In Championship up to 2 players can compete, taking turns to navigate the stages, while in Rally, Stages and Quick Race you have a choice. 2-4 player options have been cleverly integrated into the other modes. Interestingly, there's no offline "Multiplayer" mode, but there IS offline multiplayer functionality. Then there's Stages, which allow you to try out any track from all the countries, and there's also Quick Race, which will pick a country, stage and car for you, and get you straight into the action. Firstly is Rally, where you can actually compile your own 6-stage rally using a range of tracks from the 8 countries. The game certainly makes your work for your bonuses! As well as championship, CMR04 packs in a few other modes. To obtain the items you have to complete a challenge in a time limit, and then it becomes available for you to add at the garage. In between championship races there are mini-games available allowing you to unlock equipment for your car, such as a better suspension. Winning is an impressive feat, and you can let the world know with the special code you obtain on completion that you can submit to Codemasters' website. Here you can only race from the cockpit view, and have to win the championship with everything up against you. For those who can manage 4WD mode with heavy damage on (in the advanced mode) then an extra challenge awaits you in the Expert Championship. The Championship itself is also split in four it eases you in with the 2WD (two wheel drive) cars at first, before moving you on to the more traditional 4WD cars, and then straps you in with the Class B vehicles cars which were banned in 1986 because their unrestricted nature meant they were far too dangerous, and when taking to them in the game, you'll realize why. This means, for example, you get to experience ice in Finland, sand in Australia, and rain and mud in Britain. And CMR04 certainly doesn't let down here providing custom tracks in the most condition-varied 8 countries out of the WRC-supported 16. Fans of the real FIA WRC will notice that CMR04 doesn't feature the real stages a big loss, surely? Well, unless you're a purist, you're more likely to just be interested on the action on track, and how this reacts with the different environments. After picking your game, setting your name and nationality, you're away to begin a rally championship. This year things are different - you can now choose any team from the various licensed car manufactures, ranging from Colin's new Citroen, to the classic favorite, the Subaru (where the series began, incidentally). It provided a unique feel to the game, as you progressed through a career as a real rally driver, but it meant that the game was greatly limited after all, as the main mode in the game, it essentially meant you played the game in just one car, whether you liked that car or not. Last year you could only be Colin McRae, traveling along in his Ford Focus. One of the best improvements is in response to CMR3's biggest downfall - the Championship mode. Codemasters have listened to the criticisms of last year's edition to provide us with the ultimate rally simulation. So is CMR04 just a simple rehash? Not at all, because where it has improved, it counts significantly. It's all pretty amazing, but you can't help feeling you saw most of it in last year's edition, and that it's just been given a new glossy coat of paint. Weather effects, such as rain, are also there to add to the game's atmosphere. They provide a high level of quality, with excellent animations ("right down to individual blades of grass moving in the wind" claims Codemasters), and amazing graphical effects, such as the usual gravel, snow, sand, and mud. For a start, although the graphics are certainly more detailed, crisper and altogether gleam more, they don't seem significantly different. But does 2004's edition still rule the roast? One of the things you'll immediately notice is that CMR04 isn't as big a step up from it's predecessor as CMR3 was. Colin McRae Rally series has been the king of the rally genre.
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