Colin McRae Rally 2.0 seems to really have its act together. Okay, so the graphics aren’t a magical breakthrough, but they are pretty good. The backgrounds, race tracks, intro cut-scenes, and terrain all look terrific. The exterior of the vehicles look... okay. They could have had a little more detail and a little less blur, but as a whole, not bad. Using the ‘cockpit’ view, the interior graphics are great, offering good detail and great image quality. The game runs smooth and the transitions are fast. All in all, the game has great image output, and just enough detail to make it count. Even the sound effects and music hit on a nice spot. With Colin McRae Rally 2.0, I don’t think you will be disappointed with the visuals and audio.

Once again, the PlayStation shows that it is supreme when it comes to racing games. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 plays great. The best thing about the game is the realism. Not only does the game look, feel, and play real, but it also has an added bit of realism that sets it apart from ‘just a game.’ That addition is realistic options. First of all, you start out with half a dozen different brand name cars to choose from. After that, you can modify, upgrade, and repair your chosen vehicle. There are four places to start racing from, and four more to worry about when you get passed the initials. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 sports two different play modes to keep your motor running. In Rally mode, you can choose to race in a championship series, a single rally (multiple stages at one location), a single stage, a time trial, or a simple challenge. With all of these single player races, you can chose from one to eight different racers. The game also has driver profiles, so you can monitor your progress. In Arcade mode, you can go head to head in a championship, single race, or timed trial. As you can see, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 offers plenty of realistic racing options that keep the game real.

Most racing games are either too easy or too hard; it is very hard to find a happy medium when it comes to this genre. Well, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is no exception. While it is not impossible, it is pretty difficult. I attribute most of the difficulty to the realistic handling of the vehicles. The game is easy enough to play... you just drive a car, but the game mechanics are so real that most people will have trouble making a hairpin turn at 80 MPH. So basically, the game is real. For all of us who don’t race cars for a living, it will be a little hard.

If you couldn’t already guess it, the main theme of this review is REAL. The game looks, feels, and plays very real. I was very impressed with the real-time physics of the different road surfaces. I found that the controls were great -- analog steering, manual and automatic shifting -- it all works well. I also like the addition of voice direction. When coming up to a curve, a voice would tell you the direction and azimuth of the turn, as well as point you in the right direction. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is truly a great, realistic racing game.