Colin McRae: DiRT 2

Review from AJ, AJ, AJ, AJ, AJ and AJ - Thursday, 08 October 2009 @ 3:59pm

I was always a big fan of Colin McRae, not just the game, but the man. Whilst he won the World Rally Champship only once, and certainly wouldn’t be considered as successful as Tommi Makinen or Sebastien Loeb, his name is one of the most well known in Rally. His blue Subaru 555 became synonymous with Rally, and arguably made the Subaru WRX the sports car of choice for many drivers around the world. He was sadly killed in a Helicopter accident in 2007 along with his son and two family friends.

Interestingly, Colin McRae Dirt 2, was released simply as Dirt 2 outside of Europe (and Aus). Rally has never been a big drawcard in the US and with the game’s reduced focus on Rally, it is not altogether surprising. Names like McRae, Loeb, Grönholm and Hirvonen have been replaced with names such as Ken Block, Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra. Yes, Dave Mirra, the BMX guy. All three are apparently household names in the US, and this fairly clearly illustrates the shift in focus for this 7th (and possibly final) iteration of “Colin McRae Rally” series of games.

It doesn't look so poetic from inside the car

Dirt 2, is not a Rally game. More specifically, it is not a European Rally game. Whilst the previous version had a fairly strong emphasis on traditional Rally events, in Dirt 2, Rally plays second fiddle to stadium style Rally Cross and single event races. On the surface this may seem like a fairly vague distinction, but it shows a distinct shift in the target market for the game. Say goodbye to multi-stage events, snow, weather effects, car repairs, championship points and degrading track conditions, say hello to over-the-top Stadium races, X-Games events, fuzzy dice and “Gnarly” co-racers. This isn’t the Rally game you used to know.

It won't end well, trust me.

In a way it’s disappointing. I used to really enjoy multi-stage events, riding that fine balance between going fast enough to win, but not so fast that you launch of a cliff and end the event with 1 stage to go. Instead, in Dirt 2, car repairs have been replaced with an undo button. Although Dirt 2 is certainly a lot less “Pure” than its predecessors, it is arguably also a lot more “fun” because of it. The Xbox Achievement, “Two Cups one Girl”, should give you a fair indication of the change in attitude Dirt 2 brings. It’s a double edged sword. I miss the hardcore, obsessive, white knuckle feel of Colin McRae Rally 2005, but at the same time, I equally enjoy having a beer, putting my feet up and smashing my way around a Rally Cross circuit with the rewind button at my finger tips with little regard for the consequences. It's a little less Gran Turismo, and a little more MotorStorm.

In a lot of ways, Dirt 2 is a sequel of two games. It is a sequel to Dirt (obviously), but it also owes a sizeable portion of its genes to Race Driver: GRID (released by Codemasters in 2008). Amusingly, GRID itself went through the same re-invention process that Dirt is now seeing, having moved from a Forza Motorsport style UK Touring Car simulator to a Project Gotham style arcade racer. GRID introduced us to the “rewind” button. If you put your car into a wall you can simply rewind the game and try it again. The same feature is here in Dirt 2. GRID was based around a series of “locations” with various Tiers unlocked by earning XP. The same feature is here in Dirt 2. GRID featured a race around the Shibuya district in Tokyo. The same TRACK is here in Dirt 2. YES. A DIRT FILLED RALLY CIRCUIT THROUGH SHIBUYA! Even one of the unlockable liveries is called “Ravenwest” (your main opponent in GRID), and features the number plate GRID...so they certainly aren’t making secrets about the connection.

It's now all about X-Games

Dirt 2 features 7 different race modes. Rally and Trail Blazer are raced on traditional Rally courses, the latter without a co-driver. Ordinarily, this would be the heart of the game for me, but unfortunately there just aren’t enough events to keep it interesting. Rally Cross in Dirt 2 is more akin to the Super Special stages from WRC (bright lights, stadiums and jumps) than traditional European Rally Cross (part race circuit, part off-road) but you’ll need to refer to it as Radical, or Awesome. In these events you’ll race 7 opponents around some pretty cool circuits featuring some pretty insane jumps. Raid is really just Rally with Buggies, but with a track that has the occasional “choice” of which way to go. I kinda wish this was more like Fuel’s version of Raid which is a pure A to B race in an open environment. In Dirt 2, Raid is raced on narrow, Rally-style circuits in vehicles that don’t behave when in close proximity to others. There are also 3 special modes. Last Man Standing is essentially an elimination race where the last place driver is booted at regular intervals. Domination tasks you with setting the best sector time around a circuit and KEEPING it. Finally, Gate Crasher has you race through a set course hitting gates to gain bonus time...it’s a bit daft, but a lot of fun.

Mountain vistas have been repalaced by this...

Dirt 2 is a really fun game. I can't stress that enough. For all my complaining, it is a shitload of fun to play. There haven't been many games recently that have me ducking into the theatre room during lunch to put in a few quick laps. Whilst it has lost a bit of that "championship" feel, it has been replaced with a pick up a controller and thrash a few laps feel instead. For most people out there, this is a good thing. The game looks beautiful, the cars handle exactly as you'd expect them to, the tracks are all great fun to drive. Dirt 2 is an all-round good game, certainly a contender for best racing game of the year....unless Forza 3 really blows my socks off....

Dirt...yes it is.

Really only two things hurt Dirt 2. The first is the vehicles. In most events there are one or two cars which are clearly better choices than the rest, the others just flat out suck. It’s not as if the good cars are locked either, you can buy them straight away. So why on earth have 30+ playable cars when only 7 or 8 are worth driving? My second complaint is the tracks. There are supposedly 40+ tracks across 10 zones. That’s 4 per zone on average. The trouble is most of the tracks are variations on the same 15 tracks. You might have a short and long version of a circuit (the latter usually involving a few more turns added to one section) and then a reverse version of one or the other. So whilst strictly speaking there may be 40+ tracks, in reality there are only 15 or so distinct courses. In terms of racing, there is plenty of variation, but in terms of feel...well if you race the exact same location in 3 different modes with 3 different track variations at 3 different tiers...well, you see where I’m going with it. Colin McRae 2005, for example, had over 70 completely unique stages across nine different countries...compare that to the 15 or so here and you’ll see my issue. It’s not enough to ruin the game, but coming from a series which prides itself on track variation, it is a little disappointing.

All in all, Dirt 2 is a fun “off-road” racing title. I hesitate to call it a Rally game, as the series is now making its first major step away from that form of the sport. It’s the guts of GRID applied to off-road racing mixed with the street style of Tony Hawk or Skate. Ok, so it doesn’t live up to the intense racing experience that Colin McRae fans would expect, but it is arguably the most “fun” game to carry his name, even if it is probably the last.

Pros

Same high quality racing we expect from Codemasters.
Pretty. Very Pretty.
Fun race types, particularly the stadium Rally Cross events.
Rewind is a much appreciated feature in all forms of racing.

Cons

Not enough tracks.
Not enough Rally.