Your back to the dirt track, in this rather good racing sim. Dirt 2 is possibly the best racing game ever made. Fact!
Racing and performing random challenges that tally up as you go (accumulating drift or air time for instance) earns you EXP that in time, levels you up and opens up access to other events on your sticker filled map. The control set-up is completely customisable which should be (but generally isn't) a part of any racing game. The six difficulty levels to choose from affect how many Flashbacks you get and how challenging the AI is. Damage is customisable too with off, on or 'visual only' to please your inner crash junkie and to see you over the finish line in one piece. All of that and your just getting started. There's a basic customisable vehicle set up menu too for adjusting gear ratios, suspension and so on. But there're no unlockable parts to enhance performance which is a shame and would have been better than fluffy dice accessories and garish liveries. But that doesn't change the game, because there are still tons of accesories to unlock anyway. You can buy and unlock other vehicles for each discipline but chances are you'll stick with the same early favourites throughout. The menu styling and the whole out of car experience feels like the lovechild of Need for Speed: Pro and the Tony Hawk's skateboarding games with its extreme sports carnival setting. It's not all bad, and it actually differs selection from the first game. But, since when has rallying been classed as an extreme sport? Since some extreme sport legends such as Dave Mirra (BMX) and Travis Pastrana (motocross) decided rallying was their thing. There's no WRC license as that has been snapped up for Gran Turismo 5, but again, despite this, Dirt 2 still manages to please you, with it's little hidden extras. There's meant to be a dynamic in the game that will see them turn on you in future races if you bash them about. Didn't really see this on show much to be honest. Most times I had a swipe at them they'd apologise even as I gently nudged them off a cliff! Sometimes they might say what I did was "not cool." Ha, just stay friends until you have the Trophies they provide then enjoy shunting them off cliffs or into lakes at every opportunity. Enjoy the air time Travis! But hey, the rest of the game is absolute gold!
The handling is more on the arcade side than simulation but don't let that fool you into thinking this is a substitute for skill. The scariest parts of Dirt 2 are the long straights where you get up to top speed, because you know that any little bump in the road or the slightest turn can have devastating consequences. Keeping the balance between chaos and control is where Dirt 2 is at its best. Sliding around a corner on dirt and making the transition to tarmac gives you that essential bit of extra grip that snaps your car back into position just before it goes past that point where you'd end up spinning out. It's an enormous rush when you pull it off. The Flashback feature from Grid returns. This is where you can rewind the action a few seconds at any point to have another go at a corner you just royally screwed up. This allows you to really go for a fearless approach by giving you free reign to experiment. It feels a bit like cheating but after a while you'll find you won't need it as much as you become familiar with the tracks. The cars all look great and really leap off the screen, because Dirt 2 has some wonderful graphics. The environments though are frequently jaw dropping. It's the Malaysia tracks that'll ruin other games for you. The Ladang Long track is the most stunning tropical environment I've ever seen in a game and has basically ruined all other games chances. The mountains track in China and the canyon in Utah are other stunners that stand out. The cars sound authentic with the violent, spitting exhaust pipes, crashes sounding suitably sickening and co drivers are good for providing optional levels of detailed assistance. Shame they only sit in on Rally events though.
With its adaptable difficulty settings, Dirt 2 really goes the distance to find a place for the casual and hardcore alike with every race feeling as exciting as the last. Codemasters has waltzed in with this game, because Dirt 2 tipped Gran Turismo off its throne. GT5 is going to have to be something special to top them now. You can guarantee you'll have more fun in the Dirt, though.
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Good Points: Amazing graphics, cool menu's, good gameplay and gameplay variations, it isn't boring, gripping, stunning tracks and alot of extra's.
Bad Points: Horrible box art, some corny extra's.