Review - Colin McRae: DiRT 2

What is it?

The seventh incarnation of the popular Colin McRae licensed off-road rally series and sequel to 2007's all-singing, mud-slinging Colin McRae: DiRT. This is the first game to be released since the death of the eponymous McRae.

What we like

The sand-burnished-smooth presentation, manifold game modes, player-personalised voiceovers and interactive, race-meeting styled, first-person perspective menus. This game is pitched perfectly between arcade and simulation styles, and the variety of race modes keeps the action interesting.

What we dislike

The game may be a little heavy on the "gnarly" Americanised glitz for some, and the influence of the late, great Colin McRae is - aside from a few cursory mentions - utterly lacking from the proceedings. There is also no split-screen multiplayer option.

Judgment

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 fixes all of the issues that blighted the first DiRT, providing an easily accessible, multifarious and highly immersive rally game for the masses that retains enough of the elements of simulation to keep purists happy.

Review

If you've played the first DiRT game then you'll know that the classic Colin McRae rally franchise has undergone something of a respray and body modification since the classic, accessible sims of yesteryear.

For those of you about to stop reading, though, you should note that DiRT 2 is no case of style over content.

Though the first DiRT game shifted the tone from the original purists' rally game to the X Games-inspired, Burnout-esque spectacle it is today, it matched this new stylisation with unrealistically light handling and a somewhat ephemeral feel.

In addition, dodgy frame-rate problems dashed any hopes of poaching Burnout devotees for Camp McRae.

No such problems beset this release. DiRT 2 takes totally immersive, oil-slick-smooth presentation and welds it to a core engine of excellent physics and a more realistic - though never dull or cumbersome - driving experience.

The game is visually stunning, too. From the carefully crafted menu system to the gorgeously rendered car models, awe-inspiring backdrops, a high level of detail manipulation (all without a hint of slow-down and frame-rate problems), as well as fantastic lighting and replay video camera effects, this game is visually sumptuous.

Go get it dirty

You'll start out as a young upstart turning up to race-meets in your cool, if battered, camper van-come-Winnebago with the intention of carving out a niche in the world of extreme rallying and competing against such luminaries of the scene as Ken Block, Dave Mirra and Travis Pastrana.

What better place to start out than with a few breakneck circuits around Battersea power station, mainstay of the extreme sports community?

Soon you'll find yourself hurtling around the track while - should your name be common enough for inclusion in the long list of pre-recorded player monikers - being personally harangued or encouraged by your competitors as you beat out a kettle-drum symphony against their cars' bodywork.

As you gain a reputation for yourself - earning money and XP, as well as the more randomly awarded and overabundant supply of liveries and dashboard toys along the way - you'll also become known, respected and forge friendships and alliances with other drivers.

While this camaraderie is all very well and good in setting the tone for the proceedings, it creates little impact on the actual gameplay. Friendships can seem pretty arbitrary and you never seem to fall out with your teammates or rivals, no matter how much you single them out for punishment on the road.

Are you experienced?

In many of DiRT's rival titles, earning money is the key objective to game progression, typically modelled like so: 

10 Win easy race20 Earn prize money30 Buy faster car40 Win harder race50 goto 20

In DiRT 2, that model doesn't apply quite so much. The gulf in quality between available vehicles is never vast enough to make victory unattainable without purchasing the best motor in its class.

Money earned in-game is more for making modifications and upgrades to your trucks, buggies and rally cars or for saving towards a vehicle that best suits your driving style.

XP is instead the key to level progression in DiRT 2 and is awarded for winning races and for certain achievements. Thus even players languishing in the lower ranks can find some way of progressing through the levels.

Should you experience the frustration of totalling your vehicle on the last corner before winning a race or before setting an all-time personal record, you can also (sparingly) make use of the flashback function to rewind, drop yourself back into the action and (in the tradition of Quantum Leap) put things right that once went wrong.

Them's the brakes

Powering along with your foot on the throttle and using fellow competitors as crash barriers may pay off when you're playing a typical arcade racer, but don't let that blind you here: after the early stages, when you get away with battering non-player characters into submission and grinding virtual pedal to metal, the emphasis on driving skill becomes much more apparent.

As you enter the big league and travel between global race meetings, measured, calculated driving tactics along with use of that often-neglected brake pedal are more frequently rewarded with a spot on the winner’s podium. Get yourself in front of the field and you can often control the proceedings with careful driving within your own comfort zone, positioning yourself as a self-styled pace-car.

The race types also include events such as Gatecrasher, in which you add time to your diminishing stop-clock by destroying target "gates" as you navigate the track. The exercise not only entertains but can subtly educate novices about the best racing lines around those perilous corners and hairpin turns.