DiRT2

At first I had no idea of what this game really was. I thought 'it's just some dirt racing game. I don't care I have Trackmania for that'. But then when I got my new graphics card, I got a free Steam key for DiRT2. So as you can guess, after getting my new card to work, I instantly activated the key on steam and tried out this racing game... And boy, were my thoughts about it wrong.

Okay, so whether you like this game or not is mainly whether you like dirt racing and rally racing or not. Well, that too is not 100% accurate. I personally like dirt racing and such, and after getting into my first race in this game, I felt that I really like this game. Still had to get used to the steering at first, but I soon found out how to properly work with it.

And with that, we get at the controls of DiRT2. As for most racing games, the controls are pretty basic. You use your arrow keys to accelerate, steer and drive backwards. And then as usual, the spacebar is for the breaks. Now the steering can work a bit over sensitive, hold the left or right arrow key a tat to long and the back of you car just flies to the opposite direction. It's nearly like making a 90 degree turn. At first, this really was a bit of a problem for me, but quickly got the feel of how to properly steer. Main trick, just hold back on your speed a bit. For tight or long corners, you can use holding the key very well to drift straight trough, but for things like slight bends in the road, just one or two taps on one of the keys can already be enough, but that depends on how you want to go into the next turn.

Another big factor that can come into play in a race is damage on your and others there car. Think the highly detailed damage is just for show? Well if you did, then you are wrong. this can greatly effect your driving. If you car is bend in on one side, you will notice that the car pulls to one side, so you will have to steer in against it. This will cause you to lose some speed. When you crash into something like a tree or a wall at high speed, it will be completely over as your car doesn't work anymore. Whenever you actually take a bit of a rough hit, you will get some nice visual effects that can really give you the feeling of having taken a good hit.

This kind of brings us to graphics. Since I had gotten this with my graphics card, it was already clear that this was mainly to show what the card can do. Now overall, racing games always look better then other games like First Person Shooters. But apart from that, I can safely say that the graphics of DiRT2 are beautiful. Everything in this game looks great. The scenery looks nice and detailed, even-though you won't always have the time to look at that. The details on the car are great and it really gets dirty from sand after you drove on some ground.

Further, the game has some nice background music, but that is mainly just in the menu's. While racing, you're not really paying attention to the music anyway. And then I would also like to say something about the menu. Even-though it looks great, it is pretty annoying. Instead of just a list to scurry trough, you see in fight person view and when you want to get to something else like seeing your achievements, you need to wait for the screen to turn to some couch with some books on. And that's not all. The menu is divided in two parts. One part being in your trailer and the other part outside. So you can guess it. If you want to change the options or customise your cars, you need to wait for your character to have gone outside to then get the same stuff again.

And the menu isn't the only thing is dislike. I have tried out the multiplayer of DiRT2 and... It was okay, I guess. Done some races and at a few points, found some lag. Now this could have easily avoided really. It was not DiRT2 that caused the lag, it was Game for Windows Live. When I saw that this game worked with GfWL, I was already expecting something like this. It's a shame really, having such a lag-fest system in a game like this. Now the lag wasn't that big and only was there for a short bit, but you know, seeing that bit of lag just makes the game feel a bit less then it should be.


+Great graphics.
+Great for those who are into rally and dirt racing.
+Good and tensioned racing the game offers.
+Nice music.
+Car damage.
-Game for Windows Live, causing lag in the multiplayer.
-The menu with its annoying time-taking stuff.
-Steering could have been done better, but should be fine after a bit of practise.

Systems this is available on: PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox360, NDS and PSP.
System I played this game on: PC.

My score: 87%

average score: 87% 9/10 (still have yet for this to come in handy)

Hm...for me probably 91%. It has a good selection of cars, a good number of tracks and sceneries...I played it on Xbox, so the steering was actually pretty good. The driver interaction gives it a more personal feel, as does the idea that you can choose what the other drivers call you. The online challenges, however, always end up out-of-reach, as there are many online keen-oes, as with every online game EVER.

Also, Powerrave, I wouldn't judge the time the menus take, as you are using a computer. Versions of games on computers are generally slower to load, as they have varying processing speeds, etc., whereas console versions are designed for the processing speed of the console, so go much faster on average. Perhaps you could bear this in mind when reviewing other games.

