real - human beings cars — mass meeting versions of everything from cars you might see on U.S. roadway like the Ford Focus , Mitsubishi Lancer and the Subaru Impreza , to car from Lancia , Peugeot , Mercedes - Benz and many others . You ’ll get an chance to confound two - wheel drive car and four - bike drive cars around the track over about 300 stages of challenger across 20 different classes of events ; everything from challenge to Cups and Championships .
Road Hog : you could go off route a chip in Colin McRae Rally Mac , but it ’ll beat up your car , as evidence by the chickenhearted equipment casualty measure .
Driving surround vary dramatically . There are nine outside venues across Europe , Asia and North America — soil roads , mud , snow and ice , tarmac and sand , and all of them effect the physics of your car very otherwise . you may set up your car differently for each row , transfer tires , ride high , spring weight unit , brakes , steering and other factors that will adapt the vehicle ’s treat quite dramatically . There ’s also quite extensive damage modeling — it ’s whole potential ( even easy , really ) to commit your vehicle tumble off road and to pull off while of the body or smash the driving train to bits . ( I had a hard time fork up the fomite wholly inoperable , although I came dangerously faithful repeatedly . )
Not only do you need to understand how to address your motorcar as it pitch around twisty chicanery at high speed , threatening to drop off drop expression or slam into trees and Boulder , but you also need to carefully listen to the instructions of your Welsh co - machine driver Nicky , who ’s constantly ( and calmly ) provide you with a hunt down monologue of what ’s ahead and what speed to take the next turn at . He ’s a minute like having a Global Positioning System system in the car with you , although it call for a while to understand his shorthand ( Calling out a “ long six ” means that there ’s a longsighted turn that you should go flat out on up ahead , while “ hairpin two ” mean there ’s a very tight tour that you should take comparatively slow ) .
graphic in Colin McRae Rally Mac are gorgeous , with naturalistic weather impression , dramatic ignition and a really broad colour palette being used to capital effect . you’re able to see Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree carry in the breeze or determine leaves fall or snow blowing by ; see the pierce lambency of headlights , or sun ruminate in the windscreen of your rallying racing car .
Rally racing is marked by stages — segments of a race that are several miles long . This breaks up the game play into very short section , typically only four or five second long at most , and that seems a bit abrupt to me . I admit I ’m no mass meeting racing expert — you really have to go hunting around the upper tiers of American cable television to find any to look out , it seems — but I imagine generally class are a bit longer in genuine life . And Colin McRae Rally Mac clearly revels in its Platonism .
This ai n’t noNASCAR — there ’s a pot more than left - hired man become the cable car on interminable oval tracks . rallying wash are on twisting , turning roads that diverge widely in terrain . And also , there ’s no other group of cars to chase or hit — you’re rush for the good metre . Colin McRae Rally Mac does let you consider “ ghost car ” if you want to see how your competitors have done on the same data track ; that can give you the proper bonus to go just a bit quicker around that next recess .
Gameplay is varied thanks to several modes you could take from . A “ challenge ” fashion pits you against other players in individual stages or rallies , which will extend across multiple stages ; a championship mode ; and a career mode that have you duke it out against other computer - controlled components for the gasconade rights to the season . you could bring in new gear as you go along to help oneself you .
Both artwork and sound effects are top - notch in this game . You have a few options to adjust that enable you to tone graphics effects and performance ; some are available when you first found the biz , in a front - loading interface Feral tacks on , and others are uncommitted within the secret plan ’s options itself .
Because of some of the graphics in the game , Colin McRae Rally Mac is n’t tolerate on MacBooks and Mac minis — systems that employ Intel GMA graphics .
Sound effect are n’t extensively used ; there a few dissimilar view modes , each of which bid you a unlike audio experience . consider the car from above and behind , for example , outstrip you from railway locomotive and route noises , while the bumper ’s optic eyeshot will give you the steady grumbling of the paving and the clank of the transmission locking into different gears . The game supports secret plan controllers , as well . I tested it with a MadCatz PC Con controller , which turn well — alas I could n’t test it out with a direction cycle ( my fault , not Feral ’s ) .
Colin McRae Rally Mac has multiplayer support , too . Up to four player can play on the same information processing system using a split screen , and over the cyberspace , the game defers toGameRanger , the Mac - only online secret plan matching overhaul , for find other players . That requires you to download a disjoined client applications programme and register for an account , both of which are devoid for the purposes of play the game online .
get someone to play against is a tougher proposition , and I do n’t like the way that Colin McRae Rally Mac “ sound off you out ” to open GameRanger — it ’s very disconnected . I ’d prefer an integrate game finder , or something that bridges a connection to GameRanger from within the secret plan itself . It ’s unsettling to find yourself back at the Finder without understanding what you ’re supposed to do next . There is a LAN - based gameplay way as well , for those of us lucky enough to have Macs launch the game on the same Local Area internet .
The bottom line
Rally racing has been tried before on the Mac , mainly in shareware form , and while adequate , it ’s never appear , sounded or performed so well . If you ’ve ever want to kick back up clay and grime as you throw a 300HP all - wheel - drive foreign coupe around hairpin corners , this biz is for you .
