Retro_Link Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/776/776484p1.html Colin McRae: DIRT Hands-on Codemaster's upcoming installment in the long-running and exceedingly popular Colin McRae series isn't just the best-looking rally game we've seen, it's one of the best-looking next generation titles, period. This week we've been lucky enough to go hands-on with Colin McRae: DIRT and were immediately blown away by the impressive visuals, superb handling and high-speed rally racing. Clearly Codemasters has had its best development team locked up in a garage for several years with only programming tools for company, if the impressive results we've seen so far are anything to go by. For those that haven't been following the progress of DIRT - more fool you - it's the latest rally game featuring Scotland's favourite off-road racer. After successful appearances on previous generation consoles, Codemasters has invested plenty of time and effort into this latest iteration, even building its own game engine (called Neon) especially for DIRT. It's also the first Colin McRae to feature Hill Climb events and Rally Raid competitions. So far, so good… but we were interested to see if DIRT could live up to our high expectations. Luckily, from the moment we fired up the preview build of the game, we were amazed by how slick everything felt. Even the menus have a level of polish we weren't expecting. As you select the race you want to take part in, options fly around like someone's been watching that bit with the futuristic computer in Minority Report too much. The impressive menus continue as you're waiting for a track to load. Rather than a simple loading bar, stats flash up on the screen showing how many miles you've covered, how many times you've travelled on just two wheels and other fascinating, if superfluous, information. For once we were quite happy for the game to take its time loading up. Truthfully, we would have settled for a kitten in a bucket during loading, given how good the actual game is. Our first challenge was a Hill Race on Pikes Peak - a location immediately recognisable to American rally fans - and we were instantly impressed by the astounding level of detail Codemasters has packed into the course. Everything from mountains to houses, or even port-a-loos, are in exactly the right place compared to their real-life counterparts. Other nice touches include crowds lining the edge of the track that, unlike Gran Turismo HD Concept, actually respond when your car slams into the barrier in front of them. Unfortunately our car slammed into the barriers a little more often than we would like. That's because - compared to most modern racers - McRae pulls no punches when it comes to difficulty. Part of the game's charm is pushing your driving skills to the limit by braking at the last moment and hopefully skidding round the corner ready to fly straight towards the next one. Those worried that Codemasters may have tweaked the difficulty to sit more comfortably alongside the likes of Need for Speed fret not - DIRT is still a tough but enjoyable challenge demanding you find the perfect racing line to succeed, just like previous McRae ventures. Ridge Racer fans expecting to drift round bends at 180mph are in for a rude awakening. Instead, decent lap times require that you hone your driving skills and learn when best to brake hard before slamming down the accelerator and powering out of a bend. Thankfully, tight controls mean that easing off the gas slightly when braking round a bend or squeezing pedal to metal on open ground feels extremely natural. Although crashes were a regular occurrence for us initially, there was a silver lining in so far as each smash helped demonstrate DIRT's incredible damage engine. Slight knocks against objects dint and scratch the paintwork of each car, whereas a full head-on collision with a tree can crumple the bonnet like an accordion. Icons on the right-hand side of the screen show how much damage each section of your car has endured - with red indicating your car is basically about to fall to bits. That said, cars can take quite a lot of damage to peripheral elements, like the bodywork. At one point we even managed to stay road-bound on three wheels briefly before tumbling off the track and smacking into a tree. However, damage affects the performance of your car, so it's inadvisable to keep whacking into things at 100mph. Still, it's great fun watching race replays, trying to pinpoint when you lost your wing mirror or your gearbox started crumbling after one too many collisions. There've been a few complaints across internet forums about the fact that DIRT only runs in 30 frames per second. To be honest, it's hardly noticeable when you're hurtling round a hairpin bend trying desperately to beat your best time. DIRT isn't choppy at 30FPS: it certainly didn't ruin our experience of the game. Of course, the pay-off is that the game looks so damn awesome. After reaching the heavens with some of our favourite ever videogame clouds in Heatseeker, Codemasters has brought things back down to earth with the most realistic road surfaces we've seen in a game. Thundering along in first-person view - where you're hanging perilously close to the tarmac - is an intensely thrilling experience and the sense of speed is almost unparalleled. DIRT is definitely shaping up to be a truly next generation racing game, which looks great and plays brilliantly too. Its June release for Xbox 360 and PC - with a PS3 version following soon after - can't come quick enough for us. Trailer http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=18148&type=wmv&pl=game More pictures; http://uk.media.xbox360.ign.com/media/826/826336/imgs_1.html
Domstercool Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 I'm a huge Colin Mcrae rally fan. I've been waiting for this one for god knows how long. I really need my next-gen rally fix. Out in the summer I think.
McPhee Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 Holy Crap! That looks amazing! I still have the first Colin McRae Rally game on PC with its cardboard trees lol
Retro_Link Posted March 29, 2007 Author Posted March 29, 2007 Trailer 2: First In-game footage http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=18186&type=wmv&pl=game
Retro_Link Posted April 19, 2007 Author Posted April 19, 2007 New pictures, More pictures, http://www.jeux-france.com/news19970_colin-mcrae-dirt-derape-en-images.html
McPhee Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 I dont normally go for driving games but this looks so good! Could well be the first 360 game i buy on release day!
That Guy Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 I reckon I'm gonna get this. I do like racing games.
Twozzok Posted May 19, 2007 Posted May 19, 2007 Oh finally, another decent racing game for the 360. Something I think it needs.
kyletherobot Posted May 21, 2007 Posted May 21, 2007 im undecided as to whether i should buy this or forza 2. i already have PGR3 so at the minute, im more swayed towards this. and it does look absoloutely amazing.
Aalborg Posted May 21, 2007 Posted May 21, 2007 how does the car handle in these mcrae games? Im a huge fan of Rallisport challenge 1 + 2, but if the car handles to "realistic" im steering clear of this one.. i love rally games but i prefer the easier arcade kind of steering
DiemetriX Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 Dirt demo due out today! http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/23-05-2007-5552.html
Owen Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 It's pretty good. The handling isn't realistic but i like that...alot actually. Makes it more fun to play. Looks great as well. Slightly dissapointed in the buggy race, much preffered the going round the mountain in a rally car.
Bluejay Posted May 25, 2007 Posted May 25, 2007 Played this just now. I quite liked it, and considering its a racing game, that quite the compliment. Sweet visuals, good amount of variation and good handling. What more do you want. Saying this however, I can't see myself buying it, as it a racing game, and excellent one, but still I'm no fan of the genre.
Twozzok Posted May 25, 2007 Posted May 25, 2007 Well, this disappoints me A bit too unrealistic if you ask me, just feels a bit too much like an arcade game you'd play at a shopping mall EDIT: just played the buggy, feels a lot better than the 4WD cars, I think i'm gonna have to leave this until I find out how many RWD cars there are. Even then it'll probably only be a rental.
Aalborg Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 ahhh me like.. tried the demo just to see how the control was, and I love it.. I prefer rallygames and I prefer the arcade style handling.. this is now on my "to get" list
Goron_3 Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Dear god those screens are beautiful. I wasn't that impressed by Motorstorm screens (dunno why, don't kill me for it lol) but wow, that looks bloody fantastic.
AshMat Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Im crap at these sorta game. But it was beautiful while i played it.
AshMat Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 I don't like the demo , didn't handle very well. I thought that was jsut me.. the turning was very sensitive, and had a tendancy to start skidding for no reason.
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