Author Topic: [Video Game] Dirt 2  (Read 2664 times)

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Offline setrataeso

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[Video Game] Dirt 2
« on: October 11, 2009, 12:19:04 PM »
Name: Dirt 2
Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Codemasters
Genre: Rally Racer


The Colin McRae series has long been considered the king of rally racers since 2000, when Colin McRae Rally was released. Since then, the series has spawned several sequels and the spinoff series, Dirt. Since Colin McRae's death in 2007, Dirt 2 is the first new release without Colin McRae overseeing the games development. Does Dirt 2 live up to it's namesake? Read on...

Dirt 2 is published and developed by Codemasters, a well-known name to anyone remotely in tune with the gaming world. Dirt 2 is actually the second racing game published by Codemasters this year; the other being Fuel, which was developed by Asobo Studios. Fuel was a cool experiment, but was ultimately a letdown, as it suffered from the lower development quality that a company like Asobo would put in. With Codemasters back at the development helm, Dirt 2 looks to make a truly spectacular game to reclaim the title of king of rally.

Dirt 2 starts the player off by introducing them to the sport of rally racing and explaining how Colin McRae was the champion of the sport and everyone's idol. The main career mode then lets the player progress by having them race in select locations around the world. Each zone has preferred race types. Croatia will have you doing rally racing, while Baja features more landrush-style races. Of course, the maps themselves vary greatly and will play a big part in the races. Utah features long and wide roads, but lots of obstacles on the roadside to crash into. London focuses more on enclosed streets, so your car isn't in as much danger, but the tighter streets make it difficult to maneuver around opponents.

The original Dirt had a certain part of game blow everyone away. It was the menus. Dirt featured the coolest menus I had ever seen in a racer, or any game for that matter. It was something out of Minority Report, where all the icons are in the background, and move in or out of focus depending on which menus icon you chose. I recommend checking out a video of it, as it is really cool. Dirt 2 also has great menus, though not nearly as cool as the first Dirt. Dirt 2's main menu is inside your trailer, as you drive around the world in it (somehow). Here you can access your world tour, the online modes, and the extras and options. When selecting a race, the menus always give lots of information as to what to expect from the track, the race type, your car, and the other drivers. Having this information is not always necessary to win, but its nice to have it available, and it's organized very neatly. The load screens also show your progress towards missions and acheivements, such as drive a total distance, or roll a certain amount of times.

The races come in many forms. Rally is strangely not the feature of Dirt 2. While it is prevalent, it is equal with many of the other race types. Some feature running laps, like Landrush. Others are longer races like Raid. Some other variations appear like Last Man Standing and Gatecrasher, which has you crashing through gates to keep your time up. The fact that rally racing is only about 20% of the races will turn some purists off of the experience, but most people will likely enjoy what Dirt 2 has to offer in terms of career modes.

Dirt 2 features lots of unlockables. Making money and earning experience will net you more maps and cars, but you can also unlock different horn sounds, dashboard items, and the obligatory fuzzy dice. From the very starting of the game, you unlock items left and right, and Dirt 2 makes sure to continue spoiling you constantly.

Dirt 2 is fairly accessible to newcomers, but the learning curve may seem steep to others. Those not used to using braking to their advantage in races are going find themselves losing most races. Dirt 2 uses the most advanced physics engine seen yet in racing games. Because of the offroad aspect of the game, this means lots of opportunities to see opponents flip over, and get wrecked. The wrecks themselves look pristine. Pieces will scratch, chip, and break off as you band your car up more. If enough damage has been done, your ride may not function as well. You may accelerate slower or constantly drift to one side if enough damage has been done.

If you find the ride completely trashed you can still opt to use rewind, where if you crash or simply want to take a the last 5 seconds back, you just select where to start from, and try again. First used in Race Driver: Grid, Codemasters brings the rewind option to Dirt 2, where it feels more at home. Grid was far too difficult for me, and rewind felt like a waste, as the race would be lost either way. Dirt 2 makes the rewind option feel more at home, as mistakes can happen, but the difficulty is not too unforgiving for it to feel like a waste again. Rewind becomes such a useful tool that other racing games need to adopt it in order to please those who have a tendency to crash 5 yards before the finish lines. Difficulty can still be altered before each race, and that can affect the opponent difficulty and how many rewinds you get. The easier difficulties are great for beginners to get a hang of how to control the vehicles properly, while the hardest ones will challenge veterans with nearly flawless AI.

Dirt 2 encourages you to get chummy with your fellow racers. The world tour mode allows you to race against pros like Ken Block, Dave Mirra and Travis Pastrana. The more you race with them, the friendlier they become, and when you start to need teammates for certain races, the better friends are going to perform better. The issue I have with the friend system is that you can't lose friends. In fact, they never say anything bad about you. Even if you just whooped them in a race, they will always have encouraging words for you. While some may call this good sportsmanship, I call it unrealistic, as some of them should be a bit pissed off. Also, before each race, the announcer will let the spectators know who is the favourite to win. I find it odd that despite that fact that I win almost every race I compete in, I only ever was the favourite 3 or 4 times.

The sound design is not very impressive. The cars all emit very loud and cool noises, but the rest of what you'll hear is fairly uninteresting. The music is pretty dull and predictable, while the other drivers are exclaiming poorly acted voice clips. It's neat that they got the real drivers in to do the voicework, but they all seem uninterested to be doing the VO.

The visuals, on the other hand, are extremely impressive. Dirt 2 has upped the standard for what to expect from a racer's visuals. The amount of detail in the cars and environment is astounding. The tire tracks left in the dirt, the damage modeling, and the high-res crashes are all going to blow gamers away. I would have liked some more weather effects and a day/night cycle to make the races even more unpredictable, but I'll settle for what we have.

The multiplayer in the first Dirt was a major misstep. In only featured time-trials, many complaints were aimed at that poor design choice. Dirt 2 gives players everything that you could do in single-player and transfers it online. Every map, car, and race type is available on or offline, and the races run quite smoothly.

Lastly, I'd like to point out a particular event in the world tour mode that pays tribute to Colin McRae. There is a tournament, like any other, that lets you race in his Ford Focus from the Ford Motor Co. Rally events. It features a cutscene at the end of a montage of clips and pictures of Colin McRae. This event sums up how Codemasters approached Dirt 2; with care. Lots of love went into making Dirt 2, and it pays tribute to Colin McRae's namesake and lives up to that name. Considering that many of those who made Dirt 2 had worked with Colin before on a previous title, Codemasters knew exactly how to handle the material they were working with.

Dirt 2 is a great successor to Dirt, one of the best racers I've played so far, and an excellent tribute to the late Colin McRae. Despite a few design choices, Dirt 2 manages to match and exceed the brilliance of the first game. Those looking for pure rally may be disappointed, but those looking for a deep career mode, a strong multiplayer, and a lasting game should look no further than Dirt 2.

9/10
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https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=25343.0

Setra, I think that is the best statement I have read on this forum.  Very well said.