Dirt 2 [Demo]

[PeteJ]

Judging by the demo, this is shaping up to be Codies best racer since the early McRae titles.

As enjoyable as the original Dirt occasionally was, I found it very lifeless the most part. They've obviously spent a great deal of effort giving the game more of a purpose than working through a list of races, and this is evident on by seeing one of the most gloriously slick front ends I've ever seen. Some may say over-engineered, but sod it, it looks and sounds fantastic.

Racing wise it's difficult to tell but it felt fairly similar to before, I may be out of practice but it did feel slightly harder. On the rally stage I spun out several times, which I don't remember doing in the first game much.

Definately a demo to try out.

[ezee ryder]

Brilliant demo, this wasn't really on my radar but now I might actually pick it up.

As Pete quite rightly points out, the menus are quite possibly the best you will ever see in a game. A small thing to some but it is definitely worth praising I think.

The game itself is really good too, the handling seems to have been tweaked a little bit but if you played the previous game then you should get to grips things pretty quickly. Visually it is very impressive too, been a while since I played the original but it looks like a real step up from that.

Oh I must point out another small detail too, you can customise your cars and one of the options allows you to hang a small version of your avatar from main mirror. Once again, nothing amazing but pretty cool I thought.

[Brats]

I'm unsure on this. I liked the rallying in the first Dirt, but I wanted to love it. I'm still pining for the spiritual successor to Rallycross Challenge 2 and Dirt fell a bit short. The handling was okay, but the braking was way too strong which made everything a bit easy.

This seems better, but it still doesn't have the blend of control whilst flying by the seat of your pants that RSC2 nailed so perfectly. However there's only one track and one car, so it's impossible to form a solid opinion.

The front end is super slick, but it's a bit too 'XTREME' for my liking. Reminds me of the Race Driver front end.

[Malc]

I adored the first Colin Mcrae Dirt. The problem now is that I feel like i've played this before and don't fancy doing it all again. I'm liking the water that they've got in the game, but they definately need more variation in the courses. Acutual 'Dirt' surfaces would be nice, after all, it is the name of the game.

I also feel this is disrespectful to Colin Mcrae's name. In that they are constantly pushing towards an American audience which isn't there. I know they've confirmed Nicky Grist as an optional co-driver, which is at least somewhat better. But what they should be doing is going back to the official WRC and concentrating on that rather than all these American cars, tracks, disciplines and phasing out Colin's name in America.

My problem is more with Codemasters, if you couldn't tell.

[yesteryeargames]

i like it great to play and the graphics look lush, it feels very grid like too

[Salsa Party Animal]

Which format demo ? XBOX or PS3 so I can download it.

[ezee ryder]

You can download it from Xbox Live and PSN.

[merf]

don't like this, the extreme stuff and Travis Pastrami grate on me but more than that I just don't get on with the handling and keep crashing all the time in both events, feels too floaty.

I loved Grid but this doesn't do it for me.

[JP]

Not sure what to make of this, seems a real mixture from the demo.

The bad stuff first...

I know you can chose to not use them but what the hell is it with racing games now that makes it acceptable for you to be able to rewind races 10 seconds if you make a mistake?

I've personally got no interest in the obnoxious American drivers who insist on talking to you in the middle of races. It NEEDS to have an option make them shut up in the full game.

As well as having no interest in them, I have no interest in their disciplines of jumping over stuff in cars or driving around in circles in cars.

I'm really not liking the market that Codemasters are aiming for now. I don't like what they've been saying showing respect for Colin McRae when last year he was completely dropped from the game in US due to Codemasters feeling that he was too old for the market they were aiming for. I appreciate that he's probably worth more to them dead but I still don't like it.

I know it's sort of standard now but again there's far too much bloom being used in the game and it's annoying.

There you go, I've been negative enough about so far but there are things that I do like.

The driving itself is fun even if it does feel a touch simplistic but hopefully there will be options to customise that in the full game. Apart from the stupid bloom and bloody awful music and chatter the AV side of things is really good.

Not that many things in the positive side but the things that are there are important. I'll probably end up getting the full game but will more than likely wait a few weeks for it to be cheaper.

[charlesr]

However there's only one track and one car, so it's impossible to form a solid opinion.

There are 2 "cars" and 2 tracks. 1 circuit and 1 point to point.

The Eclipse seems to turn really quickly when going in a straight line, but getting it back when hanging out too far is proving annoyingly uncontrollable. Every now and again I get a flash of brilliance though - perhaps the other cars will be better. I'll be looking at reviews for this - the demo hasn't put me off completely.

The baja truck things are better, but it's just so slow - I'm rarely getting out of 2nd.

Back to RC2 then.

[saturn-gamer]

The most things I don't like about this demo have been said already. Its very much like DIRT 1, it felt like playing the same game but with prettier graphics and effects. The direction the Codies took isn't the one I'm longing for, I don't like the brownish looks and bloom and I don't like the lightweight handling.

Although their games have their moments of fun, I'm inclined to think that Codemasters screwed DTM and CMR up. I'd prefer CMR 2.0 or so.

I'm just looking forward to GT with its WRC license. I hope it turns out to be good.

[Largo]

Ohh ill have to check this out

Ever since catching some WRC on dave (had freeview out of action for a while) ive really sparked an interest in a good driving game. Havent had a chance to pickup Grid yet either

[Brats]

There are 2 "cars" and 2 tracks. 1 circuit and 1 point to point.

Sorry, I meant there was only one car and track for the rallying. The Baja stuff is better than last time, but again it just seems like a simple diversion from the main event.

[joe90]

Rubbish.. where is the actual true rally racing..

No Scottish voice, easy left into hard left maybe.. There's a bloody crappy map.
The games of old have now dies to have much more general appeal (read Americanised).

/edit and the handling again.... is crap.. no weight.

//edit 2 realised this is prob not the 'rally' section, just the 'trailblazing'

bah

[PeteJ]

Nicky Grist is in the full game as a co-driver. edit - yes this is just trailblazing, just checked the official website and there is a separate Rally stage with co-driver course notes.

Surprised at the negativity around this demo (although every thread I visit at the moment seems to be full of negativitiy!), I thought it was awesome