DIRT 2 - A mixture of visual style and immersive gameplay.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 Review
Reviewed on PlayStation 3
Date: 27/09/09.
As the latest game in the Colin McRae rally game series, Colin McRae DIRT 2 goes out of its way to improve upon it predecessor. It’s good to see that even after the death of Colin McRae Codemaster’s have kept the branding true to one of the sport’s most influential driver’s. Right from the off you are presented with an impressive looking introduction to rally driving. But unlike games like WRC, this rally game has an arcade like feel to it. Although saying this cars in the game control and act like the real thing, it’s the visual presentation which brings on this effect.
The career mode is similar to the first DIRT game but with a few welcome changes. Instead of the pyramid style progression of the first game, it now uses a world tour which is similar to GRID. You’re given the choice to race in whichever event you like. Of course from the beginning you have a very limited number of events in a few different locations. But as you progress you meet new, true to life, drivers such as Ken Block and Travis Pastrana who in turn invited you to new locations, opening a wide variety of different event types. Also as you progress you build friendships with the other professional drivers, although it is one of the smaller features in the game, it can prove useful. It encourages the player to complete all the events in a certain location so they can be unlocked as a team mate for future events. The main aim is to progress through each level by earning experience in each and every event. Every now and then the other drivers who specialise in a certain location will challenge you to a showdown which consists of a one-on-one race which is a good opportunity to gain more experience and build relationships with drivers. The progression is quite quick but it feels about right. You won’t be hanging around repeating any events to earn a little bit more money to buy a car or experience to unlock the next events. Progression is always a hard field to master for games designers but I feel that Codemaster’s have found a happy medium which will keep the player immersed in the game. My only criticism in this area is that it’s a little bit too easy to earn money. But I have been playing it on a higher difficulty where it pretty much throws money at you, but easier difficulty players shouldn’t find any trouble either. The only thing I could think that would have improved the career mode is by including some sort of story but the longevity of the game really makes up for it, especially if you’re planning on completing all of the events.
The visual presentation of DIRT 2 is quite simply, amazing. The menu design at first makes it difficult to distinguish it from a cut scene. The menu consists of the inside and a small area outside of a driver’s event trailer. The camera will spin around to the different key points in the trailer as you flick through the menus and the transitions are smooth and quick. Once you have selected an event, your character will walk outside to choose his car in a first person view. From hear you can see a crowd of people walking around, just like at a racing event and a DJ plays over the speaker systems in the background. Just like in GRID whilst the game is loading it shows your progression through the game, showing some usual facts such as how far you have drifted or your longest jump so it keeps you occupied during the loading times which are quite reasonable. The main addition to DIRT 2 is lighting effects. In locations such as Baja the sun will shine off the front of the car and a nice glare effect will obscure your vision for a split second. Also the player can choose to drive from the cockpit view, which is becoming an increasingly popular addiction into the Racing game genre. This can make the game a little more difficult to some as most of the view can be obscured by the interior of the car, but it does add a huge sense of realism to the game. If you drive through a puddle in one of the track’s the water spray against the windshield and make you virtually blind to the track before the wiper’s can do their job. The frame rate is smooth and I have only seen a case of texture popping once during my time of playing the game so far.
The damage in the game is described as “Unprecedented Realistic Damage Modelling” which for the most part is very true to its word. When in grouped race event’s, other drivers can be sent tumbling repeatedly in front of you in a big pile of ever increasing twisted metal. They also try to continue after their crash before you hear their frustration over your driver radio. At other time’s this damage model can be slightly annoying. You can receive minor wheel damage just from landing a jump too often, which is unavoidable, and in the long run will slow you down. But for the most part the damage model is actually more on the forgiving side. You can really slam your car sideway’s into a barrier and virtually no internal damage will be done. However the game now comes equipped with the tried and tested flashback replay feature from Race Driver: GRID. This feature allows you to rewind at anytime and correct your mistakes. Even though this feature has been known to be frowned upon it can really help more people get into games like these and gives players with a little less skill in the area a chance. Also veterans of the genre will be happy to know that this feature can be turned off as they increase the difficulty. That or just ignored. I personally found that this was a great decision to include as the other driver’s artificial intelligence can be a little cheap at times and they can send you spinning off track after nudging into the back of you.
The sound track to the game is brilliant; Codemaster’s have really gone out of their way to include music that is very suited to rally/racing games. There is a wide variety of music ranging from Queens of the Stone Age to The Futureheads. Also the sound transitions well from the loading screens to the menus and game play almost seamlessly. When you are inside your trailer the sound from the DJ is muffled and the sound becomes clearer as you walk outside, and a TV inside the trailer shows the music video of the music that is being played. The car’s in the game sound great too, there is a loud roar from the revving engines as cars fly around the circuits. They have really nailed it when it comes to the sound, right down to the small details such as tyres cutting through the dirt, then a loud squeal as the tyre transitions from gravel to tarmac. The other driver’s will hurl abuse at you if you knock into them or they will laugh if they manage to take over you. During the events the drivers you have made as friends will wish you luck at the start of the race and then tell you how well/badly you did during the race and either congratulate or commiserate depending on how well you have done. Also if you are fortunate to have you name on the audio nickname list then you can have the different drivers say your name during events. If you crash into a driver during a race you will hear them say “Hey Brett! How about you take it easy on me!”
Personally I can’t get enough of this game at the moment. It has a lot of variety and longevity to keep the player immersed for a good while. I am incredibly impressed by the audio and visual presentation of the game and the seamless transitions between the events and the menu. The cars control as they should do and the sense of speed can be quite incredible as you reach the high speeds.
Game play: 9/10
Visual Appearance: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Reviewer’s Tilt: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
