Written by: Ian

 

 

 

Despite the death of rally legend of Colin McRae, Codemasters have returned for a sequel in memory of him- does it live up to his greatness? Whilst the game features a tribute to the man himself, it also features brash American drivers such as Ken Block, and a big focus on the X-Games, rather than the WRC focus of the past.

 

Is this a move in the right direction, or is "DiRT 2" disrespecting the great driver’s legacy?

 

 

Dirt2 has a pretty bog standard story for a racer- you’re a faceless guy just starting out, and you need to make a name for yourself by competing across the globe in increasingly more difficult rally-style events. The game does differentiate itself, however, with the excellent presentation the game has. You have your trailer, which houses the various bits of crap you win, but you can also go outside and have a look at the surroundings, other drivers, and inspect your cars.

 

On top of that, whilst it’s a pretty basic system, you also get to make friends with some of the other stars that you drive alongside. Certainly, it’s not perfect, and could easily be improved- but compared to many other similar racers, it’s at least a slight improvement over the usual dross.

 

 

 

If you’ve played either the first Dirt, or GRID, then you’ll know roughly what to expect from your experience with Dirt 2, at least handling-wise. You get a game with an air of simulation, but is also definitely verging on the arcade at the same time. If you don’t use the brake, you will be looking at a broken car, but at the same time, the handling, whilst nuanced, is definitely easier than grappling with a real rally car for sure.

 

And whilst damage returns, and looks more realistic than ever, it’s used in a far, far poorer way. Now, the messages are much more basic, like ‘minor engine damage’ as opposed to detailed stats for engine, transmission and radiator from the first game. In addition, your damage is automatically fully repaired between stages, unlike in the first game, where you had to micromanage repairs depending on how much time you had, which was a far superior system.

 

Dirt World Tour is ultimately pretty similar to last time around, and it provides you with a series of increasingly difficult and lengthy challenges in various locations around the world. I do still have several small complaints to make, however.

 

 

Firstly, too many events, particularly rallies, are made up of a single stage. Secondly, the super special discipline has gone, which is pretty lame. Thirdly, whilst there are over ten locations, there are only 1-3 tracks per location, so the number of track and stage layouts is actually really pretty low. Whilst you can race in different times of day, and in reverse, it’s still pretty disappointing the regularity with which tracks are recycled. Also, the smaller cars are now gone, and instead, you just have to pay large sums to make your cars magically faster for the tougher events- it’s not the most compelling system out there!

 

For all my minor criticisms though, the world tour does offer a lot to see and do. There’s over 100 events to participate in, a relatively decent selection of cars and tracks, but best of all, is the action. No matter what event you’re racing in, it feels good to be racing.

 

The AI is good, as they’re both fast, but also behave realistically- they won’t always be dead on the racing line, they’ll try to overtake, and they are prone to making the odd mistake too. As a result, you constantly get frenetic, bumper to bumper action in the multi-car races, and tough times to beat in the rally stages.

 

For all the quibbles, I loved the actual racing- and surely that’s the most important thing in any racing game, right?