Ok firsts things first, this won't be a phenomenally long review, i'd like to point you all in the direction of an excellent review by WoLf for the Xbox version of this title, as the game is a direct port between the two platforms i'd find it incredibly difficult to write a lot of things that WoLf's already put, so if you think this review doesn't really cover much then go and read his to fill in the blanks.

So bearing in mind what i just said, here's my angle... Unfortunately computer games reviewing doesn't pay much only the satisfaction of performing a service, so most of us have professions to subsidise our enjoyment and pay the rent, im a designer and had a particular interest in this game because I do work for some of the teams involved as well as some of the sponsors, and graphically I was impressed, its always nice to see my artwork being destroyed and ripped off cars as i roll them into a ditch, warms my soul it really does...

But enough self motivation...

So, Colin Mcrae Rally 3 is the much awaited foray onto PS2 for a series that established itself on the PS1, We waited for a long time for this, We all sat hoping for some Gran Turismo 3 quality graphics with the realism of damage that we've come to expect of recent titles, after all the rally mode on GT3 was ok but you couldn't trash the car and that's what we all wanted to do. TOCA was a nice link between the two titles giving a bit of realism of track racing with Mcrae associated Damage.

CMR3 completes the cycle, the driving engine is fantastic, the handling is as realistic as you can get on a console and the damage and possible crashes is somewhere between sickening and hilarious. I spent a good hour trying to flip my car badly and couldn't, gave up and started to try and drive properly and proceeded to complete a 15 flip barrel roll leaving a large amount of bodywork (and my lunch) on the track behind me, its amazing!

If your an out and out track racer then this may not appeal, there's no other cars on the run and there's no element of overtaking, this is purely a time based game where you compete against the clock, accruing times from stage to stage hoping to have the fastest time overall in the rally to win the points. You have a 3 year contract with the ford focus team to win the championship with Mcrae and this is the bulk of the game. With plenty of other cars to unlock there's a lot of potential here for longieveity. Something I enjoy about this game is that the cars are not all identical, when running through the practice modes and driving each stage with different cars, I found a significant difference in driving the Focus against say, the all conquering Evo VII of Tommy Mackinen or the Scooby WRX each car varies in handling, speed, grip and acceleration, and it is truely noticeable. Lets just say in the focus you have a challenge on your hands. Winning is never a formality.

I don't want to knock this game it really is amazing, there are very few things wrong with it, I don't like the collision detect though, it can be quite bad, you appear to clear trees by a good three or four feet, only to be slapped into a spin by apparent thin air. Apart from this i really cant pick faults with what appears to be perfection. As i said before the main info can be found in Wolfs review so i suggest a visit there straight after this.

Enjoy...