SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

DiRT2 [PS3]
This game is by far one of the best offroad racers I've played so far.  The graphics are absolutely stunning, from the sun reflection off the car, to the detailed tracks and wonderful scenery.

 
Gameplay
The gameplay is tons of fun, it is a true racing game.  The handling of the cars feel realstic although sometimes you get reminded it is a game when the car flips through the air like a cartoon and actually manages to land on its wheels again.  Apart from that slight fault it feels very realistic in all other areas.  You can even tell that a car is heavier than another by its handling (especialy with trophy trucks).  You feel a car is heavier by the way it turns, it feels slow and hard to steer and a lot harder to stop. While the lighter ones feel nimble, quick and steer a lot easier. This doesn’t mean that light is better. Yes the light vechicles are easier to drives in turns, but when it comes down to straights they can get overtaken by the heavier more powerful vehicles.  There are many different types of races, which is sure to please everyone.  From the hardcore rally fans to the ones that love trophy trucks, buggys, and raid cars. Tracks vary from country to country, some being all dirt,  some having street parts to some being all mountainous road to others being in jungles and deserts. There are no weather changes, although this isnt' a big fault at all (its very tiny actually), it might have added a bit more to the game, along with some snow courses.  But even without these the game is amazing.
Even if you know the tracks really well you can still crash very easily as you don’t know how your car will react to the next bump in the road.

Events

Rally
A race from one point to another.  It is timed based, cars take off at different time intervals about 10 seconds apart from each other you also have a co driver telling you about upcoming turns and helping you.  Best time wins.

Rally Cross
A lap based event.  They contain at least one dirt part along with one street section.  There are also 2 other types of rally cross.  One is called Last Man Standing which is a elimination mode where the last place car is knocked out of the race.  The timer starts after the 1st lap is done.  Then timer starts and if you are last you will be knocked out.  Then a new timer starts and another is knocked out etc… The other mode of rally cross is called domination.  In this type of event you score points for having the fastest sector time in each sector.  You get 10 points if you have the fastest time and 8 for second fastest and then 6-1 the rest of the way down.  Get the most points and you win.

Trail Blazer
Another point to point race.  Its a lot like rally but with 2 main differences the tracks are designed to have cars reach maximum speed.  You also don’t have a co driver telling you when to slow down which can lead to some fun crashes.

Land Rush
A lap based event usually held in stadiums.  A lot like rally cross but instead of cars you use buggys and stadium trucks.

Raid
A point to point race.  In these events you get to use raid vehicles which are basically off road suv’s.  All players take off at the same time, and there is no co driver.  First person to finish wins.

X Games
These events contain a mix of the main types of events. Land Rush, Raid, Rally, Rally Cross and Trail blazers.  If you win at these events you get a free special edition xgames car.

World Tour
A 5 race tour in whatever class you pick rally, raid, land rush, rally cross and trailblazers.  When you win at one of the tours you unlock car like the ford escort MK II.

Countries/Cities

London
Most events here are rally cross.  A good balance of dirt a road some dangerous turns, some events here will be at night which leads to more fun.

Croatia
Events here are mostly rally with some raid, racing down the mountains of croatia can be very dangerous.  There are a lot of hairpins here.

China
Here you mostly  race rally and trailblazer.  These tracks are very dangerous, sometimes racing in villages with some dangerously close buildings.

Japan
Most events here are rally cross.  Some races here can be hard if your not careful on turns.

Malyasia
Probably one of the hardest countries to race in.  Here you mainly race Raid and rally, through the jungles which is very hard as one bad bump can lead to you crashing into one of the many trees.

Morocco
Very hard place to race in, the course is very lose and your car can easily spin out or fly off the course.  Most events here are rally and trail blazers.  With some raid and land rush events.

Baja
Most events here are raid and landrush with some rally events.

Los Angeles
Events here are mostly rally cross the street side of things is amazing here some serious street parts making you learn how to drive both on dirt and on road.

Utah
Trailblazers are the events here, some serious speed can be gained on these courses most having a long straight away at start or end of the track.

