Dirt 2

[spatular]

it's definitely better than dirt 1. handling is improved and some of the more silly events, like the big rigs, are no more. graphics are great.

multiplayer works really well, party system so you can play with friends in team events, it finds games quickly and no lag so far. it's not the sort of game i'd be that bothered about playing online but it's been so much fun i'll definitely be getting in some more multiplayer action.

i started out playing with a pad and enjoying it but then switched to the wheel. it's more fun with the wheel imo, great force feedback effects, i seem to be faster with the wheel too which is unusual as i usually find it more fun but harder.

don't mind most of the americanisms but i really don't want want to be dave mirra's friend

overall good stuff for racing fans though

anyone else got it?

[illdog]

anyone else got it?

Not yet, its definately a title i'll pick up but not one im willing to pay full price for.

I liked the big rig races. Also, looks like its time to invest in a wheel.

[spatular]

I liked the big rig races. Also, looks like its time to invest in a wheel.

you can race hummers round the desert which is the closest to the big rigs now, probably my least favorite event

i might bang on about the wheel a bit too much, on the 360 there's only really forza and dirt/grid that support it well (out of the games i've tried...really should get round to trying pgr4 and outrun), force feedback is awesome though, but might take time to get used to it. and using it on your lap is useless, needs a desk/table, just some stuff to think about if you're going to get one

played dirt loads more last night, really liking it even more now, got the hang of the rally and trailblazer events but still rubbish at the rallycross. also got a really emotional achievement "do it for colin" or something and it plays a montage of him racing, mcrae was awesome. RIP.

[Craymen Edge]

I just haven't been able to get on with the demos of any of the Codemasters racing games this gen. The presentation is great, but the handling has always felt too twitchy for me.

Dirt 2 looks great, but the cars in the demo felt uncontrollable to me. Those Baja buggy things just bounced everywhere, and I had real trouble keeping the Trailblazer car on the 'track' in that other stage.

I also played the retail game on some demo stations in HMV recently, there was a fun but ridiculous muscle car type event where it was impossible to race because you were constantly being smashed by the other cars. I also played a Rallycross stage that was ok, but felt more like racing on ice than dirt.

It was during that race that I noticed a really annoying effect they have when you hit a wall - a big booming sound effect, along with a blur effect and the camera swings round like you took a massive hit. All well and good, but all I'd done was brush my back bumper against a fence coming out of a hairpin at about 20mph. This happened on more than one occasion, at the most innapropriate times, for very minor collisions.

[spatular]

I just haven't been able to get on with the demos of any of the Codemasters racing games this gen. The presentation is great, but the handling has always felt too twitchy for me.

Dirt 2 looks great, but the cars in the demo felt uncontrollable to me. Those Baja buggy things just bounced everywhere, and I had real trouble keeping the Trailblazer car on the 'track' in that other stage.

yeah the recent codemasters racing games have all had pretty strange handling, dirt and grid took quite a lot of getting used to. i think this one is much better, a bit more like the old CMR games, but still a bit odd, and like you say it's quite twitchy, when i first played dirt 1 i was hitting everything in sight, you do get used to it, but even then, if you'll like or not it is another matter.

[Craymen Edge]

I also played the retail game on some demo stations in HMV recently, there was a fun but ridiculous muscle car type event where it was impossible to race because you were constantly being smashed by the other cars. I also played a Rallycross stage that was ok, but felt more like racing on ice than dirt.

Actually, that Muscle Car thing was probably GRID. I went past HMV again today, and they had GRID and DIRT 2 on demo stations standing side by side.

[illdog]

I started this on Saturday and ive put in a ton of time since. Its fantastic, its really good fun to play and it really mixes the styles of racing well making it nice and varied. Also, the chick racers are hot! The voices are terrible tho, like Spatular said Dave Mirra can fuck off and can take Ken Block with him.

My co-driver is female as has the funniest tone of voice (sorry, i just couldnt stand the scottish guy). To be fair the american lady is even worse but her tone sounds like Data off The Simpsons...

...and its a good challenge trying to concentrate on the info she's giving me whilst trying to get that image out of my head.

played dirt loads more last night, really liking it even more now, got the hang of the rally and trailblazer events

Those trailblazer events are awesome, the one in China (i think) which is called L1 Riverchase or something looks stunning, i love how the sound of the tyres change when you go across the bridge. I have an amazing car for the Trailblazer events aswell, it has a fuck off great spoiler at the back and it handles like a bleeding dream.

One of the achievements was a great challenge, its called On the Bubble and its obtained on a Last Man Standing event. You have to be second to last at each cut off point yet ultimately win the event. It was fucking tense shit, its hard to be last sometimes and i had to almost stop to let the car in 7th overtake me, then it was race like fuck to overtake 6th and so on. The last two were quite away away from me but on i managed to catch up and ram second place off the road before i overtook 1st place in the air to win the race, epic stuff!