When you mix the hardcore rally feel of the Colin McRae games and tweak the gameplay towards the arcade-style, Rallisport Challenge side of the fence, you get DiRT. An amazingly fun, accessible, and highly polished game that rally fans and casual race fans alike will both love. Not only does it play very well, but it is one of the best looking racing games ever. So strap in and get ready for the ride of your life.
Quick Hits
- Title: DiRT
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: Codemasters
- Developer: Codemasters
- ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: Rally racing
- Pros: Great graphics; fun gameplay; lots to do
- Cons: Goofy Xbox Live multiplayer; cars feel floaty
Features and Modes
DiRT offers up more than 40 vehicles and six distinct race types. Traditional rally, rallycross, hillclimb, CORR, crossover, and rally raid all have their own distinct challenges and keep things varied and interesting as you play through the long career mode. Each of the different types of vehicles (different classes of cars, buggies, trucks, even semis) all handle differently and feel entirely different from one another. In addition to the career mode, there is also a championship mode where you compete for the trophy in different regions.
DiRT also has Xbox Live multiplayer, but it is pretty goofy. The races are just time trials where everyone races alone and then the times are compared. It is sort of interesting to compare your time against dozens of other real players in real-time, but at the same time, it makes the multiplayer play and feel no differently from the single-player, so it feels sort of pointless.
Gameplay
Codemasters
When you first pick up the controller, DiRT feels pretty slippery. If you are just making the transition from Forza 2 over to DiRT, as I’m sure a lot of people are, it takes a lot of getting used to before you are comfortable with DiRT. It isn’t bad, necessarily, but the cars feel really floaty and you constantly have to make little adjustments to keep you on course. There are several camera views, and this floaty feel is made seemingly worse when you use one of the third-person cameras. The cars literally look like they are just pivoting in the center rather than turning smoothly, and it is really rather off-putting. When you use one of the in-car views, though, the game feels much better. There are two views, one that is right up on the wheel and another that is set further back and is more realistic, and they both do a good job of really making you feel like you are in the driver’s seat. One other main component of DiRT’s gameplay is that the cars can be damaged, which affects their performance. You have to drive carefully in order to keep your car in good shape, and one wrong move can lead to a critical failure that will cost you the race. On easier difficulties, it isn’t that big of a deal, but as you move up the difficulty scale the game becomes much more of a simulation. All in all, the gameplay is very fun, and very good, but the floaty feel has to go for the inevitable sequel.
Graphics and Sound
The most impressive aspect of DiRT is easily the graphics. This game looks absolutely phenomenal and stands as one of the best looking racing games ever. The car models are great looking, and the environments you race in are all nicely detailed and realistic. Nice touches such as slick lighting effects and dirt that gradually accumulates on your car really make the game stand out. The damage modeling is also very, very good and it is cool to see all of the pieces fly off of your car in a crash. Trackside obstacles such as guard rails, fences, and more are also fully deformable and destructible. Another great feature is that you can watch a replay of each race, complete with tons of different camera angles and even the ability to go into slow motion for particularly cool moments.
The sound isn’t quite on par with the graphics, but it is okay. Menu music and car sounds can only really be described as generic, but they get the job done. As you run through rally events, you have a co-driver calling out turns and giving you advice, and he does a good job. Not quite so good are the goofy one liners you and your co-driver share. There are only a couple of different phrases they say, and hundreds of races to play through, so you hear the same stupid stuff a lot.
Bottom Line
Codemasters
DiRT is an amazingly polished rally racing game that will appeal to both rally fans and race fans in general. It looks absolutely phenomenal, and is worth checking out just for the slick graphics. Of course, those juicy visuals were just the bait to bring you on, the gameplay is what will hook you. It isn’t perfect, but the racing is very fun and satisfying once you get over the floaty feel. Our only real complaint has to do with the silly Xbox Live multiplayer, but it is far from a deal breaker. I would personally rate RalliSport Challenge 2 over it for rally racing supremacy, but until it becomes backward compatible DiRT is a fine substitute. Overall, DiRT is a great racer that is highly recommended.
