|
Dirt is the successor to the Colin McRae series of games. This game isn't quite the same hard and fast simulation
as the previous McRae games but it is certainly a good Rally racing game. The game has incredible graphics. Probably the
best on the XBOX 360 or the PS3 thus far in the life cycle of both systems. Codemasters certainly knows their racing games
considering this is the same group that brought us Race Driver series, which many have said compete with Project Gotham Racing
for best racing titles on the original XBOX.
The game has extensive damage modeling that shows everything from the occasional ding or grime picked up from the
road to full body and engine damage that will end your race early. Once the player has rolled in mid air and then landed
either on their hood or on their wheels for the first time, the love affair will surely begin. The environment is also damaged
by your car. Everything from tire tracks in the dirt, mud, and gravel to knocked over tires or destroyed fence. The lighting
effects in the game are impressive and certainly add a great deal to the environmental effects that the game unitizes. All
that was missing were the Rallisport Challenge 2 style snow, rain, and ice effects. The only problem that I noticed on some
of the tracks were large dark areas. The shade was normally from a forested area; but the fact that every single one of these
cars has headlights it seems kind of odd that they weren't usable in these situations. They weren't unplayable but they certainly
represented an unnecessary challenge.
The in car view allows the player to see things like a cracked or broken windshield to first hand views of destroyed objects
in the environment. But the far back behind the car view really allows the player to see have the best view of the road that
they are on and the road that is coming up. These were certainly nice touches considering the player could have the dashboard
view and be able to see their driver's hands flying around the steering wheel and the lights for your gears light up as you
switch gears. Certainly not an essential feature but definitely cool, I would have liked to see a rear view mirror in this
mode but nothing is perfect.
Speaking of the different views available there are two in cars views and including a third over the hood mode. In addition
there are two behind the cars views. This allows any driver to race the way that the player wants to play the game. In some
vehicles it is impossible to see from one of the views; for instance, in the Big Rig races none of the outside the car views
will work because the truck is so large that it blocks any upcoming road view. Inversely with the CORR racing buggies and
some of the trucks they have a net covering the windshield that doesn't allow the driver to see through it. The experience
of racing in multiple views is fun and certainly changes things up; but it could also be viewed as an oversight by the developer.
All of this finely rendered detail certainly doesn't go unnoticed by the processors. The game occasionally chugs a little
here and there. Nothing too noticeable in most cases but there certainly were times when it was noticeable and a little distracting.
In general however, this problem isn't going to mess up any game session but it is evidence of how much Dirt pushes the hardware.
The PS3 version comes out later this year and it will be interesting to see if it experiences the same issues. The load
times in Dirt are certainly very lengthly although with the loading screen menu that gives the player up to date statistics
as to what the player has done in the game; it cuts down on the normal boredom that accompanies such loading times. Every
once in while there will be a loading screen without such a statistics but these are few and far between.
The menu system in the game is enigmatic and amazing. The menus consist of a Vista style of 3D floating boxes that allow
you to drill down and get information on races and when the player chooses a vehicle in the Championship or Rally World mode
the player's whole garage is put into each box separated by vehicle type. The menu system is innovative, obviously some real
time was spent in the design of the presentation of this game.
The audio in the game is more or less typical of a racing game. The soundtrack is less than interesting and is probably
the first thing you will change within the first hour or so of the game. The vehicle nosies are good; every crash, bump,
and change in terrain is modeled by the sound effects. The navigator isn't very annoying but he too might be shut off in
the second or third hour. Finally, in the menu screen another narrator will give the player suggestions and encouragement.
This might seem like it would be annoying, but it actually wasn't.
The basic gameplay of the game is racing, of course and the all important factor here is how the cars drive and handle.
The cars all handle differently, the trucks feel different from the buggies etc... The various types of races Hill Climb,
Rally Cross, Rally RAID, CORR Racing, and Rally all allow for the player to experience all different types of vehicles and
scenarios. None of the cars feel especially floaty and with good use made of the rumble function of the XBOX 360 controller
the player feels the differences in terrain as well.
The meat of the game is broken up into four modes. The first and largest of these is the Career mode. This is where
the player goes through 11 tiers of races to become the Champion of Champions. This forms a pyramid where the bottom is the
easiest and least taxing and the highest has the hardest and most taxing races. The player can play through this mode in one
of many difficulty settings. As the player raises the difficulty, the player earns more money toward new vehicles and liveries
for the cars the player all ready owns. The base difficulty is pretty easy and will give the player a descent amount of money
but as the player progresses they will probably need to repeat a race or two in order to get enough money to purchase some
of the more expensive and powerful cars near the top of the pyramid. The harder difficulties however, can be pushing with
the A.I. Vehicles actually ramming the player to get by in the race modes. If the player goes beyond the Clubman difficulty
they should be prepared for a very difficult journey to the top of the pyramid.
The Career mode is where you will spend the majority of the player's time and the only mode where the player can earn
money and new cars.
The Championship Mode allows the player to take an appropriate car and run it through a group of races. These are mostly
the same type of race with one different type to break up the monotony.
The Rally World mode allows the player to pick car, race type, and number of races for them to race through and test
vehicle setups and try their fastest lap time out to see if they can survive.
Finally, the multiplayer mode for Dirt is truly it's weakest feature. The all online at once experience and having to
vote on a race type is just unacceptable in these days of 16 car races. The game has multiple car race types in the single
player so why this cannot also work in multiplayer is puzzling. I suspect that the earlier lag and framerate issues that
I discussed are probably the culprits considering if there are single player issues multiplayer probably would result in a
slow motion affair that wouldn't be fun anyway, but some graphical scaling would have hopefully resolved those problems.
Dirt is probably one of the best racing games on any system right now. The game offers all most every racing game fan
a great pick up and play experience and hours of fun. It will probably take the average player around 25-30 hours to complete
this game and get everything but the online achievements. If you feel that this game maybe too easy or if your not sure about
it considering there is no multiplayer(really). You might consider renting this title rather than buying it. However, after
having the game for a while now, I would recommend that anyone who doesn't need online racing in their racing game should
SERIOUSLY consider buying this game. 9/10...
|
