Dirt 3
It’s time once again to barrel through mountain trails while doing your best to keep your foot on the pedal and the car on the track. Dirt is back and this iteration of the game brings drifting and the Gymkhana to the mix to give a very well rounded experience. It’s going to take more than speed alone to come out on top.
The objective is simple; score points and win races. The amassed points will get you better sponsors and cars, as well as unlock new events. Before every race you can tweak basic settings of the car as well as difficulty of the game. These latter settings will make the car easier or harder to handle and adjust the skill of your opponents. The game handles fairly well, but those looking for a simulation racing experience need look elsewhere. That’s not to say that the game is totally lacking in realism, just that it isn’t completely bound by realism. Weather, track surfaces, and the condition of the vehicle will affect how a car handles, which is a nice touch. Rally racing isn’t always about racing your opponents directly, and it’s easy to pull off a stunning performance and still lose the race. Learning the tracks is the key to victory, and something I personally like more than head to head racing.
This is one of those games that I didn’t want to set down, always wanting to do just one more race. Of course, it’s not all roses, as the game has it’s fair share of flaws and bugs. One example would be that I somehow ended up having to redo a championship race seemingly out of no where after selecting a completely different race. The PC version supposedly supports 5.1 sound, but all I heard from the rear speakers was an odd crackle. Though this is far from gamebreaking, it was pretty annoying until I set my speakers to function as 2.1. While the added bonus of uploading replays to Youtube directly from the game is pretty awesome, but here is no ability to upload more than a minute of footage. Those wanting to share their replays any other way are out of luck, as there is no means to save locally.
Dirt 3 is by no means a perfect game, but it’s flaws don’t hold it back. The game is very addictive and extremely fun without and major frustrations. Those looking for a fun racing game that is somewhere between Sega Rally and Need For Speed need look no further.
