The Verdict

So then -- Colin McRae is absolutely a very fun game. Codemasters did well enhancing and optimizing the game's DX11 feature set. Unfortunately in the released demo levels the DX11 features do not show off the real potential just yet. For that you'll have to wait on the final game which is released this week. The image quality enhancements are nice though and it will definitely make a difference -- but sure, you will actually need to look very precisely to spot the differences. The water displacement you won't see when you are actually driving a car, then again your opponents will drive through water as well so you might pick up and see that. The instanced and tessellated people look damn stunning though. Never have I seen such rich and detailed moving crowd in any game whatsoever. Very impressive -- but here also counts, you need to get up-close and personal to the crowd to actually see the better details thanks to tessellation.

The little extra's like cloth animated banners and flags catch the eye, and each time you drive by them, you will notice the fluid motion of it. In the final game you'll notice some extra's to be found in advanced lighting and more complex shaders. As a result that will definitely look good. The demo in DX9 looks damn good, with DX11 it's definitely a little better -- and that's the sheer reality. The performance hit can be anywhere inbetween 10 to 30% though.

If you like the genre then check out the free demo, later this week the final game will be released. The game rocks in DX9 and if you have a Radeon series 5000 graphics card then you get an extra cherry on top of that delicious cake.

Whatever your choice s, the system requirements for this game are not really massive and the game is definitely playable on any recent slash modern graphics card starting at mid-range 2008 graphics adapters.

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We definitely like this gaming title and it will be integrated in our benchmark suite as the first ever DX11 title, the demo is good, the final game will be better. A lot of ATI partners will bundle the game for free with several Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards offering great value. If you are into the genre, definitely consider picking it up.

-- Hilbert out --