The Cars
Most cars start off unlocked, but you must buy them before you can use them.  To get money you need to win races. Some of the cars that are in the game are, Mitsubishi Lancer X,  Mitsubishi Lancer IX,  Nissan 350z,  Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, Subaru WRX STi (2002, 1995, 2009), Colin McRae R4 and BMW Z4 coupe.  Some Raid cars include Mitsubishi racing Lancer, 1993 Mitsubushi Pajero, VW Touareg 2 and Hummer H3.

Graphics
There isn't enough words to describe the graphics in this game.  The shadows created by tall cliffs look amazingly realistic.  The reflection of the sun on the shiny car is amazing,  although it wont stay shiny for long.  The scenery is amazing as well,  from tall trees to the rocks, which can sometimes be dangerous as cars run over them and sometimes can throw them at your car.  The smoke coming out of the tyres when you drift onto the road part of rally cross looks awesome.  The Jungles of Malaysia look equally amazing as you get the feel of it being a jungle really quickly.  The mountain roads of Croatia look stunning with all the amazing scenery (image below).

The home part where you get to pick events and check out your cars doesn’t miss a beat either.  From the flags flowing in the air to the people walking by looks great.

AI
The AI is very good as well.  There are various different difficulties, so everyone has a fighting chance no matter there skill level.  If you are a more skilled player and play at harder difficulties you get more money per race then if you played at a easier level. The AI is very realistic, making mistakes just like a real player would.  Even with them making mistakes, like crashing, spinning out etc… They can sometimes still be hard to beat.  They also take as much damage as a regular player would sometimes even blowing the engine forcing  them to retire from the race.  With different difficulties you get more or less “flashbacks” which is a feature that lets you rewind time after a serious crash or mistake you made and lets you re-live the moment to allow you to fix your mistake or avoid crashing.  If you play at a harder level you get less than if you play at an easier level.

Controls
The controls of the game are very well setup nothing seems out of place.  The gas and brake are both trigger buttons which really helps in this game as controlling the gas around turns as well as in the tricky parts where going full speed is to dangerous and slowing down at every turn is to slow.  Having the throttle at a steady position the entire time helps a lot in those situations.  It also helps on start, taking off at full throttle causes you to take off slower as you spin  your tires for a bit before you grip and fully get going.  While if you take off at a little bit less than full throttle your car grips really quick with very little tire spin leading to a quick take off.

Online
Online mode is broken into 2 main parts.  One part known as Pro Tour and another known as Jam Session.  Pro Tour is then broken into 4 separate parts as well.  Both online modes are a lot of fun.  They’re mostly the same, except in Jam session the one hosting gets to pick what race event they want to do.  While in pro tour the events are more of a cycle of tracks (more in depth below).  It is very well put together and very smooth online gaming.  No lag was noticed while playing online even when using wireless.  Nothing overly complex , same thing as single player but with other real people. With the match making feature,  the amount of times you crashed into someone comes into place.  If you don’t crash into others often you will be put in with the same type of people.  Skill level was a little bit off sometimes but overall it was equal in Pro Tour.  In Jam session however it can sometimes be a bit ‘off skill’ with some players being a lot more skilled then others.

Pro Tour Events

Totality
In this event you play all types of events from rally to domination. It is a total mix of all types of events.

Time Bomb
In this online mode you only race rally, and Trail Blazers. There is no collisions with other cars at all.  You can see them but you cant crash into them. Both events are time based so quickest time wins.

Skirmish Online Mode
Land rush races, rally cross, aswell as raid. In this mode there are collisions with other cars.

Ruckus
Is the online mode for the special types of rally cross. You race Domination and Last Man Standing.

The Good
Amazing graphics that stun you at every turn.  Great online gameplay lag free and tons of fun. Very realsitic handling of cars with very well put controls.

The Bad
None

The Ugly
No splitscreen Multiplayer. The games biggest fault.

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Also available on [XBOX360, PC, PSP, Wii and DS] 

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