Introduction
Having to choose between two great games is terribly difficult, especially when the choices are Forza Motorsport 2 and Colin McRae DiRT for Xbox 360. On one hand, Forza 2 offers a realistic simulation with over 300 licensed cars and plenty of customization options but on the other hand, Codemasters is finally bringing authentic rally racing to the next-generation consoles. Even as I put the pristine DVD in my Xbox 360, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had made the right choice reviewing this game … was sacrificing all those virtual Porsches and Ferraris worth it?

Colin McRae
Rally racing has never been big the US, meaning that any form of entertainment based on the sport usually gets ignored by the biggest market available to game developers. In fact, although series like Rallisport Challenge or Colin McRae were major successes in Europe, they barely even registered sales in the US.  This time however, the McRae franchise wants a bite of the American apple and hopefully, DiRT will achieve just that. Fans will immediately notice that this isn’t actually Colin McRae 06 and it shouldn’t be considered a sequel of the series because to crack the largest gaming market, Codemasters has decided to totally overhaul their franchise. As a result, in addition to the typical rallies and crossovers, one now has the opportunity to try out Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), rally raids, hill climbs and rally crosses; additions aimed specifically at American gamers. Did it pay off?

DiRTy Neon is the name of Codemasters’ new 3D engine that allows for the gorgeous screenshots littered throughout this review, though it comes at a price: a dodgy frame rate on the Xbox 360 version. Even though Microsoft’s console is one hell of a powerful machine, the Neon engine brings it to its knees and as a result, no one is going to be experiencing smooth 60 frames per second. In fact, 30 frames sounds much more reasonable and even that isn’t going to be necessarily the case, seeing as in rally crosses or rally raids (which have multiple cars), it’s possible to see the frames dip down into the teens. This will definitely be a deal breaker for some and even though I can live with an average below 60 frames per second, those dips are tough to ignore…

But at least those low frames aren’t without reason, given that DiRT has more special effects than a triple A Hollywood movie. Normal mapping, motion blur, High Dynamic Range (HDR), specular lighting, dynamic shadows, volumetric dust and much more help bring the game to life, immersing the gamer unlike any other racer I’ve ever played. I’ll agree, they might have gone a bit too far with some of the effects (especially HDR) but the end result is still beautiful beyond belief. Whizzing through vine fields in Germany hasn’t ever looked so realistic and the vehicles themselves, whether a RWD racing buggy or a 4WD Subaru Impreza, are modeled to perfection from the inside and outside, letting you admire tiny details rarely seen in a game of this genre.

It doesn’t stop there though, because this graphical prowess has continued even into the game’s menus which are just stunning, full stop. Simplistic yet stylish, the menus are a real treat to navigate through, an aspect which is generally quite tedious in games. Finally, add to this a magnificent physics system that can calculate (in real-time) the deformation of a car’s hood as you crash at 100 mph into a small tree.

Aural Nirvana
Hearing a tiny four-pot engine revving like mad, followed by the wonderful sound of unburnt fuel exploding out the tailpipe of a Citroen C2 has never sounded so good (except in reality of course). To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how Codemasters got such precise and realistic engine sounds but does it really matter when the results are so spectacular? Every noise sounds perfect, whether it’s the sound of tires screeching on pavement or of the car’s turbo kicking up as you slip and slide down some muddy British road. In addition, depending on how damaged your car is the engine, turbo and gearbox will make a slightly different noise, reflecting the health of your vehicle. For me, the icing on the cake was that most of the variations in sound (engine damage, going through a tunnel, Doppler effect, etc.) were calculated in real-time, and not just a prerecording playing at certain moments. With a decent sound setup, this was really noticeable and just immerses you totally into the game.

The good news doesn’t stop there because once you’ve finished a race and start watching the replay, enjoyable (and forgettable) music will play along. The audio tracks chosen for DiRT are never overbearing or annoying and just accomplish what they set out to do: give decent background music. However, like the visuals, there’s a problem with the aural department, mostly in the form of the copilot and narrator’s voices. Travis Pastrana, a famous xtreme motorsports racer in the US has replaced the usual Scottish and Welsh accents gamers on this side of the Atlantic have gotten used to. And while American accents aren’t bad, they somehow come off a bit cheesy in DiRT, mostly because of what they are saying. For example, it isn’t rare to hear the copilot before a race say, “Smooth and Steady, I’m mister smooth, you’re mister steady!” or “There’re only winners in this car, let’s win!” I think you get the picture.

