Dirt 2
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 events.
As the sequel to the acclaimed racer of 2007, DiRT 2 is set to take off-road racing games to a new level. Packed with a wide variety of features and in-game events such as new benchmark technology, thrilling new race types, big event atmosphere, stunning locations, a new breed of off-roading heroes and a peerless line-up of super-charged speed machines, DiRT 2 isn’t your standard off-road racing game. It is the new standard.
Promising a thrilling race experience and an extreme sports attitude that borrows from snowboarding and skateboarding culture, DiRT 2 will take players on a World Tour to diverse and challenging real-world environments to compete in contemporary off-road events. Specifically selected to deliver aggressive and fast paced racing, DiRT 2’s garage will house a best-in-class collection of officially licensed rally cars and off-road vehicles; covering seven vehicle classes and players will be given the keys to powerful machines right from the off. In addition, DiRT 2 come complete with full online functionality that will be core to the overall experience, with head-to-head competitive online play and new social features to engage the racing community. Prepare for mud, gravel, dust and dirt too in DiRT 2. Turbo-charged Off-roading with Extreme Sports AttitudeDefined by its multiple disciplines, encompassing the very best that modern off-roading has to offer and fuelled by the 3rd generation of Codemasters’ world-renowned EGO Engine technology, DiRT 2 has more attitude, more adrenaline and more DiRT than ever – off-roading just got cool. Take it on Tour 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 as players unlock tours in stunning locations spread across the face of the planet. Races within the USA, Japan, Malaysia, Baja, Croatia and others await as players climb to the pinnacle of modern competitive off-roading. It’s All About the Event DiRT 2 is adrenaline-fuelled extreme sports with eye-popping visuals and presentation in stunning real-world locations. 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, the “Rawang Rally Run” along treacherous Malaysian rainforest tracks and the “Battersea Battle,” where night races are staged at the iconic London power station. Love Your Ride Embark on a game-long love affair with your favourite cars. Rather than being forced through a checklist of in-game cars, DiRT 2 enables players to pick their favourite rides and drive them across multiple disciplines. Upgrade them, cherish them - and then smash them to bits at breakneck speeds. Get to know which to use for what event and surface, tweak them to perfection, then push them to the absolute limit. The Complete Off-road Online Package DiRT 2 invites players to become part of an extreme sports community, with full online multiplayer race events and community integration across multiple disciplines. With leader boards, news feeds and ‘scribbles’ to keep you up-to-date on your friends’ racing achievements, DiRT 2 will be a social hub for off-roading fans. Key Game Features
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User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Dirt 2 Review
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.
1 Stars Stinker
Being an avid fan of Dirt (yes, there are issues with that game, but it was still a reasonable arcade version of rally racing), I was eagerly anticipating Dirt 2. Hoo boy, is this steaming pile a disappointment. Codemasters (CM) has tried to infuse the rally experience with a really annoying “skater” vibe that for anyone who has ever been to a rally race knows does not exist at the actual events. This game also has such a US cultural bias that I can only imagine it will be totally ignored everywhere else. MUCH less (like zero) emphasis has been placed on the drivability of the vehicles: CM has always been guilty of creating “arcade” driving experiences over “simulation” ones, and Dirt 2 is the ultimate example of that approach. The original Dirt does a much better job of providing a more realistic feeling of driving than does this game; here, they’re clearly primarily interested in creating an environmental feel. (Plus, it’s kind of embarrassing to hear Travis Pastrana and Tanner Foust make the moronic comments they are forced to do in this game.) No way around it — this is a bad game.
5 Stars One of the best offroad racers out there……
The first Dirt was a good game, but that was a couple years ago, and the bar has been raised. Dirt 2 meets every expectation I had for a sequel and then some. This is easily one of the more polished racing experiences you are going to find on a next generation console. Every aspect of the game has been improved since the first game. The graphics are among the best you’ll see in a racing game today. The feel of the cars and the control you have over them is near perfection. The sound effects and music are extremely well done, and even the game’s menus are amazingly cool to look and navigate.
This is one of those rare games that clearly displays the passion of the people who created it. Every detail is well thought out, and I find the smallest things impressing me each time I play it. For instance, the game asks you to enter your real name, and from that point forward everyone calls you by your real name. It’s kind of crazy in the middle of a heated race to hear a competitor yell over their headset “Watch it Dan!”.
I could go on and on but I won’t. If you’re at all interested in off road racing, this is the game for you. It’s better than any other game of it’s type on the market, and I’ve played them all.
5 Stars Amazing Game!
I loved the first Dirt and I picked this one up without hesitation and I was not dissapointed. The controls are a little more forgiving when compared to the first Dirt, but I think it adds to the fun. For any racing game fan, this is a must own.
+ Lots of Cars
+ Tons of Events and Variety
+ Achievements
+ Overall presentation
+ Awesome soundtrack
+ Pastrana/Block Voiceover
+ Colin McRae Tribute
+ Tons of unlockables/liveries
- Sometimes the in-race driver voiceovers are a little annoying
- Vehicles not upgradable, you can only tweak settings
- Way too easy on the lower difficult levels
1 Stars No split-screen mode
No split-screen multiplayer!!! I can’t even play against my son 
All RACING games should have this feature imo.
Filed under: Xbox 360 Video Games