MagpieRacer
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Round 4
Colin McRae Rally 04 - 2003
Car
Citroen Xsara WRC 2003
Country
Greece
Parnassós
Perachora
Amfissa
Parnassós
Harvati
Colin McRae Rally 04 released the year after Colin McRae Rally 3, marking the shortest gap between releases in the series to date. However, improvements were vast and the game was received very well. With a step up in visual fidelity, damage modelling and stage design. It featured 6 different championships to race through, across 4 classes including 4WD, 2WD and Group B. The same 8 countries from CMR3 returned with some new stages and Derek Ringer replaced Nicky Grist as the co-driver, as had happened in real life with McRae's move to Citroen (although Grist was still selectable should you wish).Colin McRae Rally 04 - 2003
Car
Citroen Xsara WRC 2003
Country
Greece
Parnassós
Perachora
Amfissa
Parnassós
Harvati
The gameplay cycle was much the same as previous games, driving through the championships and unlocking more content such as stages and bonus cars. Though this time there was no career mode and no limitation on what car you could use, a point of contention with CMR3. It was the first time in the series that no official WRC liveries appeared, with all the liveries being either fictional such as the Xsara or taken from other championships such as the Subaru which featured the Subaru USA livery.
The Xsara was of course the cover car, in line with Colin's move to the team in 2003, although the game wasn't able to feature his official livery as the WRC license tightened up with the release of Evolution Studios new, Sony backed, officially licensed WRC series, with WRC II: Extreme releasing in between CMR 3 and 04 and WRC 3 penned for release a few months after CMR04. No new countries were added to the game, but there were a raft of new stages which saw huge improvements in stage design. UK, Greece, Australia and Spain were particular standouts. I chose Greece as it had been a mainstay in the series and featured some of the roughest stages a CMR game had seen, showcasing the new stage designs and road dynamics to the max as well as, for me, the new damage model.
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