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| Reviewer | Platform | Publisher | Developer | Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Bailey | PC/Mac | Codemasters | Codemasters | 1-8 (Games for Windows Live) |
| Requirements | Also on... | Buy from Amazon.co.uk | ||
| Windows XP/Vista/7 | Xbox 360, PS3 | Click here to buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2. | ||
You might not realise it, but this is actually the seventh Colin McRae game that Codemasters have made. The series has come a long way from the original Colin McRae Rally in 1998, a game that placed a strong emphasis on rallying. It wasn't a realistic title, and it didn't feature any WRC licenses, just the cars and some stars, but it did focus solely on rallying. It was also rather good. Now we have Colin McRae: DIRT 2, where the focus has shifted away from rallying, but we still have a rather good game.
Dirt 2 is a game all about off-road action; high-speed off-road action, for that matter, as it takes you very fast around some of the bumpiest places in the world. There's a variety of race types on offer; Trailblazer, Land Rush, Rally Raid, Rally Cross, and the traditional Rally. The Rally mode works just as you'd expected; there's a collection of stages and you're accompanied by a co-driver as you drive along in your quest to clock the quickest time. Trailblazer is similar, but features no co-driver and the stages are longer, and without that voice saying "Left Two" you can easily find yourself driving off a cliff the first time. Rally Cross introduces opponents to the off-road action, while Land Rush and Rally Raid do something similar but in larger vehicles and smaller buggies respectively. I also forgot another mode in the PS3 review; Gate Crasher. This sees you smashing through cardboard gates as a timer counts down, gaining an extra two seconds for each gate you smash through, and the person with the most time remaining when they cross the line (if they do) wins. Each mode features unique handling, but all are accessible and enjoyable. The variety of modes, and in particular Gate Crasher, signify a shift towards the mainstream, away from the game's roots as a pure rally title.
This shift to the mainstream had been seen in the adoption of more non-rally modes than in the previous title, but the clean menus from that game have also disappeared as part of this game's efforts to reach a broader audience. In its place is a 3D system featuring a trailer where you're living out your racing days, travelling across the world. The menu options float around the trailer like the captions on US TV show Fringe, and, while it may appear slightly confusing on first look, it turns out to be much more intuitive than you'd imagine. Further evidence for Dirt 2 trying to adopt the mainstream is a new feature (although returning from Codemaster's other racing series, Race Driver: Grid); Flashbacks, which essentially provide the ability to rewind time. You are given a number of Flashback opportunities based on the difficulty level you have selected that allow you to rewind the action at any point for up to a few seconds, to undo critical errors, such as driving head first into a rock. Not that I'd ever do something like that... As in Grid, the Flashbacks are a welcome addition to avoid repeated race restarts, and they help make the series more accessible but their limited number stops the game from becoming too easy. However, sometimes they don't rewind quite far enough, and you can find yourself hurtling into the same rock at a slightly different angle as soon as you resume.
Dirt 2 is built on the same EGO engine that powered Grid, but with some significant improvements to help it compete with more recent racing games. The backgrounds always look stunning, and the level of detail in everything has certainly gone up since the original. In fact, this PC version is also better than the (already impressive) one on the consoles. The reason for the delay in this release compared to those editions is Codemasters' efforts to include DirectX 11 features. In fact, it's the first major title to include support for Microsoft's new technology, which is included with the new Windows 7 operating system. The result is better looking water, flags waving away more realistically, and some fancy post-processing effects to add to the game's atmosphere. Of course, you not only need Windows 7 for all this, but a DirectX 11-compatible graphics card, and that's something I don't have at the moment, so my experience is strictly with the DirectX 9 version running on Windows 7. On the right setup things can run without a hint of slowdown, but as with all PC games, your mileage may vary. The game also allows you to do a lot of damage to your car, and this is reflected in both the handling and the visuals, but then we'd expect nothing less in a Codemasters racing game. However, it is curious that we don't see weather effects playing much of a factor in this game; while there are some puddles and wet surfaces to drive through, there is no falling rain, and no hint of snow in the air or on the ground. Such conditions used to be such an important part of the series, and indeed a part of rallying in general, and as such are certainly missed in Dirt 2.
In fact, this leads on to general worries about the casual audience receiving so much attention. At first these concerns are easily washed away when you actually play the game, as design decisions in this direction certainly haven't affected the enjoyability of the game. But the aforementioned lack of weather does limit the variety of experiences, despite the different racing types. There's also the issue that while damage does have an effect during a race, it no longer carries over to the next race during an event. There is no time penalty in order to make repairs; you simply get a nice new car each time, with no consequences, thus allowing you to be a bit too careless as you navigate the tracks. Talking of tracks, there also seem to be too few in the title, with too much repetition across events, particularly in the latter parts of the game, a few more tracks would definitely have been welcome.
However, despite these downsides, there's still plenty to do here. The campaign may lack a variety of tracks, but there's still a lot to do, as you travel across the world taking part in a variety of events, earning experience, and getting invited to ever more difficult challenges. On top of this is a rather comprehensive multiplayer component, which allows you, not only to take all the different types of racing online, but also to create your own mix-and-match sessions, with vehicles in classes they wouldn't normally appear in. There's also some mass challenges, linking in your activities in the offline experience into the online arena, such as the number of miles you've clocked, to compete with every other PC Dirt 2 owner who has also been playing recently. The online component is powered by Games for Windows Live, for better or for worse, which means you get to earn Achievements which accumulate Gamerpoints like your Xbox 360 counterparts. The lack of split-screen is again disappointing, but the complete online experience almost makes up for this.
It is also worth nothing that this is the first title in the series made since Colin McRae died. Codemaster's title is a fitting tribute to the rally legend, through both the quality of the game itself, and through a special Colin McRae event you earn after completing a world tour. It was nice to see the developer acknowledging the star whose name has helped produced one of the most popular racing series of recent times.
| Overall | Dirt 2 is a really enjoyable off-road racing game, but it's efforts to court the mainstream will leave it a bit lacking for fans of the series and rallying in general. Those looking to try out their new DirectX 11 graphics card should also look here. | 8/10 |
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