Some PC gamers are upset after purchasing a rally racing game on Steam that bills itself as a high-definition remaster of a popular console series when in fact it's a port of a 2013 mobile game.
The listing for Colin McRae Rally, currently $6.99 on Steam, says it is "based on content from the 90 percent Metacritic rated Colin McRae Rally 2.0," which was a PlayStation and Windows PC title from 2000. Gamers familiar with the series were initially surprised (and delighted) by what they thought was a high-definition overhaul of that entire title. "Re-mastered for HD," claims the trailer (above).
The Android/iOS Colin McRae Rally, however, lacks features such as car customization, some stages and vehicles in the fleet, among other things. The game also was designed for mobile devices, meaning its controls and menus are not optimized for PC, either.
In the "About the Game" listing, publisher Codemasters says Colin McRae Rally "features all the tracks and cars from last year's top selling mobile title." The main thumbnail description makes no reference to mobile, however, and customer reviews on the Steam page are shot through with complaints from gamers who felt the "HD remaster" claim, while technically accurate, was misleading.
Polygon has reached out to Codemasters for a comment on this matter, and will update this post with any received.
