Scaff
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This months OPSM2 has a demo of Colin McRae 4 (due 19th Sept in the UK). Not something I've got to excited about, given my major disappointment with CM3.
Then I played the demo! A major change of direction from the last Codemasters effort.
The demo consists of the following.
2 cars - Pug 206 and Citroen Xsara
2 stages - 1 each from America (fine gravel) and Japan (wet tarmac)
1 test - suspension in Finland
Variable damage control
I will come back to the above shortly, but first the handling. In my opinion its excellent, very natural and responsive. I felt that the car was reacting instantly to my input and loss of control did not feel like I was being punished by a physics engine, but that I had made a mistake.
Both the stages looked very good (Japan in particular) with an excellent stage layout, reminicent of the original CM game. I've alwas felt that the later games failed to live up to the first in terms of stage design.
In-game graphics are very tight and well put together, while strangly the replays looked very poor in comparison.
The test in Finland is a new part of the game, to get new vehicle componants you have to 'test' to destruction. This particular test involved hammering down a stage in Finland, trying to push the suspension to its limits and finishing the stage on time. These tests look like they could be a lot of fun.
Now to the best bit, damage. From the start it has 3 settings, with a forth apparantly avaliable to unlock. To see what effect this had I selected the heavest setting and launched myself down the Japanese stage with abandon. Well a few crashes later the car is in pieces, with the Oil, Turbo and Water warning lights on red. The car is missing gears and running like dog and then it stalled! Yep, it stalled. I had to come to a gridding halt and keep pressing the throttle to get it running again. Major loss of time and I finished the stage with one door missing and the other hanging off, most of the body panels lost and a tyre gone.
Now apparently, there is one higher damage setting than this! It still seems that you can't kill the car completly, but with the damage at this level and the engine stalls you may as well retire.
Codemasters also appear to have learnt from CM3 that racing in just one car is no fun, we want the choice. Well now you've got it, from what I've seen and read you can compete in full championships with Super 1600 (FWD) cars, WRC models, Group B cars (yes) and Historics models. A group B championship is a first as far as I'm aware and one thing I'm looking forward to in a big way.
So whats wrong with it, from my brief play about on the demo (about 3 hours or so), the replays are very disapointing and you still stop dead if you hit a small tree or signpost. Having said that the demo is apparantly 80% complete so these areas may improve.
If you're in the UK, pick up a copy of OPSM2 and let me know your thoughts.
Then I played the demo! A major change of direction from the last Codemasters effort.
The demo consists of the following.
2 cars - Pug 206 and Citroen Xsara
2 stages - 1 each from America (fine gravel) and Japan (wet tarmac)
1 test - suspension in Finland
Variable damage control
I will come back to the above shortly, but first the handling. In my opinion its excellent, very natural and responsive. I felt that the car was reacting instantly to my input and loss of control did not feel like I was being punished by a physics engine, but that I had made a mistake.
Both the stages looked very good (Japan in particular) with an excellent stage layout, reminicent of the original CM game. I've alwas felt that the later games failed to live up to the first in terms of stage design.
In-game graphics are very tight and well put together, while strangly the replays looked very poor in comparison.
The test in Finland is a new part of the game, to get new vehicle componants you have to 'test' to destruction. This particular test involved hammering down a stage in Finland, trying to push the suspension to its limits and finishing the stage on time. These tests look like they could be a lot of fun.
Now to the best bit, damage. From the start it has 3 settings, with a forth apparantly avaliable to unlock. To see what effect this had I selected the heavest setting and launched myself down the Japanese stage with abandon. Well a few crashes later the car is in pieces, with the Oil, Turbo and Water warning lights on red. The car is missing gears and running like dog and then it stalled! Yep, it stalled. I had to come to a gridding halt and keep pressing the throttle to get it running again. Major loss of time and I finished the stage with one door missing and the other hanging off, most of the body panels lost and a tyre gone.
Now apparently, there is one higher damage setting than this! It still seems that you can't kill the car completly, but with the damage at this level and the engine stalls you may as well retire.
Codemasters also appear to have learnt from CM3 that racing in just one car is no fun, we want the choice. Well now you've got it, from what I've seen and read you can compete in full championships with Super 1600 (FWD) cars, WRC models, Group B cars (yes) and Historics models. A group B championship is a first as far as I'm aware and one thing I'm looking forward to in a big way.
So whats wrong with it, from my brief play about on the demo (about 3 hours or so), the replays are very disapointing and you still stop dead if you hit a small tree or signpost. Having said that the demo is apparantly 80% complete so these areas may improve.
If you're in the UK, pick up a copy of OPSM2 and let me know your thoughts.
