Colin McRae: Dirt 2 Review

Graphics

While Dirt 2’s shift away from “pure” rallying to a more contemporary styling will likely divide players, there’s no arguing that the game itself looks simply stunning, improving upon GRID’s EGO engine to make Dirt 2 one of the best looking racers we’ve ever seen. Both cars and track sides are lavishly detailed, and there are dozens of gorgeous touches, from the spattering mud in jungle stages, to the jaw dropping water effects from the drivers-cam when you hit a water hazard.

Cars are all lavishly recreated both inside and out and we frequently found ourselves watching full race replays to marvel at the beauty of that perfect U turn, or, far more often, a spectacular crash. The game’s physics haven’t come on a great deal since GRID, but that’s no bad thing, with cars flipping, rolling and spectacularly flying through the air following those unplanned meetings with road side rocks or pesky fence posts.

It’s a disappointment not to see any weather effects though, especially as this was one feature that both the original Dirt and last year’s GRID sorely lacked. Hopefully this will be remedied for next year’s officially licensed Formula One title, also based around the same EGO engine.

Chequered Flag

It’s pretty clear from our time with it that Dirt 2 is both a very enjoyable and professionally presented racer, with the thrill of driving four wheel drive cars at unsafe speeds across wholly inappropriate terrain a constant highlight that never fails to entertain. However, we can’t help but wonder if Dirt and the Colin McRae series has lost its way, or if popular Rally as we know it has just changed.

The globetrotting, hop scotch of events means the game can feel very disjointed, with emphasis taken away from “pure” rally in favour of X-games Rally Cross showdowns and multi-car off-road rumbles. This in a way reflects McRae’s own career, with the late driver, along with his Subaru team moving away from the WRC (now a shadow of its former self) in his later years to shorter events that better caught the attention of a younger generation.


The result however is a game that while well polished and very enjoyable, lacks much of the “just one more go,” that GRID, and arguably the first Dirt possessed in such ample supply. After a while you find yourself struggling to find the motivation to race the same Rally Morroco track again in a slightly faster car, or with a slightly different game type or car, and there's less of the ongoing challenge that you'd expect.

While the ride might be fun while it lasts then, there’s just not enough in Dirt 2 to make it a classic in the same way that GRID was. Nevertheless, Codemasters knows its stuff when it comes to making racing games, and there’s still a fine game here, if not a genre changing opus.