Are you sick of being confined to racing on a road with no bumps, jumps, or kickers? Well the new title Dirt might be the answer to your prayers.
As the newest installment in the Colin McRae off road series Dirt has a lot to live up to and in most areas it does just that with stunning visuals, beautiful crashes, great driving physics, and a challenging single player. The area that the game might fall a little short for most people is that it does not have a true head to head multiplayer, but we’ll get to that later.
The Environments
The first thing you notice when you turn on a new video game is if the graphics are what you would expect for you money. Well in this category you will definitely be pleased.
Dirt has not limited itself to only race tracks across the Pond, as our British friends might say, but has opened up its doors to the whole off road racing scene. The tracks in the series circle the globe and each one is more beautiful or difficult than the next.
One race you go from dodging trees on a dirt course through a forest in Europe and the next you are mashing bumpers with the AI and fighting it out on a closed Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), track in the states.
With races in Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States you won’t be disappointed in the variety of eye candy Codemasters has brought to the table.
The Race Types
Long time Fans of the Colin McRae racing series won’t be disappointed when they flip the switch as the classic Rally style racing is still in the game, but the developers have added a few new race types to the selection.
In each different race type you get to choose from 1-4 different cars and have the option of tuning them to ensure you have to the fastest racing machine on the track.
Rally – In this classic game type you will race on off road tracks across Europe in six different countries. Racers will choose a car and try to beat the times put up by other AI racers. If you are a fan of the old style McRae series this is the race type you are going to love.
Crossover – This race type is taken from the Super Special Stages you will find in rally events. You will race head to head against an AI opponent for two laps around a 2 lane course.
You won’t ever have to worry about running into your opponent however as you will be racing in separate lanes the entire race. The first lap you will race in your lane and then on the second you and your opponent switch lanes and race to the finish line. The person or AI opponent who gets to the finish line first is the winner.
As the game goes on and the difficulty level goes up you will find these races become more and more challenging. So be prepared to spend a little bit of time on each race if you are playing at the Pro-Am or Pro levels, because the AI in this game is pretty good.
Rallycross - Based out of Europe Rallycross is a combination of both on and off-road racing. Drivers will be given the challenge of navigating their way through the course to the finish line as they compete against the AI for the best time.
The switch-over from dirt to road in these races can prove difficult as your car tends to get a little squirrelly in the transition, but with a little practice anyone can get pull it off without a hitch. As with the other races be prepared to spend a little time learning the tracks, because trees come at you fast and will put your car in the shop without a second thought.
Rally Raid – In this race type you’ll race head to head against AI opponents on long off road circuits. All the races in Rally Raid are based inside the United States in Otay Valley Utah, California as this is where this form of off road racing was born.
These races can be fun, but are also somewhat of a chore. I have had to do a few races over and over again to get the tuning right on my car so that I was even fast enough to stay even with the pack leader. So get ready to have fun for the first couple of races and then dread the rest of these races as you might be doing them over and over again.
CORR – Championship Off-Road Racing is comprised of fast cars and short tracks. In this class of racing you’ll be at the wheel of Super Buggies, Class 1 Buggies, and Pro-4 trucks.
Prepared jump, bump and crash your way to the finish in an all out battle for first place. These races can be some of the most fun in the game with a lot of jumps and sharp turns to keep you on your edge. These tracks are very reminiscent of the old Arcade Style off road racing games many of us were made familiar with from our youth after pumping quarter upon quarter into the arcade machine.
Hill Climb – Ever wanted the thrill of racing to the top of a mountain as fast as you can while trying not to slide your car off the edge into the crevasse below? Well this race type is your chance to do just that in a race against the clock.
Drivers will start at the bottom of a mountain course and are given the challenge of making it to the top with the fastest time without destroying your vehicle. Prepare yourself for the butterflies in your stomach as you will most certainly plummet off the edge of the cliff.
Controls
The controls of this racer are fairly easy to learn and if you are familiar with racing games won’t take you any time to pick up. Drivers can also use their driving wheels to slide through the turns if you have one available.
A interesting new feature is the right thumb stick can be used as the throttle/brake and reverse for a little more of a gas pedal feel on the controller. If that doesn’t interest you don’t worry you can always use the old friendly triggers.