The Transformation
Colin McRae has always been known to be a decent rally simulation, ever since the first game debuted on the original PlayStation but that won’t be the case with DiRT. Even though the game looks and sounds realistic, the driving is well… arcadey. Yes, I know it’s blasphemous and if you’ve been a real fan of the franchise since day one, this will seem like the most horrendous crime committable but stay with me, because it isn’t as bad as it sounds. In an attempt to capture everyone’s attention, Codemasters decided to make the game easily accessible, meaning that it has a “pick up & play” sort of feel going on. And yet, even though the game plays easily with cars staying much more stable, sliding a bit less and braking a bit faster than in previous Colin McRae games, on the harder difficulties, it’s still just as enjoyable at its predecessors.

Let me explain. As is typical with car games, you have a career mode (just a series of predefined races that get tougher and tougher as you evolve through the eleven available tiers), a single race event section and in the case of DiRT, a rally mode for those gamers who aren’t particularly interested by the new modes and vehicles. Quite standard up till here, I’m sure you’ll agree. Anyways, before each race, you have the choice in between 5 difficulty settings and trust me, there’s a world of difference separating them. But it isn’t more realistic handling that divides the difficulty settings (unfortunately it stays the same throughout all difficulties); it’s the damage system that changes (and obviously the AI too). Simply put, DiRT has the most complex and impressive damage system I’ve seen in any game to date (well except for FlatOut or Burnout maybe but they’re a whole different kind of racing).

Each race / championship begins the same way, with a brand new car and all nine of its parameters (such as engine, gearbox, bodywork, wheels, drive train, etc) in tip top condition. But as the miles rack up, the car will slowly start to degrade, with the wheels wearing out towards the end of a race or the gearbox being more sluggish. However, this is only the case if one drives perfectly, never skidding off the narrow roads or getting shoved by another opponent (which is rarely the case). More often than not, an unseen tree, underestimated jump or roadside pole will catch you off-guard and lead to a spectacular accident (which is all the more impressive via the slow mow feature in the replay). If the difficulty is high enough, this might even mean the end of the race with the engine block being destroyed or leaving the car extremely crippled (no radiator, loss of the turbo, etc.).

Best of all is that you can take this onto Xbox Live quite easily, enjoying the simple yet demanding gameplay with up to one hundred other players as you all race a rally track by yourself and try to get the best times. Unfortunately, even if all this sounds like a lot of fun (and trust me, it is), some people will be put off by the lack of weight that some of the cars tend to have. FWD cars especially feel a bit strange given that they have almost no weight at all (sort of like driving around vacuum cleaners) but it only takes a little while to adjust to this (if you can get your head around it).

Colin… Who?
DiRT is a difficult game to judge because so many things are spot on and so many are just… well spot off. First of all, the inclusion of all the various new game modes, while fun didn’t really captivate me and in the end, I’m mostly doing rallies and crossovers just like in the old Colin McRae games. It seems like Codemasters wanted a “Jack of all Trades” and sadly, didn’t quite reach it (though it’s very close). But even if you ignore this small niggle; the real problem with DiRT is that it just doesn’t know what it is this time around! Photorealistic graphics, life-like engine noises and an unprecedented damage system (that can be very realistic on the tougher settings) and yet, the developers decided to go with “arcade” handling…

I can understand all the choices made in DiRT but in its conquest to reach the American gamers, I feel that a bit of the magic from the franchise is lost with this latest game. Where’re Nicky Grist and Colin McRae? What happened to rally tracks like Sweden or Greece? Don’t get me wrong, DiRT is a great game and I don’t regret picking it over Forza 2, but I would be lying if I wasn’t a bit disappointed.

Gameplay	75/100	A lack of feel while driving some of the cars, coupled with the general arcadeyness is difficult to ignore, even though it’s a blast to play.
Graphics	85/100	Gorgeous and photorealistic come to mind when thinking of DiRT’s visuals. Now if only the frame rate would have been a bit better.
Sound	90/100	Superb engine noises, all calculated in real-time is a treat for the ears. The music is also decent but why the cheesy one-liners? Why?
Value	80/100	Plenty of different tracks and cars to keep you hooked for a long time yet.
Multiplayer	82/100	Multiplayer is a great experience, with friends or up to 100 people online in a single race
Overall (not an average)	80/100	Identity crisis is the problem with Codemaster’s latest game. Looks and sounds realistic, but the driving just isn’t. Oh well, it’s still a blast to play!