DiRT 2

Overview

Title: Colin McRae DiRT 2

Release Date: 8th-11th September 2009 (Consoles Wordwide) / December 2009 (PC version)

Developer/Publisher: Codemasters / Codemasters

Genre: Racing

Platform[s]: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Nintendo DS & PSP

Storyline

Colin McRae is arguably the best Rally driver to ever grace the world of racing and that is still true today, even after the tragic events that took place 2 years ago in which Colin McRae and his son died in a helicopter crash, which left a huge hole in everyone’s hearts. Since then there has been a lot of drama online about whether or not Codemasters should be sanctioned to create another Colin McRae title, a series that has been going strong for over 10 years and is seen as the definitive rally driving game. Codemasters were granted permission from the McRae estate to go and create a new title based on the DiRT IP and here we are today with a fantastic title that Colin would surely be proud of if he was still with us.

DiRT 2 introduces Rally X Games, a sport in which Colin McRae was heavily involved with after leaving the WRC (World Rally Championship) and it brings a fresh, definitive look at rallying and introduces part off-road and part on-road rally driving. You see yourself travelling the world taking on Rally X Games, Rallying, Baja and many more.

Gameplay

A lot of improvement has gone into DiRT 2 after the feedback from the masses after DiRT, and playing this game reminds myself a lot of playing GRID. Whether your a seasoned racing game fanatic or a casual Sunday driver you are going to fail when you start, (unless of course your name is often featured on the WRC leaderboards) and you will probably find it slightly daunting, but after a few failed races you will learn the in’s and out’s of each car you get to drive in the tournaments and races. Each car does drive differently from the next so you may find yourself changing cars after failed races, in fact I probably kept swapping my cars for the first 2 hours of playing the game just to get accustomed to the style of each vehicle and learning the drive styles that match races and tracks.

As mentioned before you get to visit tracks and race types all over the world, for instance London specialises in Rally X Games where as Croatia will see race in Rally’s. At first I felt a little overwhelmed by the different types of races but that quickly settled down as I learnt the tracks and felt comfortable with the cars.

Overall the game feels a lot like GRID and the original DiRT and it certainly accommodates new drivers with a difficulty system, there is a disadvantage to playing the game on easier levels and this is the amount of XP that you earn after completing races, but the difficulty can be adjusted before each race so as you get better at the game you can slide the difficulty up slightly to reflect your skill level. The XP that you earn levels you up unlocking a wide range of items such as liveries, cars and dashboard toys. Earning XP also unlocks new regions and new races to visit and special events such as Rally X Games, World Tours and a special Colin McRae challenge which upon completion unlocks a special tribute video of Colin McRae which will turn the hardest most daring people into a big pile of tears.

Graphics

“Does it really get any better than this?” a question I asked myself numerous times while playing DiRT 2, the scenery, the tracks even the advertising is extremely vivid and certainly leaves an imprint on your mind that will last for quite sometime. The whole design of the menu system is very unique and sees yourself looking around a trailer to enter races, configure options and play online amongst other options that we won’t bore you with. Your trailer also comes complete with a TV playing music video’s from the games soundtrack which we will talk about in the next section.

Sound

I haven’t wired up my gaming chair directly to my Xbox since I first got it, I just simply plugged it into my TV with loads of adapters and cables all over the place but this title made me want to get the most out of my system and I’m so glad I did. The roar of the engines at the starting line is quite phenomenal and I’m pretty sure you could find someone gullible and tell them that your not actually playing a game, your watching a race on TV. The unique sound of a Mitsibishi Evo X is unmistakable when your here it Rev up on TV or at a race but when your hear it from your own sound system it would almost be impossible to tell the difference between the two.

Not only has the game got unreal sound that’s identical to real life races, it has a killer sound track made up of artists such as Queens of the Stone Age, Prodigy, Bloc Party, Ladyhawk and Rage Against. In fact I could probably sit here all day and rave about the sound track but the only way your going to see is going out and buying the game for yourself.

Overall Score and Replayability

Overall this game is suitable for racing pro’s and newcomers alike with a fantastic engine thats made for everyone. Even if you only love racing sims you really need to give this game a go and see how fantastic it is for yourself, infact I don’t know how not to live without this game and it would certainly be a crime not to drop down to your local video game retailer and pick up a copy!

Eurogamer Expo update; God of War 3, Aliens vs Predator and Assassin’s Creed 2 confirmed

Time is ticking by and with less than 5 weeks to go until the start of this year’s event, we thought you might be interested in finding out exactly what you can expect from the UK’s premier core gaming event.