Camera Views
If you are the type of person who can’t race unless you are in the cockpit of the car don’t you worry there are two different options for you: The dash Cam (placing you right behind the steering wheel, but doesn’t give you any view of the left and right of your car), and the Helmet car (places you farther back than the Dash cam and gives you a view of what is beside you while you drive).
Well what if you don’t like sitting in the driver’s seat, that’s not a problem either. There are multiple other camera angles that you can choose to fit your racing style: Bonnet cam (places your POV in front of the windshield), Bumper cam (you are directly behind the car), Close chase (POV behind the car a little farther back than the bumper cam), and Far Chase (a lot farther back than the bumper or close chase cameras).
Difficulty levels
Never played a racing game before and you want this to be your first run at the podium, well step right up because there five different difficulty levels for you to choose. From the easiest (Rookie) to the hardest (Pro) there is a level for everyone on this game.
I did find however that the pro level in the beginning stages is not that much more difficult than the lower levels. The biggest challenge you will find is not necessarily the AI, but your knowledge of the tracks. The more you can memorize the better you will do, otherwise you are more than likely going to end up in a ditch.
Game Modes
Career Mode
In this mode you will start out with the slowest and easiest to drive cars and slowly (and I mean slowly) progress through sixty six different racing events, with each race growing more and more difficult than the rest (depending on your driving skills and the level of difficulty you have selected).
As you advance through the career you will be awarded money for finishing in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. The higher the difficulty level the more money you will acquire for making it onto the podium.
The biggest incentive to winning the race, other than pure determination, is that with more wins comes more money. The money you make from winning races can go towards the purchase of different and faster racing vehicles, and also new liveries (read: body wraps for your car) to make them stand out.
The career mode is a lot of fun at times and also a lot of clenching your teeth while trying not to scream at the scream, as you hit the same tree four times in a row. After 3 solid hours of play our driver has advance to the third tier of the competition a little under halfway.
Rally Championship
This is the classic Colin McRae rally mode that many have come to love. Drivers will race against the clock on long tracks with multiple stages as they try to become the Ultimate Champion.
There are three different championships you can compete in: European Championship, International Championship, and the Global Championship. Each one offers up a different challenge and different countries.
European Championship: Events in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany
International Championship: Events in Japan, Australia, and Spain
Global Championship: Events from both the European and International rallies
These races are separated into sections so you have a break in between, but each race is usually around 5 to 6 sections long with each one taking 3 to 5 minutes to race. So if you want a quick race don’t go into this mode, you can quit and save your progress half way through, but what fun is that.
Rally World
In this game type you can practice tracks and race cars and tracks that you have unlocked in career mode. Drivers can pick from 1 of three different race types: single race, single event, or time trials. Think of this area as the exhibition or practice ring for your career.
In other words you most likely won’t be racing in this game mode unless you are trying to best your buddies’ best time on a certain track or tune a car.
Multiplayer
If games could have an Achilles Heel then this is where you would find Dirt’s. Drivers are limited to two race types if they want to race on Xbox Live: Rally and Hill Climb, although this is in the spirit of true Rally racing it really limits the fun to be had with this game.
Players have a choice of Ranked, Player, or Private Matches, but the lobby is timed so don’t have any time to chit chat. Even if you wanted to talk to your opponents you can’t unless you text them or you set up a head to head race and choose to private chat. Who really wants to chat with someone over live unless they are your friend right?
Drivers also have to vote on a map and car to race with so if there is a car or map you really want to do you better communicate with your fellow drivers quick because you only have a minute or so before the voting ends and the next race begins.
The Verdict
The visuals and the single player on this game are amazing, but if you are in to the multi-player side of racing, (who isn’t right?), then you might want to think twice about picking this game up.
I can’t help but wonder if this game like many others has fallen into the trap of the developers tacking on the multiplayer at the last minute as a requirement from Microsoft.
If they had put in a solid effort with the online side this game could have been the racer of the year. As it is now I think most people will find this is a great rental and only a buyer if you are a true fan of Off Road racing in general or just the McRae series.
