Action, racing, fighting, shooting, role playing best games for those who looking to find something, not just to waste a time playing tiny flash games.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Dirt 2
The Colin McRae series has long been considered king of rally racers. With Dirt 2, Codemasters
pays fitting homage to the late McRae while trying to appeal to a
larger audience. The result is a gorgeous racing game with some
satisfying rally sections and a whole lot of wheel-to-wheel racing.
While hardcore rally fans may be a bit bummed to find pure rally racing
makes up only a fifth of the Career Mode, those who just want a good
racing game will be happy.
The original Dirt, released in 2007, has one of the best menu
designs of all time. It's truly a stunning piece of art, just on the
frontend alone. Dirt 2
has an equally impressive interface that puts you into a RV that you
(somehow) drive across the world. Everything you could want is in and
around this trailer -- from a world map used to select from 100
different racing events to the multiplayer board on the wall to a TV
that shows off instructional videos. Step outside your trailer and you
get a look at the festival-like surroundings for each locale and can buy
and customize new cars or see the latest tournament results. It's an
immersive experience and is in many ways better than the first Dirt.
The core of Dirt 2 is the Career Mode, which starts you as an
up-and-coming racer and builds you into a champion. Each race earns you
experience points, which in turn increases your driver's level. Through
Level 30 you gain new liveries, unlock new races and earn some lovely
parting gifts. These include dashboard items such as a hula girl and
fuzzy dice to hang from your rearview mirror. Rewards are always welcome
and Dirt 2 makes certain to spoil you early and often.
Though you can choose from six different difficulties, they don't
affect your progression (though you earn a little less cash and
experience at lower levels). No matter your skill level, you can make it
up the ranks, starting with Amateur events, moving up through the Pro
offerings and finishing off with some challenging All-Star races. The
100 events are locked based on experience level, cars owned, or specific
races you need to win. Along the way, you'll unlock a series of special
races. First, there are a trio of X-Games (Asia, Europe, and North
America) to open up and then five World Cup tournaments, each in a
different discipline. There's also a special Colin McRae tribute event,
which is a very loving touch from a team that had worked with McRae for
years.
One of the best aspects of Dirt 2 is the variety of locales. Rally
racing games can start to feel a little redundant with endless desert
terrain. Okay, so Dirt 2 has a lot of off-road tracks, but the unique
locales are really brought to life -- the small villages of Morocco with
their narrow streets, the marshes of Malaysia, the serene hillsides of
China.
The rally cars have weight to them and give that sense that you're
driving along the edge of losing control. Rookies will struggle as they
fail to understand the benefits of braking and pros will be tested at
the higher levels by near-flawless AI competitors. The trucks and
buggies don't measure up in the same way. They're easy to lose control
of, especially with the generous bump of a competitor. This creates a
curious dichotomy as any events featuring rally cars (including
wheel-to-wheel Rally Cross races) seems to have an element of technical
finesse while the bigger vehicles offer more of an arcade style.
For the most part, Career Mode is well-executed, offering the right
balance of challenge and a good variety in locations and tracks. But I
must admit that I am one of the previously mentioned rally fans who
expects a rally game to have, well, rally racing. Sadly, only about 20%
of the events in Dirt 2 are pure time-trial rally races. There are a few
other time-based races including Trailblazer (rally races without a
co-driver) and Gate Crasher (hit gates to add time to your run) that use
elements of rally, but if you just want pure rally racing, it's in
short supply. There are no hill climb events either, though there is a
track in China called "Hill Climb" that amounts to a half-minute of
speeding up a twisting hillside. I'd like my rally games to be
two-thirds rally racing and other stuff thrown in for fun, not the other
way around.
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