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Colin M 2005 - Where's All The Love?
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
Zep hit the nail on the head. I'm enjoying CMR05 much more than I ever did for 04--can't put my finger on what it is exactly (the fear of online embarrassment?), but it has something.
I'm not a big arcade racer--haven't enjoyed them much since the original Need for Speed, so I can't add much to the BO3 vs. CMR debate.
Rallying tends to work for a smaller segment. Not everyone can only race against the clock for minutes at a time. You really don't get the instant gratification of outbraking someone into a turn like ToCA or hanging on someone's rear wing in Indycar until they make a mistake. CMR04 bored me occasionally, so it fell behind other games in the rotation. CMR05 is placing itself ahead of other games, on the other hand.
But, I'm a weirdo with racing games, I used to sit and do time trials in the original GT games for lap after lap, just trying to find time on a course.
I'm not a big arcade racer--haven't enjoyed them much since the original Need for Speed, so I can't add much to the BO3 vs. CMR debate.
Rallying tends to work for a smaller segment. Not everyone can only race against the clock for minutes at a time. You really don't get the instant gratification of outbraking someone into a turn like ToCA or hanging on someone's rear wing in Indycar until they make a mistake. CMR04 bored me occasionally, so it fell behind other games in the rotation. CMR05 is placing itself ahead of other games, on the other hand.
But, I'm a weirdo with racing games, I used to sit and do time trials in the original GT games for lap after lap, just trying to find time on a course.
xbl/psn tag: dave2eleven
I am new here but, for the record, I really like CMR 2005. Also for the record and as a sim fan, Colin should be so much more.
On a whole though the Colin series has never seen much love so don't expect it to get much on there boards.
For starters, American's don't understand "Rally" racing. If its not rubbin' how can it be racing? It's hard for them to wrap their minds around the idea of a 'race' without cars running side by side.
Secondly, Colin is not an arcade racer and rather harshly punishes drivers who can't find the breaks. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the overwhelming love games like Burnout 3, NFSU and RSC2 recieved and to come to the conclusion most people prefer their car controls to be a simple matter of emulating the 10 year old Pole Position, brick on a stick, physics.
Finally, and this one is Codemaster's fault, Colin tries to straddle the line between sim and arcade. They want very much to make a rally sim but at the same time, I am sure their marketing people are breathing down their necks not to alienate the casuals (who are pretty much alienated alread due to reasons 1 and 2). So they compromise the sim elements of the game and in doing so alienate a majority of the sim fans (most of whom will break before they will bend). How many Papy fans joined EA to celebrate the basterdizing of the NASCAR license? And NASCAR has about 100 times more appeal in American than the WRC.
So, in conclusion, Colin is a fantastic game. Probably, as a whole, the series has been one of my top three racers on the Xbox and this is by far the best version to date. I have owned at least 90% of the racers on the Xbox and it is rare that I ever come back to them after a few months, like I do Colin. However, so much else goes into making these games popular that you can't really say the lack of support on these boards or the web have a lot to do with the games quality. The game is high quality - just not everyone's cup of 1/2 cafe double decafe latte.
On a whole though the Colin series has never seen much love so don't expect it to get much on there boards.
For starters, American's don't understand "Rally" racing. If its not rubbin' how can it be racing? It's hard for them to wrap their minds around the idea of a 'race' without cars running side by side.
Secondly, Colin is not an arcade racer and rather harshly punishes drivers who can't find the breaks. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the overwhelming love games like Burnout 3, NFSU and RSC2 recieved and to come to the conclusion most people prefer their car controls to be a simple matter of emulating the 10 year old Pole Position, brick on a stick, physics.
Finally, and this one is Codemaster's fault, Colin tries to straddle the line between sim and arcade. They want very much to make a rally sim but at the same time, I am sure their marketing people are breathing down their necks not to alienate the casuals (who are pretty much alienated alread due to reasons 1 and 2). So they compromise the sim elements of the game and in doing so alienate a majority of the sim fans (most of whom will break before they will bend). How many Papy fans joined EA to celebrate the basterdizing of the NASCAR license? And NASCAR has about 100 times more appeal in American than the WRC.
So, in conclusion, Colin is a fantastic game. Probably, as a whole, the series has been one of my top three racers on the Xbox and this is by far the best version to date. I have owned at least 90% of the racers on the Xbox and it is rare that I ever come back to them after a few months, like I do Colin. However, so much else goes into making these games popular that you can't really say the lack of support on these boards or the web have a lot to do with the games quality. The game is high quality - just not everyone's cup of 1/2 cafe double decafe latte.
I think all console racers, no matter how 'sim' they may be, require dumbing down.
Didn't have a Dreamcast, but from the sounds of it, F355 on there was probably the hard core-est sim to come out. The controllers just don't lend themselves to a Grand Prix Legends level of difficulty. For my needs (and I consider Rally racing to be a virtual driving weakness of mine, for the record), McRae is plenty realistic. ToCA probably bridges the "sim vs. console limitations " better than any other game I've played, which probably explains its longevity around here.
Didn't have a Dreamcast, but from the sounds of it, F355 on there was probably the hard core-est sim to come out. The controllers just don't lend themselves to a Grand Prix Legends level of difficulty. For my needs (and I consider Rally racing to be a virtual driving weakness of mine, for the record), McRae is plenty realistic. ToCA probably bridges the "sim vs. console limitations " better than any other game I've played, which probably explains its longevity around here.
xbl/psn tag: dave2eleven