Dirt 2
- DiRT2 enables players to pick their favorite rides and drive them across multiple disciplines.
- Multiple race disciplines, encompassing the best that modern off-roading has to offer and fueled by the 3rd generation of Codemasters? world-renowned EGO Engine technology.
- DiRT 2 will take players on a World Tour to compete in aggressive multi-car and intense solo race events in the most diverse and challenging real-world environments. Career paths will span the globe.
- Events include exhilarating rally cross in the massive Los Angeles sports stadium?s ‘Stadium King Shootout’, edge-of-control canyon racing of Utah’s ‘Creek Trailblazer’ event and the ‘Rawang Rally Run’ along Malaysian rainforest tracks.
- DiRT 2 invites players to become part of an extreme sports community, with full online multiplayer race events and community integration across multiple disciplines.
Following on the success of the original Dirt as well as a decade of videogame development in partnership with the late Colin McRae, DiRT 2 explores various disciplines of off-road racing. Dirt 2 features a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to the most diverse and challenging real-world environments. This World Tour has players competing in aggressive multi-car and intense solo races at extraordinary new locations, from canyon racing and jungle trails to city stadium-based e
Rating: 
(out of 89 reviews)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Review by Dennis A. Lepak for Dirt 2
Rating:
I’m 69 years old and my gaming experience, until recently, has been pretty much limited to Pong, PacMan and the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Two years ago I bought a WII, my first console. My favorite game was Excite Truck. That led to a PS3 and GT5P and a Logitech Driving Force GT wheel.
Now my favorite game is “Dirt 2.” What an amazing piece of work. The cars handle beautifully, the damage modeling is fantastic, and there is a nice arcade/simulator balance.
I am trying to get some of my friends to buy this game (console, game, wheel, broadband connection, etc.) so that we can race online.
When they pull our real licenses we’ll still be racing. Dirt 5 perhaps.
Review by Ivan for Dirt 2
Rating:
At first glance Dirt 2 is impressive. The overall presentation is original, the graphics are spectacular, the damage modeling is amazing and finally the driving experience is decently fun. My problem with this game lies in its general shallowness. I feel like the series have gone very far from its original roots as a realistic rally racer. With every new installment we get less and less realism and more flash, “action” and arcadish feel. For example, the fact that actual rally racing takes up a rather small percentage of the types of races available in Dirt 2 is very disappointing.
I know the developers tried to shoot for a flashy and user friendly interface, and while I give them credit for their ingenuity, I really feel like it is yet another step to dumb down the whole experience, as it makes the game feel very linear with limited choices of cars and races. While the driving is kind of fun, I keep feeling like I am not playing anything more than an arcade racer, where the goal is to mostly ignore physics and good driving techniques and just ram your way to the top spot, while avoiding the obstacles. The concept of opposing drivers saying very corny things via radio during passing and bumping just adds to the whole “childishness” of an already thin experience. Even after doing well in challenging races, I had no real feeling of satisfaction that I would normally experience while playing either the old Colin McRae titles or the Gran Turismo series.
I am guessing that to offset large expenses that come with good graphics and flashiness, the developers decided to build this game for the masses by broadening the scope of the races, doing away with the idea of driving technique and essentially stopping just short of eliminating the concept of “rallying” from it altogether. Personally, I am not OK with that because no amount of good graphics and flash can make up for that feel of a realistic rally experience that was lost somewhere in the evolution of this series.
Review by J. Weight for Dirt 2
Rating:
Coming from a background of Dirt, the Forza series, PGR series, Rallisport Challenge, and probably other racing games I have forgotten, I’m really enjoying Dirt 2. This review is based on about 10 hours with the demo, and 3 hours with the real game.
The racing in Dirt 2 is edge of control, white knuckle racing. The tracks are challenging, with most of those I’ve raced so far having a couple of nice high speed stretches, sweeping corners, and some tight, technical spots. One aspect that can make it that much scarier is that some tracks have multiple routes you can take. The differences are subtle, and the distance traveled is pretty much the same, but one will set you up for the next corner better than the other. This does introduce some intersection points in the track where the routes will cross which can lead to some nice t-bones. I found that I was physically cringing every time I ran through an intersection, full throttle, hoping for the best.
The different race modes include many types of off-road racing. There are timed point-to-point races where you won’t see another car for the entire race, and there are rally cross style races where you can’t seem to get through the race without hitting someone else. Both types are very entertaining. There are other types, but it basically boils down to whether or not there are other cars in your vicinity at the same time.
One feature in Dirt 2 that has made it much more enjoyable than the original Dirt is the flashbacks. There are few things more frustrating than coming to the end of a tight race, taking the last corner wrong, and getting 6th instead of 1st, or worse, totaling the car and getting a DNF. Flashbacks allow you to stop time, go back to a previous point in the race (seems like about 10 seconds or so max) and try that corner again. Obviously flashbacks are only available in tour mode, not in online play.
