Games
COLIN MCRAE: DIRT
If forza 2 and Motorstorm had a baby, it would be Colin McRae’s DIRT. The sixth in the series, codemasters have let up a little on the simulation side and leaned more towards an arcade feel racer. Half realistic simulator, half exhilarating gumball rally, DIRT’s got something for everyone.
First off, let’s just talk about the graphics. Dirt looks spectacular from start to finish. Even the game menus look snazzy. The sunlit deserts and the dewy forests aren’t just picture perfect they’re also highly interactive making the game look breathtakingly realistic. Crash into fences, trees or barriers and they’ll all react as they would in real life. Unfortunately the same can be said for your vehicle. The crash mechanic for the game is particularly detailed and every square inch of your car can dent, smash or even fall off. Broken windscreen, dragging bumpers and popped tail-lights are all too common on the beginning rally courses as you become familiar with your car. While it’s not quite burnout - rolling several times in the air only to crash into a wall of trees is almost as thrilling on a big screen. Good thing I ride a bike.
In the campaign mode there are 45 different motors to take on over a pyramid of 60 races to become number 1. Like Motorstorm for the Ps3, there’s quite a range there compared to other racing sims. You can drive a mudplugging buggy up a mountain or take your big rig to a crossover rally on a tarmac circuit. But it’s not just the wheels you’ll need to master. To complete the game, you’ll also tackle a variety of race types. Like Bruce Lee, McRae’s latest effort doesn’t restrict itself to one style.
There are 9 different types of race spread out across the whole campaign. There’s the traditional race against the clock rally stages on traditional and modern 4 wheel drives. There’s the tightrope of the hillclimb to balance, where one wrong turn will propel you off a sheer cliff. There’s the arcade style contact races and there’s the traditional rallycross what got McRae his name in the first place.
The handling of the cars is a bit loose for a sim, but just right for those who want a slightly more realistic arcade experience. For hardcore gearheads there are umpteen customisation options in there too, so you can tinker with your cars performance to your hearts content.
One criticism that has appeared consistently in reviews of the game is the frame rate which generally runs at quite a low 30 frames per second when there’s only one car on the track. When you’ve got 6 other cars onscreen though, that’s when some serious lagging happens and the fluid graphics turn the game into a flip-book.
The biggest disappointment though is in the online mode, which for some baffling reason doesn’t allow competitive racing between players at the same time. You can try to beat best times of other gamers, but you’ll be alone on the track. In fact the only thing that tells you you’re playing online is the other players times in the corner of the screeen. Online modes are such a standard part of racing titles these days, so this gaff is near unforgivable. Would you buy a new car that had 3 wheels?- probably not.
Despite these two failings, Dirt is an impressive and stunning racer that will provide hours of entertainment for sim lovers and arcade lovers alike. Might keep a few dangerous drivers off our roads too.
