Colin McRae Rally 2005 Plus

What a time for a comeback eh? Almost as if he'd planned it, Colin McRae makes a triumphant return to the World Rally Championship the same month he makes his debut onto PSP. No, we're not really that cynical. Actually we're as excited as everyone else to see him back. In a sport that's as devoid of personalities as every other four-wheeled variety without Juan Pablo Montoya seems to be, Colin's a breath of fresh air.

And it's a similar situation on PSP too, as Colin McRae Rally 2005 Plus manages to combine the quick-fire thrills of an arcade racer with the detailed authenticity of a true driving simulation better than any other game currently available. Admittedly, it's not as accurate a simulation of rallying as it could be. But if you want a game to entertain for five minutes or a spare hour, there are few to rival it.

This is thanks to the wide range of playing modes on offer. Do you want to embark on a complete championship season or simply pick that Australian stage you enjoyed last week - the one with the nose-bleed inducing jumps? The choice is yours. Of course, you will need to tackle the Championship modes at some point. Although the game's not officially licensed by the World Rally Championship, it does follow a reasonably authentic season, and playing through it gives you the chance to unlock more extras - from cars, performance tweaks and additional stages - than you'll find at your average branch of Halfords.

And for most people this is probably where the real joy of the game lies. Experimenting with different cars on different stages will push your driving skills to the limit. With models on offer ranging from the latest 2005-spec WRC Subaru Impreza and a 1960-era Mini Cooper to the fire-snorting Peugeot 205 from the early 1980s, it's safe to say you'll be occupied for months. Each car is realistically modelled and the physics that affect each car are as close to reality as you'd want them to be. They're not 100 percent true-to-life but they're forgiving enough to make getting into the game relatively easy and punishing enough to provide a stiff but enjoyable challenge.

There are plenty of stages as well. Set in countries including Great Britain, Germany, Australia and Sweden, each offers a selection of road surfaces and weather conditions, which combined with the cars, gives you all the ingredients for an extremely varied and enthralling racing experience.

But if you're sceptical about the level of excitement on offer when you're the only car on the road, don't be; the lumps, jumps, twists and turns of each stage are more than enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. This is helped by the fantastic sense of speed the game is able to convey. Even though you might not go more 120 miles an hour (somewhat pedestrian compared to Formula 1 cars), the trees whizzing by your door make it seem a lot faster. And crashing is a big no-no. The cars might look like they're in showroom-condition when you start out but they are prone to damage when you plough into a boulder at top speed. Panels crumple, windscreens shatter, bonnets fly off and engines will (and do) go kaput. Any damage you pick up will affect the handling of your car and can be the difference between finishing first and last.

However, all these details can be turned off, along with the car set-up that enables you to change tire types, gear ratios, suspension settings and brake balance. You can have as much involvement in them as you want or disable them completely and just put your foot down and enjoy the sheer exhilaration of getting airborne over the game's spectacular jumps and scenery. You can race either way, even against other gamers on their PSPs courtesy of the 8-way multiplayer option.

Colin McRae Rally 2005 Plus isn't without its problems though, and the sense of speed is the cause of one of them. There's a serious problem with ghosting on stages where trees line the narrow roads. Ghosting is a problem that often blights LCD screens and happens when game objects move faster than the speed that the screen updates. Simply put, the details on screen become blurred (and not in the good, moving-fast kind of way) and jerky. When you're trying to nail a powerslide around a gravel-covered corner in rural Finland, you need to see clearly where everything is. This isn't a complaint about realism; obviously when you're driving at dangerous speeds along narrow country roads the scenery will become a blur, but only in your peripheral vision. Here, everything becomes blurred, even the spot on the track that you're focused on. It makes judging corners more of a gamble than it should be.

Another complaint is the cars haven't been updated since Colin McRae Rally 2005 was released. This means the Skoda that McRae drove in his recent comeback rally isn't included, nor is the current Peugeot 307, Ford Focus or Mitsubishi Lancer. It's a small quibble granted, but it does leave you feeling a bit short-changed considering you're paying top dollar for a game that is pretty much the same as the version you may have played on your Xbox or PlayStation 2. However, in its handheld form, it still offers a buzz that'll leave other racing games envious. So we're willing to stick with it, despite the faults, as the thrill of posting a new fastest stage time when you've driven to the very limit is incredibly rewarding. Colin McRae Rally 2005 is on sale now.