The game supports game controllers, as well. Viewing the car from above and behind, for example, distances you from engine and road noises, while the bumper’s eye view will give you the steady rumble of the pavement and the clank of the transmission locking into different gears. Sound effects aren’t extensively used there a few different view modes, each of which offer you a different audio experience.
You can see trees swaying in the breeze or watch leaves falling or snow blowing by see the piercing gleam of headlights, or sun reflected in the windscreen of your rally racing car.īecause of some of the graphics in the game, Colin McRae Rally Mac isn’t supported on MacBooks and Mac minis-systems that use Intel GMA graphics. Graphics in Colin McRae Rally Mac are gorgeous, with realistic weather effects, dramatic lighting and a really broad color palette being used to great effect. He’s a bit like having a GPS system in the car with you, although it takes a while to understand his shorthand (Calling out a “long six” means that there’s a long turn that you should go flat out on up ahead, while “hairpin two” means there’s a very tight turn that you should take relatively slowly).
Not only do you need to understand how to handle your car as it pitches around twisty chicanes at high speed, threatening to drop off cliff faces or slam into trees and boulders, but you also need to carefully listen to the instructions of your Welsh co-driver Nicky, who’s constantly (and calmly) providing you with a running monologue of what’s ahead and what speed to take the next turn at. (I had a hard time rendering the vehicle totally inoperable, although I came dangerously close repeatedly.) There’s also quite extensive damage modeling-it’s entirely possible (even easy, really) to send your vehicle tumbling off road and to tear off pieces of the body or smash the drive train to bits. You can set up your car differently for each course, changing tires, ride high, spring weight, brakes, steering and other factors that will adjust the vehicle’s handling quite dramatically. There are nine international venues across Europe, Asia and North America-dirt roads, mud, snow and ice, tarmac and sand, and all of them effect the physics of your car very differently. : You can go off road a bit in Colin McRae Rally Mac, but it’ll beat up your car, as evidenced by the yellow damage meter.ĭriving environments vary dramatically. You’ll get an opportunity to throw two-wheel drive cars and four-wheel drive cars around the tracks over about 300 stages of competition across 20 different classes of events everything from Challenges to Cups and Championships. roadways like the Ford Focus, Mitsubishi Lancer and the Subaru Impreza, to cars from Lancia, Peugeot, Mercedes-Benz and many others. The game features more than 30 different real-world cars-rally versions of everything from cars you might see on U.S. In September, mere weeks before Feral shipped its game. Alas, fate conspired against Feral one last time-it couldn’t possible have foreseen the tragic death of Colin McRae himself, one of rally motor racing’s most decorated winners.
Apple’s switch to Intel Macs, some behind-the-scenes changes at Feral and other issues conspired to keep this game 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.įeral wisely chose to make this release as independent of the PC franchise as possible to avoid any issues that might date it, calling it “Colin McRae Rally Mac” rather than attaching a year to it. The development of this game has been fraught with problems. Is the fourth major motor racing title Feral has brought to the platform, and it is their best to date. Anyone who thinks there aren’t very good driving games for the Macintosh clearly hasn’t been paying attention to Feral Interactive’s contribution to A-list Mac gaming.