Well first off, they have now confirmed over 50 games for this year, all of which are playable and many of which aren’t due for release until 2010. We’ll have the UK exclusive appearance of games such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii, God of War 3, Left 4 Dead 2, MAG, Mass Effect 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Heavy Rain, Split/Second and Assassin’s Creed 2. You can check out the full list on the Eurogamer Expo website here

New to the Expo for 2009 are the Developer Sessions. We’ve lined up some top names from the world of video game development to to speak to you about their games, the industry and more. Black Rock (Split/Second), Splash Damage (Brink) and Introversion (Darwinia+) will all be presenting, with more to be announced in the coming weeks. 2009 sees the Ask Eurogamer! sessions return; your chance to quiz the Eurogamer editorial team on anything from that Halo review to their preferred choice of sock colour.

This year sees a welcome return for the Indie Games Arcade which will be showcasing a number of innovative titles from the indie scene. We’ll have games from the likes of Introversion (DEFCON), Beatnik Games (Plain Sight) and Tunatech (Cletus Clay). Several indie developers will also be bringing along games exclusively designed for the Expo.

Finally, the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair is back once again for 2009. This is your chance to speak face-to-face with some of the developers responsible for the games you love and an excellent opportunity to get some top tips for transforming your passion for games into a lifelong career. Companies set to attend this year include SEGA, Ubisoft, Rare, Crytek, Relentless Software and Starbreeze.

Eurogamer still have plenty of announcements to come, so keep an eye on our Expo website for updates and remember you can also keep up to date via our Twitter account and the Eurogamer forum group.

VGR will be present at the Expo in London this year so why not come and say hi?

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising goes gold

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has just gone gold according to the press release that just landed in our inbox. OF:DR will be released October 6th (US) / 8th (PAL) / 9th (UK) and is available for PC, Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3.  We’re really looking forward to getting our hands on this game so look out for our review in the coming weeks.

NYC Gamer busted stealing WiFi at Library while playing Halo

Can you imagine the audacity of this NYC gamer who decided it would be a great idea to setup an Xbox 360 in a public library to play Halo 3, Call of Duty and Quake.  Now I don’t know how he thought he could conceal his activities by placing a copy of the New York Times over his hands and control pad, when his screen was in full view of everyone, not to mention the Turtle Beach headset he was using to bark orders at his Internet Buddies.  It took him around 20 minutes to set the box up and apparently 2 min to get kicked out.  Now if only this guy killed himself while doing this he would probably win a Darwin Award instead he got himself a ban from the Library.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Microsoft confirms Elite price drop and Pro phase out

Microsoft have just confirmed that the Xbox 360 Elite has just dropped to £199.99 in the UK alongside the Pro 60gb model being phased out.  The Arcade has seen a price increase to £159.99 and has also lost its 5 free games.  The Elite model has been reported to only include the standard AV cables as opposed to the HDMI cable that it used to ship with.  We expect that the remaining Pro consoles in circulation will drop in price over the next few days and we expect some serious bargains in the route to Christmas.

WET Demo slices its way onto Xbox Live

The demo for WET has appeared onto Xbox Live Marketplace as if by magic.. no seriously we all know the Marketplace works magically so don’t try and say any different.  The demo weighs in at around 632mb and can be downloaded direct from this link.  See its magic!

Bayonetta isn’t region free

In a big f*** you to all importers, it has come to light that Bayonetta will not be region free.  Guess we’re all going to have to wait for Sega to release the title to the western world before getting to play this anticipated title.  Anyone got a Jap-Xbox we can borrow?

Castle Crashers DLC out now

The new Castle Crashers DLC is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for a mere 160 Microsoft Points.  The pack entitled The Necromantic Pack includes a new orb, new characters and new weapons including a chainsaw.  We expect at this price the DLC to sell really well even if it has taken a long time to rear its head onto Live.

Modern Warfare 2 lobby photo

Robert Bowling has posted up a photo of a Modern Warfare 2 lobby.  It appears to be a shot of a 2 player lobby for some sort of Terrorist Hunt style game mode.  We look forward to getting our hands on this game later on in the year.

Modern Warfare 2 voice actors confirmed

Robert Bowling has just confirmed several voice actors that are due to appear in Modern Warfare 2. Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, 25th Hour), Kieth David (Saints Row 2, Mr & Mrs Smith), Glenn Morshower (24, Transformer RotF), Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting) and Craig Fairbrass who also voiced Gaz in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Fiddy Cent has already been confirmed to voice a character in Multiplayer.

A nice list of actors have been drafted in but we don’t think they’re half as good as having Keifer Sutherland shout at you in World at War.

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