Dirt Rally Review (PC)

Dirt Rally is part of a rare breed of video games that gives those who play it a new appreciation of the activity on which it is based, in this case rally racing, while also allowing them to take part in some events that they might never experience in the real world.

The game strives to deliver an authentic take on the sport, with players able to explore a wide variety of events and try out their skills with plenty of vehicles, and after months of Early Access, the developers have managed to find a good balance between frustration and excitement.

Hurtling down a hill at 100 kilometers per hour while trying to decide how to approach the next set of corners and when it will be too late to push the brake pedal is one of the most fun moments that the racing game genre can offer, even if the results can quickly become disastrous for the player who has not carefully planned his approach for the race.

Dirt Rally is at the moment offered on the PC, with both development and publishing duties handled by Codemasters, and versions for the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony will be launched in April of 2016.

Story

Dirt Rally is centered around a career mode that starts players off with a limited amount of money and then challenges them to master each vehicle in the shop while exploring some of the most iconic locations from the real-world sport associated with the activity.

Rally, hill climb and rallycross are featured in the title and gamers will find a selection of cars, especially for the first mode, that include the greats of the past and the beasts of the present.

Gamers can hire a crew to get the most out of their vehicles and also have the option to active tweak them before each race and then test the way they behave before they try to deliver a competitive time.

The locations also deliver plenty of variety, getting gamers to Greece, Finland, Monaco, Italy and more, each with its iconic locations and with a lot of local challenges to deal with.

FIA World Rallycross content is also offered, with full support from the real world federation, and gamers can use the events to race with friends directly if they are tired of only racing against the clock times of their Artificial Intelligence rivals.

Gameplay

Dirt Rally is a simulation, a video game that aims to offer a virtual experience that comes as close as possible to real-world rally racing and manages to achieve that goal, even if it fails to deliver some refinements that would have enhanced this commitment to realism.

The core mechanics make each race feel balanced on a knife's point, with the player constantly struggling to keep his car on the narrow roads while working out how much he can risk in the coming sections to take all those important seconds off his final time.

The vehicles are heavy and fast, and it's incredibly easy to make too much of a correction after a bump, to enter a corner at the bad angle or simply fail to notice that the speed is too high for a section.

Dirt Rally German lands

The consequences can range from a simple spin, which loses time but gets the adrenaline pumping, to a full flip or a trek through the environment that requires a reset, which comes complete with a bigger time penalty.

The cars have weight and never feel like they float around the tracks, and the modifications that gamers and their crew can make will affect how they behave, which means gamers should test each new configuration to see whether it's suited to their style.

The fact that the campaign initially restricts gamers to older vehicles is a good way to learn the core ideas that power Dirt Rally, from the way each surface and weather patterns requires a different approach to the best way to interpret the calls of the co-pilot and the graphical hints about the track.

The modern vehicles are almost impossible to control for a newcomer and only after hours and hours of driving will they become manageable.

I have a tendency to still wrap myself around trees or to botch the approach for the toughest corners but I also feel like I made a lot of progress since I started playing, and that's a good way for a video game to keep me interested in the long-term.

The fact that Dirt Rally does not feature the replay mechanic that Codemasters has largely popularized for the racing genre is one of the biggest disappointments I have about the game and diminishes the enjoyment that plenty of gamers will extract from the experience.

I understand that the feeling of simulation that's at the core of the title would be undermined by the addition, but the mechanic, which allows players to move back in time to eliminate a mistake, is too useful to simply discard.

The studio could have introduced a penalty for those who use the feature or another way to balance it to give more casual racing fans a simpler way to become good drivers in a smaller amount of time.

“Dirt Rally is a solid simulation that does not want to compromise on any front, and that means gamers who want to explore it but have only played more arcade Codemasters releases should arm themselves with time and patience.”

The game offers plenty of rewards for those willing to invest in it, but just a few tweaks could have made it more appealing to those who might not be familiar with the genre.

Graphics and audio

Dirt Rally is a good-looking game, probably because it focuses on just one vehicle going down a track at any given time, and more importantly, it manages to re-create the feeling of speed and danger that's clearly a part of the sport.

Playing from inside the cockpit is the best way to enjoy the racing experience, complete with visual cues about the track, limited information about the best way to approach the coming sections and the terror that takes over when a crash robs previous time from a promising run.

Codemasters offers other cameras for those who want variety or simply an easier way to guide their vehicle through the events but regardless of perspective the world and the cars of Dirt Rally look good, with plenty of details and color that make even the drab Finnish countryside feel alive.

The speed of the races and the concentration they require can sometimes make it hard for players to appreciate the beauty of Dirt Rally, but it's impossible to ignore the impressive sound design, which includes a wide variety of environmental cues and good communication from the co-pilot.

Multiplayer

Dirt Rally allows players to compete with other gamers via the daily, weekly and monthly events, which feature regularly updated leaderboards and solid rewards for those willing to take part and constantly improve their performance.

The game also features a League system, which allows each gamer to create his custom competition, decide what restrictions he wants to use and which events to include and then invite his friends to race together.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion