Colin McRae: DIRT - First Impressions.

This is going to be very short as I just want to get back to the game, but I thought I'd take a quick break to share my exhilleration.

I've just done one career race and already got some achievements. Loads of car tuning options. The graphics are out of this world, the music is excellent and the thrill factor is better than any other motorsport title that I've played on the 360. I'm going to sum up my present, current emotions and view of this title by using a very British phrase and hopefully another that is universally understood by all.

Colin McRae: DIRT is the dogs bollocks and it sh*ts on Forza 2 from a very great height.
(Please forgive the bad language, it's just a middle aged man, rekindling the excitement of youth from the days of yesteryear, before the weight of the world crushed his spirit.)

More to follow, when I can prise myself away from this unbelievably, fantastic, motorsport title.

I must admit to feeling like there's the best part of fifty quid burning a hole in me back pocket. On the other hand, I'm not sure whether to trust the opinion of someone who talked me into wasting a similar amount on that last Need For Speed garbage.

and you were mad that we got FM2 before you... my how the tables have turned... lol

BUT it has no real MP, right?

I don't care how great or beutiful the game is, if it has no enjoyable MP, then it will get boring pretty fast. IMO.

Lol Brun, even the magnificent and splendid sometimes make mistakes. Guilty as charged, but trust me on this one. Don't spend 50 squid, go to Tescos, you can get it for under £40.

I've told you before about you and your assumptions. I don't get mad. Perhaps this is a common trait for you Americans, but we Brit's have a stiff upper lip and all that


WRONG. It has a realistic portrayal of Rally motorsport. We are a site dedicated to simulations aren't we? What do you want from your rally multiplayer, 'Colin McRae: Need for Speed'?


The single player is light years beyond Forza2. You really can be quite a shallow man at times (j/k). Can't you see the Wood for the Trees? lol

P.S. Register the game at Codemasters and you get a free code to unlock a car.

No, Hengist, I think what Mag's trying to say is that we've become so accustomed to the relative ease (and fun) of online racing, that having a multiplayer suite that doesn't at least have some group racing where we can compete against each other is going to get real old, real fast.

Yes, maybe it does simulate what a real rally experience is going to be, but if that experience isn't any fun, like, say, a knitting simulation (technically real, but boring as hell), then it's going to gather dust on our shelves.

The MP aspect suffers from what I call the Falcon 4.0 Syndrome (at least personally for me). Both very realistic and very boring.

pfunk

but you cant have a rally MP game with multiple cars on the track at the same time. Rally is done by 1 car at a time and purely time trialed based with each car given a 2min fer eg head start before the next car goes.

Not all rally races are like that tekno, although the rally racing that the game is based on does

You could have head to head races like they do atthe Michelin race of champions

or like the old rallycross races in the Uk on Grandstand...

sort of like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_dlYtP587g

Well Pfunk, I hope my reply doesn't seem cold and heartless, but I come here first for the simulations and second for the friends and community. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I really couldn't give a stuff about multiplay (unless it's a dedicated multiplay only title e.g. Counterstrike/Shadowrun). The best thing that I do like about multiplay, is the good friends that I've met through it. Yeah multiplay is nice, but it isn't what makes a game great IMO. In fact I still maintain the view that several games have been ruined by resources being spent on the multiplay component, rather than the single play. It seems to me that too much is made of multiplay, like it's the new hip word on the street and people have to jump on that bandwagon to be cool. I dare to be different. Different strokes for different folks eh?

On another note, I was just driving on a rally track, somewhere in the Italian sunshine, and I swear I saw a rabbit scurry off into the hedgerow as I hurtled around a corner. Fantastic graphics, absolutely fantastic.

The game also has CORR stadium trucks and buggies, those race side by side but they unfortunately left that out of the MP. I really don't understand why they did that. Those buggies would be so much fun in MP. Still it would be nice to have a driving game where I enjoy the single player, forza feels more like work than a game when just lapping trying to unlock stuff.

lol dude, that video captured my style of racing nicely, rolling, skidding out of control ,etc. Nice

So Hengist... does it have playback feature and screenshot taking abilities like PGR3 and FM2?

Hows the wheel work with it, realistic with all the bumps and bounces?

It comes out Tuesday here, and I'll be getting it anyway.

There was a grayed out replay option in the demo so unless they axed it for some reason, replays are in. I think there was a section of fan uploaded photos on the dirt website so it looks like that may be in too.

It seems the dirt website is overloaded right now so I can't double check that one.

Hi Magnum,

Yes it has a full playback feature and the camera views and accompanying music are much better than Forza, it looks photo realistic or TV realistic. Honest, it looks like I'm watching something on the telly. I can't find anything that allows you to take a screenshot or anything that allows uploads, I can't even find a button that allows the replays to be saved (although, admittedly, I haven't looked that hard). It's not a problem for me though, as that's not one of my 'must' priorities, and anyway, with this game, I'm in too much of a hurry to start the next race (or redo the one that I just lost, lol). The wheel is perfect, and the adjustable FF, on default, doesn't seem as powerful as it was in the demo'. However, unlike the demo, you can select manual transmission in this. I think I played the demo twice before I stopped, due to it only having auto tranny,

I think that I've played more of DIRT, in one day, than I've played Forza 2 in the entire week that I've had that game. That's how much I like DIRT.

