Off Road Racing: DiRT

I usually love the racing games.

I’m not a huge fan of true simulation racing, but I love the concept of competing directly against friends in a racing environment. With XBOX-LIVE, you no longer have to wait for friends to come over to your house just so that you can challenge them to contests of skill.

There are always players waiting on XBOX-LIVE to accept your challenge. DiRT, an off-road racing game, was tailor-made for multiplayer.

When you first turn on DiRT, you are taken through a tour of this game’s excellent menu system. The 3D menus are a great touch and really help to set the game apart from other bland games. So I had found something that I liked even before starting the first race.

The game looks gorgeous. The highly-detailed models look truly next gen. Where the graphics really shine is in the damage modeling. Imagine running a race where, after taking a bad slide into a railing on a corner, you have lost your passenger side door. You continue racing, only to realize that the door you lost is still sitting upon the track, along with parts of the other cars that have suffered damage. These new obstacles are then kicked around the track by the passing racers as they desperately attempt to avoid hitting them.  

The sound is very well done. It helps to bring the tracks alive with the sounds of the engines and crowds. On many races you will have a navigator in the car with you and you will learn to listen to his advice on when to turn and how sharp the next turn is (ignore his advice and you will likely end up upside down in the ditch).

This game is definitely worth owning. I’m kicking myself for having rented it. If you like racing games at all then buy this game.