Not only does Colin McRae DiRT look great, it’s bloody fun too!
Normally, a game’s menu system isn’t much to write home about. Not so with DiRT. This is probably the nicest menu system I have ever seen in a game. It looks beautiful and works excellently. On many of the menus, you can hit the triangle button (Y on the 360) to hear a description of the event, vehicle, stage or vehicle set-up which is very useful, especially when you first start playing. Finally, once you’ve selected your event and vehicle, you are entertained with some interesting (and sometimes worrying) statistics about your playing habits while the game loads. These include your total time spent driving, longest time on two wheels and longest distance without crashing.
From the main menu, you have the choice to enter Career mode, Rally World, Rally Championship or Multiplayer mode.
Career mode takes you to a pyramid of more than 60 events made up of Rally events (where you race a solo point-to-point course with a co-driver – fastest time wins), Hill Climb events (similar to rally events except you don’t have a co-driver), Rallycross events (head-to-head races with multiple cars on half-dirt/half-tarmac circuits), Crossover events (where you race one other person on the same track but with two different start/finish lines and you cross-over at the mid-point in the track– the fastest person around the entire course wins) and Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) events (head-to-head races against multiple opponents on a dirt track in buggies and racing trucks) among others. Each tier is unlocked by collecting points with the ultimate goal being to get to the top of the pyramid and complete the final event. Each event is worth up to 10 points of which you are awarded a certain amount depending on how well you do in the event (10 points for 1st place). The very meticulous (or unemployed) among you will ultimately attempt to gain 10 points in every event, although (I am told) this isn’t necessary to reach the top tier. You gain money for each event you gain a podium position on. How much money you win depends on your position (1st, 2nd or 3rd) and the difficulty you select. This money is used to buy vehicles required to take part in subsequent events.
A nice feature of career mode is that you select the difficulty before each event, not at the beginning of the game. This helps avoid those hours spent with a pot of Polyfilla filling-in that hole that your SIXAXIS made in the wall. If you can’t complete an event in Professional mode, just switch it down to the ProAm setting. You’ll get the same amount of points, but earn less money.
Rally World is your ‘pick-up and play’ area. Here you can choose to play any type of event with the huge array of vehicles you have unlocked in Career mode. If you need a break from the pressure of life in the fast lane, here’s the place to hone your skills and just have fun before continuing your journey to the top of the pyramid.
Rally Championship is where you can return to your Collin McRae roots. There are a variety of rally events to choose from here and is the ideal place to work on your driving skills before going online to see how well you’re doing against other players from around the world.
The main area where DiRT isn’t such a success is in multiplayer mode. The only online functionality the game has is the ability to compete with other players in a time-trial scenario, not head-to-head racing. Your time is uploaded to an online leader board where you can see how you stack-up against other players. The only other area of the game that I can think to mention in a not so positive tone is your sometimes irritating, always cheesy co-driver. “Smooth and steady. I’m Mr. Smooth and you’re Mr. Steady.” Shut up! If anything, I’m Mr. Smooth!
The developers are very proud of the damage modeling system they’ve developed for DiRT. And rightly so! For the first time, vehicles are deformed AROUND objects that they plough into! Gone are the days where you’d hit a brick wall at 80, dent your bumper and bounce off in the other direction. Your car may actually end up considerably shorter by the end of the course. And the environment is just as deformable as the cars. Stone walls, fences and Armco react very convincingly and all under their own physics. All this results in collisions which are sometimes disturbing realistic when played back in the game’s replay system.
The replay controls in DiRT are simple but effective. You’ve got the standard toolkit (pause, rewind, fast forward, slow-motion, etc) and also the ability to select from a number of camera angles. Watching a replay of your car clipping the side of a rock and barrel-rolling seven times down the dusty track also provides the perfect opportunity to take in the stunning scenery that surrounds each stage. It also gives you the opportunity to admire the immersive, crisp 5.1 surround sound that both the replays and the game itself are presented in. The stunning surroundings and sometimes chilling realism his makes for replays that are just as satisfying and entertaining as the race it’s self.
Due to it’s radical departure from previous games in the series, maybe this game will not be so popular with the Colin McRae purists. But DiRT is a brilliant start to the next generation of Colin McRae games. What’s to come in future games in the series, we can only imagine. Codemasters are obviously proud of their latest McRae masterpiece which can now stand as a worthy tribute to the man himself. Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Multiplayer: 5/10
Longevity: 7/10
Fun: 9/10