You just like playing in the dirt Hengist!


hehe

You may be right Frodo lol, I am very unclean and very very dirty

http://www.fileplanet.com/178191/download/DiRT-Replay-Trailer

nice DIRT re-play video there...still looking for the screenshot tool, ya i now it's not a game priority, but as a "writer/editor" it's always nice to have those tools... I wish every Xbox 360 game had a way to take a screen then simply upload it somewhere or copy it from the hard drive to a usb key drive.

Yes, I am definitely getting it, I knew that back when I tried the demo... I am just concerned about it's longevity due to it's MP limits. (and if you look at any and all screenshots from different sites, 75% of them are multi cars racing, so it should of been n game. JMO.)

According to a few people on the official UK Xbox forums Blockbuster are doing a deal on a selected trade in titles (listed on their site) you can buy Forza 2 or Dirt for £9.99. Shame I just bought Gears of War as thats one of the titles lol

A fine example of how different peoples, needs and wants vary. I thought that may have been the reason why you asked Magnum. I can imagine that something like that is quite an important thing for you. Whereas for myself, it isn't. Even things like painting your car in Forza2 has zero interest for me, but I realise and respect that some people may enjoy that kind of stuff. Again, another example of how people have different needs and wants.


Again, another example of how people have different needs and wants. Obviously this is a high priority for yourself, as this is how you judge 'longevity', whereas myself it always has been and will always continue to be, how good is the single player game? That's the most important thing for me and that's how I judge the 'longevity' of a game.

I do wish reviewers would consider this fact that people have different needs and wants and write more 'objective' reviews that take this into consideration, instead of generalising and thinking that everybody must think along the same lines as themselves, because people simply aren't like that... Thank goodness or it would truly be a boring world indeed. Diversity is the name of the game.

Anyway, it's good to hear that you're getting the title, and hopefully we can meet up and test this multiplay and satisfy your curiosity.

What are the hosting options like? Can you host a private rally between you and your friends or is it all done on a central server?

Hi Jeevz, I've just woken up and read this, so with blurry eyes I fired up the console and checked. The answer is Yes, it does allow private sessions.

On another note, how wimpy am I? As I was waking up, I did my usual yawn and stretch. To my surprise I discovered that the triceps on the back of my arms are slightly aching. This is due to myself spending all of yesterday at the wheel with DIRT. Who needs to pay expensive fees, in order to go to the Gym, when you've got a force feedback wheel and this game? lol

Ok, I'm off to fill the kettle up and make myself a cup of Coffee now.

Wow, I've managed to go a whole day, since waking up, without making another post in this thread. I've been too busy playing the game. Well it's 23:16 and I've just finished trying multiplayer with a friend of mine GH02. I must admit that it was a lot of fun. We were in private chat, didn't test the in-game chat, but the multi gameplay was pretty neat.

You start off in the lobby and you vote for which track/car you want to race, the majority outcome carries the day. Once in the race world, whoever was leading had their name at the top of the player list, and we could both see each others relative position on the side progress bar. As we were racing, it was quite funny to chat and compare crash spots or warn each other about difficult areas of the track and we both seem to hit the same tree, in our own virtual world (poor tree, I hope Greenpeace don't find out). It's hard to fully explain the multiplay experience, because it was so different. It was good in a fresh, new kind of way and I even got an achievement for finishing first... wahoo, I have to like it now

Day 4: Hengist wakes up.

Last night I tried some ranked games. I normally stay away from these games on most titles, as the competition is a tadge too serious for my tastes (that's Hengist code for saying that I'm crap, lol). However, the ranked games of DiRT are cool. The true skill matching system seems to work pretty well. I took a Subaru Impreza on the Canberra rally track in Australia. I was trailing in second place, for about half the stage, but the lead guy must have hit a tree or something, because I edged in front, remained there for the rest of the race and finally came in first with the best time. I can't remember ever winning a ranked match on Live before, with any title. Perhaps the annominity of the event physiologically helped me to victory, who knows? I do know that I've now got the confidence to try another ranked match in DiRT, it was a lot of fun.

I'm just waiting for Revvin and some more SimHQers to buy this title. When I play DiRT it feels like I'm playing a Man's motorsport title (please excuse the implied sexism). Imagine that you're approaching a crest at near 100mph, and you take to the air in a 18 foot high jump, only to land 100 feet, further down the backside of the hill. You've then got 0.5 seconds to battle the wheel and keep the damn car from rolling, before hitting the brakes, whilst crunching those gears down, redlining the engine rev's and making it scream out loud in protest. The wheel shakes, you grip even harder. The tyres screech, the gravel and chippings rattle off your car, invading your concentration. Above all this noise, you suddenly hear your Nav' call out, "Left - 2. Narrows - 1"... GULP!!! Well all I can say is that the pucker factor is pretty high. It's not a motorsport title for the meek, it's a Man's game (or even a butch ladies game, lol).

Day 5: Hengist Discovers Some Interesting Information Regarding Online Play.

It appears that you can host 'Ranked' games and also invite friends.