Beating the competition
AI powered opponents have a tendency to flip from the sublime to the ridiculous as they manœuvre and, more importantly, spin and crash around the various tracks. The lumbering spectre of the Terminator does hover over them though, as they look to knock the player’s car off course whenever and wherever they’re able. It’s an issue often raised of GT5’s AI too. On balance though, the feel of racing here is more authentic than that of Sony’s racer.
Split decision
Alas, the on-line component is, as yet, not available on PS3 for well-publicised reasons. In this case, the reason is that before playing on-line, you have to register the game through the PSN Store, which, at time of writing, remains inaccessible. Presuming lag doesn’t rear its ugly head, the solo gameplay suggests multiplayer will be great, with Rallycross sure to lead the way in the popularity stakes, but capture the flag and other modes are also available. There’s even the option to upload your best moments to YouTube for eternal bragging rights.
Leaving ski marks
Verdict
There isn’t very much you’d say could be improved here, given the capabilities of the current generation of consoles on the market. OK, so the AI could be even more unpredictable, the Flashback system a little quicker to rewind and the cars even more tweakable for purists. However, with jaw-dropping visuals, exhilarating speed and handling as pulse-racingly exciting as you can get without climbing into a real rally car, Dirt 3 is a racer driving fans really can’t afford to be without. ®
More Racing Games |
||||
 Need for Speed:
Shift 2 Unleashed |
 Motorstorm:
Apocalypse |
 Nail'd |
 Gran
Turismo 5 |
 Need for Speed:
Hot Pursuit |
Dirt 3
COMMENTS
It's all very nice
But somehow it's still not Stunt Car Racer.
Must go and see if my old A500 still works...
Wither Colin and Richard...
Is there a proper rally simulator at all anymore? Without Gymkhana and buggies?
But indeed
I actually don't mind the Drift and Gymkhana events - Dirt stopped being a rally title years ago (I still have a Rally Championship installed for proper rallying, which now works brilliantly with the Logitech G25) - but the fact that you *have* to do the Gymkhana to advance from tier one racing is a pretty poor show.
I quite like the off-road racing aspect and am enjoying the game, but couldn't be bothered with the gymkhana stuff and while you can get enough points to avoid drift and gymkhana events in the seasons, you can't get out of that initial yawn-inducing school and event to get past first tier without doing the DiRTy "gymkhana" deed.
TBH, I'd prefer Dirt2 with updated graphics to this latest offering. It's fun, but so far I preferred its predecessor. In spite of being a stuffy middle class Brit, I don't mind a bit of fun every now and then and that's what these games offer. Then I can go back to the Welsh forests and wreck some poor unsuspecting virtual 106 or Escort or something in Rally Championship.
PC version
The core of the game is very good, exciting, entertaining and challenging.
The use of Windows live and needing to install Windows live id as service and have it running, the long load times and patronising commentary almost destroys what in essence is a very good game.
After playing for an hour with about 40% of that hour in loading screens, I am not particularly inspired to load the game again. I got some grief on my plate at the moment and I am not a happy bunny, I know this is affecting my patience. I will try the game again when my mood improves, perhaps my patience with the game will improve too. But at the moment the pleasure is not worth the pain.
This is my opinion and such things are subjective, but the use of Windows live in any game immediately annoys me and takes at least 30% off any rating.
Good game BUT
First off I am a huge Rally fan in the real wold as well as the electronic and have owned pretty much every rally game ever made.
This is a good game much better than the last Dirt because of the better rally content, game play and physics are nice and balanced and overall it is a definate move forwards however and this is a really BIG however the "Drift Showcase and Gymkhana" are totally out of place in the main game. I can accept that there are people out there who want to do these kind of events but to include both in what is essentially a rally game is annoying to say the least. They both need to be optional to the main game rather than form part of it. Make it a optional / bonus content.
Hopefully there will be yet another Dirt in which they will go back to the routes of the game and stop with all the "American" Yeah Ha and Chav rubbish and stick to the proper racing formats and any additonal content be exactly that additional content for those who actually want content like that.