In tour mode you are able to set the difficulty for each race. Higher difficulty means the AI racers (which are quite good but also make mistakes) will be better and faster and that you will have fewer flashback, but you will also earn more prize money for winning the event.
Online play was available in the demo, and I spent 90 minutes playing with a close friend. We ran several races with others matched with us through xbox live. The rally type races were great. It was still point-to-point, timed, but everyone drove at the same time. The other cars on the track were only there for time reference. It was the other live drivers, but they were like ghost cars. In the other types, you are able to affect the other drivers by hitting them. I thought it was very enjoyable. Of course, the races can get dirty with people crashing into you all over the place, but that’s a part of online play. I have not played online with the full version of the game, but I suspect the experience will be very similar.
I can see that I will be spending a lot of time in this game. The control is better than the original Dirt. The event selection is also a lot more engaging with real rally drivers inviting you to different parts of the world to compete. They have obviously put a lot of attention to detail in the game. The tracks and settings are immaculate. The cars are beautiful, and the other racers will even SAY your name. It’s a pretty cool touch to hear Travis Pastrana say, “Hey Joel, nobody could touch you out there!”
I only have two gripes: One is that you still can’t go very far afield when you wreck. If I really blow a corner, I would love to see my car roll over and over and over again. You only get that joy if your car happens to stay on or near the track. Unfortunately this is pretty standard fare for rally games.
My second gripe is that there is no split screen multiplayer. Once in a while it would be great to have a friend over and simply sit down and race each other. With this game he’ll have to bring an xbox, a tv, and his own copy of the game and do system link, or stay at his own house and play over live. The live support is really great, so split screen will probably only be missed occasionally.
In summary, if you are looking for a real serious rally simulation, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a very fun off road racing game with stunning visuals, great sound, good control, awesome tracks, nice cars, and edge of your seat action, this is it! I highly recommend it to the driving enthusiast.
Review by K. Burghardt for Dirt 2
Rating:
Dirt2 rocks! Am up to level 40 and still having fun. Graphics are great, the mud on the windshield drives me nuts, I can’t see! There is a switchable damage mode to allow for crash damage to affect speed and handling. And damage to the car will happen. You have to be really agressive in the car-to-car races, so it’s inevitable. The “celebrity” drivers taunt you and will even break your concentration with their comments to you and each other. Hard to drive when you’re laughing… Drive clean and they will be your friends. Ram them too often and they retaliate. It’s even kind of cool when they tell you they think you’re a legend after you beat them enough. You can drive any car on any track in Time Trial mode, something Dirt wouldn’t do. The Dallenbach Special is a handful on the Del Ray Stadium track.
Don’t know what others are crying about, there’s plenty of Rally available in Dirt2. Is it ALL rally? No, but if it was, plenty of gamers would cry about that too. I was a little disapointed the big Raid trucks(DAF, Kamaz) are gone, as are Pike’s Peak hillclimbers. Trailblazer cars a similar. But do you really want a warmed-over rehash of a game you’ve already played? I’m so sick of waiting for GT5 to come out and find out it’s the same old tracks, the same lame cars, and a million races in Yugo’s to get to a Ferrari. You get to drive decent cars on new tracks from the start and they get better…
All in all, a great game. If you love off-road, there’s none better in my opinion.
Review by Kevin Brace for Dirt 2
Rating:
First off I will break my review up into sections. I think I have played the game enough to write a good review about it. I have rented it and after playing it when I can for about a week (10+ hours of game play), this is what I have to say about Dirt 2.
Game play -
The game play in one sentence would be, “Fantastic but by all means, not perfect.” I say this because even though I loved the game and only put it down because either, my hands ached from gripping the controller to hard or just because I got to tired, It still has its issues. But I assure you. they are small issues that only a nit picky gamer such as myself would notice. This game definitely has more pros then cons in almost every aspect of it. Its taken a lot that was good about Grid (I’m using Grid as an example because its the most recent “good” game that Codemasters has released. Excluding Fuel because…well…Fuel was terrible.) and brought it to Dirt 2, but not all that was good, a few things were left out. But as a fun, exciting, heart pounding rally game. Dirt 2 delivers.
Controls-
The controls are just what you would expect if you have played the better games that Codemasters has produced. They are responsive and act just the way a real car would. Each car has its own feel to it. No one car will feel the same basically. Some you can whip around a corner or drift if you please, while others you will need to be a little more gentle and take your time. You can map your button configuration how ever you like and save different setups separately. Easy to pick up and play.
