I'm a huge fan of racing games, which is evident if you read my past reviews of racers; however to be quite honest I hadn't quite gotten into the rally racing genre as much - in fact my only experience with it is Need for Speed: V-Rally on the PSOne, two very arcade style Rally Cross titles and the rally mode within Gran Turismo 3. I've done my homework though, and gave Colin McRae Rally 04 a fair shot, studying up on its predecessor. Let's dig right in here; Colin McRae Rally has been considered the king of rally games for a while now and after this title I can say that I don't think that will change. CMR04 boasts an impressive list of features, which I'll run down right now for you.

First up is the Championship mode. Here you can race any car you've unlocked over 52 classic and brand new stages that span 8 countries. The championship mode is the heart of the game and it isn't exactly a piece of cake. Rally experts and followers will obviously get along with it better and have a better grasp of the way the cars handle, but getting through a course with a clean race requires a good amount of skill and technique.

Once you've unlocked a lot of tracks and cars, you can race any car on any track via the Stage Mode; you can even put together a circuit of various tracks to race back to back in the Rally Mode. This can all be done head to head in multiplayer as well (which is available for every game mode, including Championship). On top of this there are also mini-games and other special modes. The car list is gradually beefed up and divided into sections, including bonus and classic Group B vehicles for you to unlock; also unlockable is an expert championship mode for those of us who are very talented with the game.

One of the most impressive aspects of CMR04 is the graphics, which run very smoothly at all times. While the cars, surfaces, sky and especially weather effects all look outstanding and gorgeous, I'm saddened to say that trees, bushes, crowds and barriers still look poor, somewhat ruining the experience. However, the pop-up issue that plagued Colin McRae Rally 3 is gone, thankfully. Also worth mentioning is the amazing damage engine this title uses; depending on how you drive, your car can look very, very ugly by the end of a couple races. This is actually fun to watch, especially when racing in the view from the car's seat. There's nothing like flying off a jump and seeing your hood completely block your view for a second before it detaches and flies through the air behind you. Windshields will break, bumpers fall off, engines die in the middle of a race; everything that can go wrong with your car will (should you damage it as you drive) and it's not just for cool looks, as it affects the cars performance drastically. After a few races you can enter the repair shop, where each repair takes a certain amount of time (and you only have 60 minutes, meaning you can't make every repair at once in one sitting). Upgrades are also available, in fact there's over 1.5 million possible car setups!!

The sound is also superb and even better when your view is inside the vehicle (which makes the whole experience as a whole more realistic, intense and scary). There isn't any music, which I think was a good move as the sound effects for the various surfaces, rocks and weather are very good. Collisions are heard with impact and the sound of your car sliding across the gravel is very satisfying. All of this can be heard in glorious Dolby Digital as well.

Handling your car will take some getting used to if you're new to the Colin McRae series, or rally games in general. It's a very different experience from the traditional racing games that rule the market. My inexperience with rally games makes it hard for me to determine if the handling in CMR04 is spot on or unrealistic. Getting the hang of mixing acceleration, brakes and handbrake is important and works differently than most racers but shouldn't be too hard to get to grips with. Fans of rally racing will no doubt enjoy the depth CMR04 offers, as you will need to change your tyres and various car parts depending on what kind of track you're racing. When selecting your parts you're given short descriptions of what that tyre or part excels at and what its faults are. It's good to study the tracks first before picking your parts and going into a race, especially in Championship mode. However, this may turn off arcade racing fans, as most of the time just picking up the controller and racing is a very bad idea.

Making it through a track with a good time and no crashes is satisfying but not always easy. The learning curve varies depending on the player but newcomers such as myself will have a harder time than veterans of the franchise. The replay value could be better but it is not bad at all, with the ability to race against ghosts and a head-to-head mode for those who want it (Multiplayer Championship mode is a great addition) or you can just take it in turns to attempt to beat each other's times.

Colin McRae Rally 04 picks up right where CMR3 left off, fixing multiple faults (most importantly the pop-up issue) and adding a variety of new features. Rally fans will lap it up and long time players of the series will love this addition to the family, but casual racing fans may have a harder time getting into it, especially without the competitive nature or racing with other drivers simultaneously that pure racing games have.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).