Downsides? Well, it can be quite easy to get annoyed with the game when your car goes out of control for seemingly no reason. However, if you take a break, then return to it and take the track slower, you can really start to appreciate the game. Also - money is too easy to get, since cars don't have much difference between them. The slowest car can still be driven against the supposedly 'better' ones. Also, IMO, the 'drivability' rating is misleading, as it depends mostly on how you drive it.

All-in-all, it's a good game if you like rally racing, or just any racing games. It gives a realistic experience and a good insight into how rally racers tick.

Average score: 89% 9/10

incredirobotwars wrote:

I played it on Xbox, so the steering was actually pretty good.

This is not Xbox specific. It would mean any console where you can race using a controller that has analog sticks. Perhaps I should plug my PS3 controller into my PC and see how the steering will feel. Might end up bad since I am used to (dirt) racing games using a keyboard.

incredirobotwars wrote:

Also, Powerrave, I wouldn't judge the time the menus take, as you are using a computer. Versions of games on computers are generally slower to load, as they have varying processing speeds, etc., whereas console versions are designed for the processing speed of the console, so go much faster on average. Perhaps you could bear this in mind when reviewing other games.

There is no way that I can agree with this. A console always needs to read from the disc. On a PC, you always install software so it will work faster. Next to that, a PC is most of the time stronger and faster then the game requires.
But I wasn't talking about loading time (I have none). I was talking about the navigation trough the menu which is slow. You will always have to wait until the screen is aimed at the thing that you wish to go to.

I spoke to my friend at school, and he agrees that loading times do depend on the computer. You can't judge a game on loading unless you have an Alienware PC or something. I know this is true, because on my computer, Sims 3 takes forever to load, but the console version doesn't. 'Coincidence? I think not!'

Anyway, the menus don't take long on Xbox/analogue stick. This may be due to game interface being entirely different between consoles and PC. Bear in mind I can only talk from my experience on Xbox, but it just swings to the next menu option. This may be because there are the two analogue sticks (one for selecting, one for moving view manually), and so on PC it just uses arrows for moving view.

i too have played it and as powerrave said, it's not the loading times, he is not saying anything about the loading time.
the navigation through the manu's is slow as (in the PC version in my experience) you "walk" from one menu to the other, that takes like ages, so it's NOT the LOADING time, it's the actual navigation.

and sims 3 doesn't take long to load on my PC so it may just as well be you're PC that's slow, (no offense it's just a suggestion i don't know you're hardware)


P.S.
and alienware isn't that fantastic it's a name, that's all you can build a better PC at like, half the price, just cause it's alienware you pay extra

3xR wrote:

and sims 3 doesn't take long to load on my PC so it may just as well be you're PC that's slow, (no offense it's just a suggestion i don't know you're hardware)

My point exactly - it depends on the computer. Therefore you can't complain about loading times unless you have a gaming computer, or one upgraded for gaming. So, Powerrave, you actually can agree with what I said, but perhaps I said it in a way in which it meant something different. Sorry about that.

And also - will everyone stop having a go at me that it's not the loading times? Powerrave's first post was ambiguous as to whather it was the actual menu or the time it took to load, OK? And as I said - the menu may take longer to navigate using a mouse or arrows instead of an anologue stick that takes you straight from one loading screen to another. Again - I cannot say because I have only played on Xbox, so have not had experience of PC version.

No I can't agree because you talk about loading times when it was never about that in the first place. The menu of DiRT2 gets loaded beforehand, just like with every other game as far as I can tell. If the menu would go slowed then normal, then it would be because of a low FPS (Frame Per Second).
This is about the menu itself and not about how long the game takes to start up.

In the first post it was pretty much clear that there was nothing about loading times. I also don't understand how you got that out of it. Now tell me, what kind of menu does the Xbox version of DiRT2 have? Explain in detail please.

Exactly the same as you have, but there is no problem with it, because it takes no time to turn to different menu options. Perhaps this would be because I can use the left stick to move directly to the next menu option? How do you choose menu options? Perhaps this would clear everything up.

Well... You press the arrow left or right arrow key and then wait until your character has turned to the thing that contains the options. It is specially annoying when you need to wait for the character to walk in or out of the trailer.

I could film it in the game itself for you so you see the annoyance that is called 'not having a proper menu'. If the Xbox version has the same menu as the PC version, then how do you not notice that you are required to wait every damn time instead of it really being directly. Or you have the wrong definition of the word 'direct'.

According to your explanation, mine is a lot quicker.