After the disappointment of the april release date of Colin McRae rally 2.0, it finally was released June 9th and perhaps the extra wait was worth it. Following on from the original best seller, the new game instantly grabs your attention with its new smoother graphics and more realistic dynamics. The environment not to mention the cars, are remarkibly better drawn, even more so than in Gran Turismo 2 or Colin McRae Rally. You have a choice of six cars this time round with a feature to open up new cars, including classics like the Lancia Integral, Lancia Stratos or even the mini Cooper. All six cars (Lancer evo 6, impreza 2000, Focus 2000, 206 WRC, Cordoba WRC and Skoda Oktavia WRC) are 4 wheel drive and sadly all front wheel drive cars (such as the megane or the golf) now don't make an appearance. There are plenty of nice little feature in the game. If you say, hit the back of the car on walls or trees repeatedly, you would see the spoiler gradually dent, loosen and come off. Even after that the boot opens, making for interesting viewing over long jumps!

Also, the game is more challenging. For instance in the original you could ignore the co-driver because you could see the corners coming up. This version however, you really need to pay attention to what he says since this time round the corners have a sneaky habit of deluding you and introducing to a tree.

Also, there are more stages and competitions than the original (Arcade mode for instance) and newer courses like sicilly or china. However, in the original you had the names of real name drivers, (eg. Colin McRae/Subaru, Richard Burns/Mitsubishi etc.) but only Colin makes an appearance this time round with a group of unknown drivers. Another disappointment was the removal of the driving school which for myself and a few others provided hours of enjoyment. However don't let that stop you from playing this game. The cars sound great, handle better than in Gran turismo 2's rally mode and the setups are far more informative. Even without the front wheel drives, real drivers and training school, this is a worthy successor to the original Colin McRae and definate King of Rallying games