Customer Reviews

Dirt 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

WAS A GREAT BDAY PRESENT....... AND ALWAYS GETS ALOT OF PLAY! GOOD GRAPHICS FOR BEING ON SUCH A SMALL SCREEN!

I got the game because I wanted a rally game, and DiRT 2 is the only rally game on the DS. I was less than impressed with the qualities that were so hyped about in critic's reviews, and the bot AI is overly rude, the courses are fairly annoying, the cars are dull, and there is very little in this game which really demonstrates "rallying", other than the fact of cars driving on dirt courses. Otherwise, it is okay, I mean the courses can sometimes be fun, and the main issue with the cars is the handling on some, (STi for instance) and it is alright once you have the knack of it. Sadly, I won't be playing it for a while until I get my DS's left trigger fixed, as it broke recently, and is the handbrake, invaluable for driving sideways, as you do in a rally!

The first 2 or 3 tracks of this game really did not look too promising. I was finding it rather stiff and boring at first, but then as you advance and earn money, you can upgrade your car, and buy new ones, and it doesn't take very long to buy the best cars in the game. Once I had purchased the top car, after about 5 races or so, things seemed to pick up and I found a lot of interest in the game now that things where speeding along. So make sure to stick it out for a few races if you play this, it does get a lot better.

I'm not sure how many tracks there are in total, but there is plenty. Ranging from the deserts of Mexico, the Icey roads of Iceland. The scenic views of China, the desert of Ethiopia, and a various few others, it won't be one of those games you just get sick of the same scenery all the time. In some parts of either Japan or China, I even felt they had designed a bit of there track as a tribute to the Advanced track of "Daytona USA" (The Tunnel Areas) which made it seem familiar, but in a new way.

There is a few cars to select, from your off-road rally cars, to fwds (hummer included) and off road dirt buggies, but what I found disappointing was there is no hidden vehicles to unlock. In fact, there is no hidden features in this game at all. When it says "new track unlocked" it just refers to you have unlocked the next coarse of the series to participate in.

The tracks are not just racing opponents around 3 laps to the finish, there is also Rally races where you are on your own to beat a certain time, races where you have to hit all the markers (gates) and a few stunt races where you might have to earn enough stunt points or hit a ramp and land in a certain spot. I found it a little weird that one stunt tracks gives the impression you have to flip the car, which is possible in some cars, but I was surprised when I just landed on the other side of the ramp after a normal jump in the Hummer, and it said "Perfect"

The tracks difficulty ranges from way too easy, to it seems hard at first, but after a couple of goes memorizing parts of the track, you make it through in first place. If there is say, 30 tracks maybe in the game, I think only about 4 or 5 of them where a slight challenge. The rest, once you have the top car, you cruise through and leave your oppositions for dead. It's only the smaller challenges like driving through all the gates on tracks with sharp turns, or hitting a certain speed to get to the end by the time the clock runs out that might take you a couple of goes, but in the end, it's all possible, I have beaten everything, and it will only take a day or two to complete.

With that said, I don't know that I have any intention to play the game much ever again. Maybe if I get bored, I might play it all again on expert mode, and see if it is more challenging, but for now, what really let this game down on me after completing it, is there is no ending. You just get left on the map screen to choose whatever race you want, with no indication you have completed the game, no thank you, no congratulations, no nothing new unlocked. If you want to see credits to the game, there accessible through the options menu, and my complaint about the credits is tho it is good you can use the arrows to scroll through it quicker as they roll, it does not tell you name and artists of songs in the soundtrack of the game. I really started to take a liking to some of the tunes in the game, which are nice progressive and hard rock songs, but it doesn't tell you who they are by... unless in the thanks to it is naming the singers? I dunno.

The controls of the game vary. When you start with a new car, it has no upgrades yet, and when you hold the L shoulder button to go around corners, you drift, but you lose a bit of speed. then you can upgrade the engine, tyres, steering and I guess it might be the body (damage), and your car will get faster and stronger, but drifting around corners becomes more stiff and the car doesn't drift as much around sharp turns, tho works nicely around long corners. To achieve certain challenges, you may find yourself upgrading just the engine and body, but leaving the steering and tyres alone so you can drift easier. (hint)

There is also an option to make your own track. But this sounds better then it really is. You are rather limited to what you can make, but you might be able to make a decent track, but you can only race these things on your own, they don't become an extra track in the game, just something to do if you get bored. "Trackmania" is the better option to go for if you want to make your own tracks. This one will amuse you for 5 minutes, then lose it's interest.

You can also customize your car. At first glance in the first few tracks, I thought the cars where going to be boring looking like in some games, but once you go to customize it, you realize you can pick just about any color you want, and add decals to the hood, roof and doors. The in-game tags are not very good, but you do get an option to draw your own decals/tags. The only thing is, you can only do it on the areas I mentioned. Like the last reviewer said, it would be nice if it was like Top Gear Rally on 64, where you can draw wherever you want to.

The graphics of the game are what you see in previews. Not bad for DS, the usual pixels. The music is pretty cool if you like hard-rock, progressive rock and the controls vary depending on what you choose.

The biggest cons to me in the game was annoying wait times. In most races, when you finish, you hit A and you can see a replay, then hit A again to go back to the race option screen, then you have to hit B to go back to get back to the map screen where it takes you to the next race. This became a little annoying after a while, as I thought "why can't it just go straight to the next race with out the map screen" - I thought my game might have had a glitch, as eventually it did just that, but then I found out, it's certain races that have 2 or 3 events in one. It was also annoying during the stunt or gate races, it became frustrating that if you got a score of "poor" you could select to race again, but if you got to the end, you continued, and had to wait for the game to save, then wait for the menu to come back up, go back into the race, select your car, and then you can try again. They should have kept the continue of race again option selectable at the finish weather you won or not.

I think I have covered most of the cons and pros of the game. But you might ask, is it worth getting? Well, I think I prefer Asphalt Urban over this one, so if you own that, don't expect this one to be as good. But if you do like that game, then you may just enjoy this one. It's no Mario Kart, but it has it's moments of fun. However, if you are thinking about a racing game, and want the best one on DS, then consider this one later, and go straight for "SideSwiped" you won't be disappointed in that game. But if you enjoy racing games, like them on DS, and already have those other games, then sure, this one will keep you occupied for a while. Just don't pay much more then 15 bucks for it ;)

I love rally, and owning only a Wii and a DS, I was told the DS version of this game was a better bet. I also own TrackMania DS and Mario Kart DS, as far as racing games are concerned. Here's my quick take:

The racing itself is decent. It's fun to hit L for the handbrake and drift around corners, but when you upgrade your car, suddenly it won't slide around and almost becomes more difficult to control, but it's faster so you'll still win, you just feel like you're driving crappy. Some of the game modes are annoying. I wish they had just stuck with rally, since the collision physics with other cars is pretty lame. I do like the replays though

The track editor is pretty weak, I've only used it a few times. TrackMania DS has a much better track editor. Basically, don't let it influence your decision to buy.

The decal editor likewise is weak and shouldn't affect your decision. It makes me wish the game were Top Gear Rally on the Nintendo 64. That game let you paint the entire car and it wasn't so grainy.

So, in a nutshell, if you want a racing game with a track editor, go with TrackMania DS. If you want a rally game with decent replays, Dirt 2 is really your only option, and it's not bad.