Gameplay impressions
Gameplay impressionsDirt 2 is the best Colin McRae game yet. It builds on the solid foundations set down in last year’s iteration to deliver a stylish, arcade racer that offers a wide range of rewarding and challenging high-speed events. There’s a good variety of terrains and tracks to master and the diversity of the seven car classes ensures that there’s plenty to challenge your driving skills. You’ll switch from handling the likes of a light and speedy super buggy to a weighty and much slower Dakar-style truck, and although changing between the vehicle classes requires you to switch your mentality, the powerhouse of a game engine and tweaks to the handling model ensures that, no matter which vehicle you step into, the action remains fast and furious, while the vehicles handle impeccably and realistically across the different terrain.
The brilliant NEON game engine from Dirt is back in full force and has allowed Codemasters to push the the level of realism on the tracks. Race across light gravel and then switch over to a tarmacked road and you'll feel a distinct difference under your wheels and therefore need to change your racing technique accordingly. At high speeds the more powerful cars are difficult to handle across mud or gravel, meaning you have to be even more accurate at pulling off power-slides or handbrake turns around hairpin bends. Across tarmac, however, you’ll feel a noticeable shift in speed and the smoothness of the surface becomes apparent. There are a number of tracks that blend two types of terrain into one course so you constantly need to be on your guard for these shifts in surfaces and give each race your full attention. Due to the variety of classes and courses on offer, the action is unpredictable and exciting during World Tour mode.
The addition of the flashback system has added to that excitement. Though being able to rewind part of a race isn't realistic, it does encourage you to push yourself to the limit and race even faster than before because you know that you'll have a second chance and be able to go back should it all go wrong. We're also very happy to see the return of a decent online mode following last year’s disappointing experiment with solo racing against 100 invisible people. It's this feature that really takes this year’s McRae title to a new level and sets it apart from the last game in the series. Just being able to race against 7 other people across some brilliant tracks adds infinite replay value.
Click for larger imageGraphically, Dirt 2 looks amazing. The rolling hills and the surrounding environments are brought to life with the finest of detail and the vehicle models, which show real-time damage and pick up every scratch and bump, adds to the thrill and realism of the ride. The only downside to this latest graphical overhaul is the stylish 3D menu, which looks great, but can be painfully slow to navigate. That small negative aside, Dirt 2 is the definitive off-road racing game, and a franchise that gets better and better each year. It’s hard to see where Codemasters will take the series from here, because Dirt 2 is practically flawless.
Final Score - 9/10
