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No one will argue that the Colin McRae Rally series has consistently been some of the best dirt racing on any console year after year. And only a few less would argue that the series, despite its consistent awesomeness, has needed an overhaul for a few years now as well. Let’s face it – navigating winding dirt roads at breakneck speeds is definitely exciting, but yearly updates and better graphics alone do start to get boring after a while.

And that’s where Dirt comes in.

Very Long Easy Right, Maybe

Outside of the Colin McRae games, Codemasters has been hocking another racing series for the past few years. Pro Race Driver has gained acclaim not only for the standard, excellent racing one expects from a Codemasters title, but for the fact that it mixed dozens of different types of racing into one product – everything from stock cars to truck racing to road racing. The results were generally good, though some of the different disciplines suffered from a lack of focus.

Dirt takes that idea and jams it into the Colin McRae mould. While you still have a load of point-to-point rally racing to do here, it’s tempered with rally cross, dirt truck racing, buggy racing, hill climbs and the like. So it’s basically everything you love about the Colin McRae games, but with way more variety. Dirt stays interesting a lot longer than most previous games in the series.

Climbing the Peak

Of course, we get all the bells and whistles as well. Dirt is a flat-out gorgeous game, and the damage model is quite impressive. Bits and pieces of your car dent and fly off as you careen around each course making odd contact with fellow competitors or much-less-forgiving objects like trees and concrete barriers.

And the control is top-notch as well. Each racing discipline feels a bit different depending on the size and weight of your vehicle. Screaming through a forest in your nimble, rally-ready Subaru WRX is an entirely different experience than trundling over man-made jumps in your heavy Toyota Tundra, or navigating cliff-edge, hairpin turns in the ridiculously over-powered Suzuki Escudo.

The only downside to all these different styles of racing is a general lack of cars for each. It’s the same problem Pro Race Driver has – a huge overall car list, but relatively short selection for each particular discipline.

Fun to Get Dirty

But really, that’s not a huge problem. Along with the huge single-player campaign and the various online modes mixed with the sheer variety of the racing on hand makes for one awesome racing game. And when you mix all that with the now-standard Colin McRae level of excellence, you have a game racing fans shouldn’t pass up.

Article by: Greg Sewart