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- From sophisticated F1 cars to exotic Japanese imports, American muscle to off road 4x4’s, the world of video driving games has never been better.
Ask 100 people which games console is king of the road when it comes to the best for driving based games and the split will be pretty close between the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
We take a look at what these colossus giants have to offer when it comes to 4 wheels and although not as sophisticated as the big two we also take a look at what the Nintendo Wii has to throw into the ring.
Pit Stops
Review Based On Xbox 360 Version – Also available on the Wii and PS3
Codemasters’ latest racing title, Dirt 2, is an offroad racer that pits you against some of today’s top drivers. As a relative unknown, you don’t start with much but do well in a few races and you’ll find yourself with some sweet new rides. There are nearly forty vehicles in the game and each one is defined by it’s handling, acceleration, and top speed. Upgrades kits become available as you progress and although there is not a lot of vehicle customization and tuning available, there is some and it’s very straightforward even for beginners to tweak their rides to be more in line with their driving style.
Drivers of all skill level can play all the way through the career mode and have a blast doing it. With over 100 events, Dirt 2 will feed you hours upon hours of adrenaline pumping high-speed action before you finally reach the pinnacle of your offroad racing career, and that’s not even counting the superb multiplayer game. Wherever you race, you’ll be staging out of your RV which acts as a first-person interactive menu keeping you immersed in the game world. It also serves to display trophies and souvenirs you collect from the different races and locations you visit.
You can adjust difficulty settings prior to each race so if you’ve just started driving a new vehicle or your last run went a little more offroad than you would have liked you can tune it down for the next race. Conversely, if you were playing it safe but a few races in you feel like you’ve really got the hang of it and want to up the challenge you can, any time mid-career. There is also a flashback feature that allows you to undo driving mistakes mid-race. How many flashbacks you get is determined by what difficulty level you are currently playing at.
The AI is pretty good. Your opponents drive strategically and are not pushovers to beat, and when they do make mistakes they can be even more dangerous if you happen to be behind them. An odd little feature Codemasters added in is other (computer controlled) drivers will change their opinions of you over time depending on how well you do and your racing history. This is seen primarily by things they say to you during the race. It’s an interesting idea and certainly adds a bit more to the illusion that you’re really a part of their community and eventually they see you as one of their peers.
Multiplayer, while lacking a split-screen option, is otherwise fantastic. There is little-to-no lag and every experience from the single-player game is available in multiplayer: All game modes, all vehicles, all tracks. The vehicles and tracks, by the way, look amazing. They are somewhat stylized so people who crave ultra-realism may not be thrilled but if you’re at all flexible on that then you will be impressed by the way this game looks. Of course, a major complaint often tied to great looking games is that the framerate suffers when there’s too much going on at once. This doesn’t seem to be the case at all with Dirt 2, which had the occasional screen jitter but for the most part ran perfectly.
Overall, Dirt 2 is both an accessible racer anyone can and will enjoy, and a thrilling challenge for experienced veterans. If you love offroad racing, or if you just think you might “like” it, you will love this game.
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