Colin Mcrae Rally PSP (Colin Mcrae Rally 2005?) Anyone?

hanafuda

hanafuda

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I've been itching for a solid new rally game for a while now, and this title is going to get a JPN release at the end of this month. From what I can tell, it is Colin Mcrae Rally 2005 localized for Japan.

I can't seem to find much info on this game, or many reviews. It looks and sounds the part, but has anyone here ever played it, or any of the other Colin Mcrae games?
 
S

SSS

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I've got WRC that traveler's tales did. Would have been a great game, but the lack of solid controls (you need to use the digital pad) and lack of content. Like 4 music tracks for the whole game keeps it average. Shame because they had a nice engine built for it.
 
hanafuda

hanafuda

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SamuraiShodownSensei said:
I've got WRC that traveler's tales did. Would have been a great game, but the lack of solid controls (you need to use the digital pad) and lack of content. Like 4 music tracks for the whole game keeps it average. Shame because they had a nice engine built for it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback.

I picked up Colin Mcrae Rally (JPN) PSP tonight, and Gameoz mentioned that he was considering an import, so here are my initial impressions after running a few stages in time attack mode.

Pros

This seems awesome. Just awesome. The rally game I have been waiting for.

After selecting my nationality as English, I was then (rather unexpectedly) treated to Nicky Grist's instructions as my co-driver. Excellent.

Very import friendly so far.

Visuals are really impressive. Especially the replays.

From what I can tell there are tons of cars (old and new) and rallies/stages to play.

On one stage in the US, you come down a valley alongside a waterfall, and the sound of the water in relation to your car is done really well and adds an extra layer of reality. Just a small touch, but it stood out.

Attention to detail seems really high. During one replay I scraped a tree, and leaves/debris fell out of the branches.

Presentation seems very good, and tons of options.

Cons

The sense of speed seems to be a little on the low side. I play in the view where you can see nothing but the road ahead of you, and my impression so far is that there isn't a huge amount of speed sensation change as you get faster. This doesn't seem to be an issue during the replays though.

I'll post more when I have put a few more hours in.
 
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Gameoz

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hanafudaX said:
Thanks for the feedback.

I picked up Colin Mcrae Rally (JPN) PSP tonight, and Gameoz mentioned that he was considering an import, so here are my initial impressions after running a few stages in time attack mode.

Pros

This seems awesome. Just awesome. The rally game I have been waiting for.

After selecting my nationality as English, I was then (rather unexpectedly) treated to Nicky Grist's instructions as my co-driver. Excellent.

Very import friendly so far.

Visuals are really impressive. Especially the replays.

From what I can tell there are tons of cars (old and new) and rallies/stages to play.

On one stage in the US, you come down a valley alongside a waterfall, and the sound of the water in relation to your car is done really well and adds an extra layer of reality. Just a small touch, but it stood out.

Attention to detail seems really high. During one replay I scraped a tree, and leaves/debris fell out of the branches.

Presentation seems very good, and tons of options.

Cons

The sense of speed seems to be a little on the low side. I play in the view where you can see nothing but the road ahead of you, and my impression so far is that there isn't a huge amount of speed sensation change as you get faster. This doesn't seem to be an issue during the replays though.

I'll post more when I have put a few more hours in.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the impressions. And you're right, there is not much out there regarding the UK version. It would be nice if there was a site that listed what has been changed since the release of the UK version. If it is pretty much the same, I may just grab a UK version. However, if some content was added that would justify picking up the Japanese version, I am sure I would do that.

You said it is pretty import friendly. Are some of the menus in English?
 
hanafuda

hanafuda

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Gameoz said:
Thanks for the impressions. And you're right, there is not much out there regarding the UK version. It would be nice if there was a site that listed what has been changed since the release of the UK version. If it is pretty much the same, I may just grab a UK version. However, if some content was added that would justify picking up the Japanese version, I am sure I would do that.

You said it is pretty import friendly. Are some of the menus in English?
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much all of the menus are in English with JPN assistance.
 
hanafuda

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Have put quite a bit more time into this now, and am still really impressed.

Only other thing to point out is that it is pretty tough. Even once you are used to the instructions from the co-driver, even on normal difficulty it is pretty tough to win a stage, or more accurately, make a run with few mistakes. If you come off the road then you have pretty much ruined your chance at a good time (which is true to life too, and very easy to do.

Seem to be a good number of rallies in it too. I completed one rally season (6 rallies I think) and that didn't cover all the countries available in the game.

A rally day consists of a visit to the service park followed by 2 stages of around 3-4 minutes in length.

The game even has super specials in it, which is pretty cool. A lot more fun to drive that I imagined too.
 
hanafuda

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Been playing this a fair bit now, and I'm well impressed.

If you like rallying and own a PSP, this is a no-brainer.

If you like rallying and don't own a PSP, you should definitely consider picking some new kit up.

Tons of content, tons of cars, awesome 3D car models considering the hardware, great rally sim, adjustable settings, several different play modes, good challenge, variable weather and daylight settings....
 
Hot Chocolate

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hanafudaX said:
Been playing this a fair bit now, and I'm well impressed.

If you like rallying and own a PSP, this is a no-brainer.

If you like rallying and don't own a PSP, you should definitely consider picking some new kit up.

Tons of content, tons of cars, awesome 3D car models considering the hardware, great rally sim, adjustable settings, several different play modes, good challenge, variable weather and daylight settings....
Click to expand...


Thank you :buttrock:
 
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RBjakeSpecial

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I was in the game store looking at this game thinking the same thing. Thanks for the impressions Hanafuda! I might get this... The last rally game I played was WRC 2 for the playstation 2. I was thinking about getting Dirt, but the lack of online options kind of upset me. The upcoming Sega Rally looks like its coming together nicely, if it has decent online play I'll probably pick it up.

I'll probably get this game soon. Definately going to need something for my plane ride back to America (brother's wedding) I think I'm going to have to pick up some more batteries too.
 
Lastblade

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I remember reading that there is a bug in the game. I can't recall what the heck it was tho... :(
 
SouthtownKid

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Is there no US release of this game? The only WRC game we got on PSP here was "WRC" (and for anyone who has played that, how is it?).
 
hanafuda

hanafuda

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SouthtownKid said:
Is there no US release of this game? The only WRC game we got on PSP here was "WRC" (and for anyone who has played that, how is it?).
Click to expand...

I doubt it will get a US release unless some publisher picks it up. It only seemed to sell about 3500 copies in the first week in Japan, but it is a great game. Have it with me on hols now and playing it a lot.

Only minor complaint is that the frame rate seems to drop on some stages for no real reason. Not too sure. Other than that though it is great. Currently working my way through career mode and unlocking a bunch of cars.

JPN version is pretty import friendly. Only some of the menu option descriptions, like tire type, is in Japanese.
 
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