Graphics -
I dont have a fancy HD tv to play on but even without HD, Dirt looks excellent. Everything from car detail, to reflections and environment detail. Its exactly what you would expect from a top notch racing game. Having the real to life cockpit view is always a plus. I know some people simply cant handle driving in that view, but for me, its either the cockpit view or the hood view (depending on which kind of race I’m in). There are only two gripes I have about it. When you go through water, your windshield wipers come on to get rid of the water because whenever you go through a puddle, you can NOT see. While this is a nice touch, it can be annoying that it will take multiple whips from the wipers to clear your view. In a real car, one wipe and your view is clear enough to know where you are going. Thats not the case here. The other thing is that when your driver shifts, he doesnt actually shift, he just touches the shift knob. It would be great if the shift lever actually went into the position of which ever shift you are going into. I know you are not looking down at that while you are driving to even notice, but come on, when you look at it on the replay, its something you would expect. Damage is good, but not great. Yes when you run into a rock you are given significant damage but its not always consistent with different impacts. Otherwise, graphical quality is top notch.
Sound -
Ok, the sound has got to be one of my favorite things in this game. I dont have a surround sound so I always use my Razor, over the head, headphones that enclose your whole ear. The sound quality is mind blowing. The engine sound is appropriate for each car and really gives you that sense of power from high to low RPMs. As you change from dirt, to gravel, to mud, to pavement, you can tell the difference just by the sound. Sometimes I would think “hey why is my car making that weird tink tink sound?” that tink tink sound you keep hearing is the sound of rocks from the gravel below you, hitting the underbelly of your car. Not only that but as you come out of a corner on a dry gravel track, you can actually hear the rocks and dirt spitting out from your tires as you claw for traction and accelerate. Just amazing, there are no complains here.
Features-
When I say features I am talking about things that were and were not put into the game. Car selection, while the selection is good and includes all the major cars from the different Off-Road disciplines. I expected a wider variety. Customization, I understand this is not Forza or NFS, but even Grid has some customization to speak of. In Dirt, the closest you can get to customization are the windshield and dash decorations, which come few and aren’t really all that good. You cannot choose a number for your car, or chose your own designs, sponsors, or colors. This was quite disappointing, even customization as simple as that wasn’t offered like it was in Grid. The only customization were livery’s of different teams, sponsors with pre-determined colors, and Off-Road stars’ livery’s you can unlock. Just doesn’t let you make your own identity, in short. The name and nick-name feature from Grid was carried over and is a great idea, it immerses you even more and makes you feel like you are there because your opponents talk to you with that name you choose. Weather is something that I wish they would implement into their games. Rain, snow, hail, wind, and storms, are all part of the real world in Off-Road racing, but absent in this game.
Interface-
The interface is not that bad. Its easy to navigate the menus and change settings. The HUD functions great with many different stats to be shown during the race, and any or all of them can be turned on and off. The only thing is I think the time is a little to small and can be hard to see at a glace, you have to keep looking at is a few times before you know what it says, which can easily cause you to crash.The are alot of difficulty settings from ridiculously easy, to ridiculously hard. So you can find just the right challenge for you. The music for the most part is good, a handful of the songs the game plays are just down right horrid and are painful to listen to though. It would have helped if they let you chose which songs will play and which wont. Also I wish you could choose weather or not you listen to the music while you race, rather then just in the menus. Plus a button to skip the current song would be helpful. There is a wide variety of different real world locations, but the tracks do repeat them selves in various ways. Are the tracks repetitive of each other? Yes and no, the game is exciting enough that the repetitiveness is not that hard to be over looked. The only problem with what tracks they have is the fact that there are few, long hill climb tracks that you are familiar with from Dirt 1. Bummer…
Replay value-
This game has a lengthy single-player that has mile stones along the way that push you to keep going and build upon your skills and unlock new stuff. But…I dont think I would ever want to play through to single-player more then once. Online multiplayer is solid with a lvl up system, but it is poorly done and you can get to the max lvl fairly quickly. There are challenges to accomplish online but they have no reward which makes them rather pointless. For me, I want to buy a game not only because its fun and good, but also one thats going to give me my moneys worth that will keep me playing it for a long time. I haven’t played the multiplayer alot but I think it will be similar to Grid, were it is fun for a while but then gets boring and you end up not playing it for a few weeks. There is no split screen mode, but in short…I dont care because I hate split screen. But thats just my opinion.
Conclusion-
Dirt 2 is a great game that any racing or Off-Road fan will enjoy. I would definitely recommend giving it a try. Its by no means, a perfect racing game but hey, there is no perfect racing game yet I dont think. There will always be something that is missing or poorly done. But at its core, it is a blast that will keep you interested for a good long while.