First a little anecdote on the game. Most publishers just send us retail copies of their titles, but Codemasters decided to send a “reviewcopy”, with all the accompanying consequences. As they say, “three is a charm” and as such, I’m the third person in our crew that received this DVD and the first where it actually works, but how… After installation I had to meddle with dll-files and put another executable in my main directory. Starting the game always goes as follows: first I get an error because the game supposedly isn’t in my dvd drive. Openen and closing that drive, however, solves that problem. Then a warning appears on the screen that this is a “test” version, like that’s an excuse for the flaws we might encounter. Then the game finally starts and we find out it’s identical to the one in stores except… they’ve left out the entire multiplayer part. Last note: after installation I was friendly requested that after testing I either send the game back to Codemasters or destroy it myself… OK! Anyway, at least it works – except for regular crash-to-desktops – and lucky for me as it’s again a top game!

The most important mode in Colin DiRT is the career mode where you have to win races to get to the absolute top. Along the way you earn money with which you can buy new cars or give your old ones a new spray of paint. During most of the time you’ll play alone and need to get to put down a fast time, but there are also races where you’ll be driving with eight and battle for first place. Several require different cars going from sand buggies to cars for quick curves and even trucks. The full list with 46 cars is quite impressive.


Nex to the career mode there’s also Championship where you can participate in several… championships. Each of those having up to almost 20 races. Here the same disciplines as in the career mode are present like Hill Climb, Rally, etc. Also there’s Race World where you can start a quick game. Think of it as fast food ;)

No matter how good or bad you are, there’s always a difficulty degree that will suit you. Where I easily won all races at the standard level, the most difficult level required a lot of effort to keep my flashy nick “Bruno is Numero Uno”. Nothing bad can be said about the opponents’ driving behaviour, they always try to take a short turn and aren’t afraid to start driving in front of you to slow you down. However, as previously stated, you’ll be driving alone most of the time.

Graphically this game is a small wonder, even when we limit ourselves to the main menu. This is without a doubt the tastiest game menu I’ve ever seen. Put on a couple of gloves, make some idiotic arm movements, and you could easily imagine yourself being Tom Cruise in Minority Report. This hip trend continues during loading where nice stats like “Total Distance Travelled”, “Most Rolls”, “Highest Jump”, “Average Speed”, and many others fly by.

The graphical spectacly really starts in-game. The car models are great and can easily match those of their next-gen brothers and from a distance maybe even with their real opponents. Every detail was looked at; quivering exhausts (and engine but if you can see that it isn’t a good sign), suspensions that bend realistically in curves, etc. The makers clearly love the bloom-tool which makes everything look a bit fluffy. The little audience that stands next to the roads is also 3D and even gets scared when you drive up to them. Don’t expect them to jump out of the way though. The surroundings near the road are beautiful but when looking further away you’ll see nothing more than babyskin slick mountains. Oh well, just keep your eyes on the road!

The damage model is one of the most important things in the game and it no longer a gimmick but actually contributes to the driving sensation. Everything can brake down, think of the turbo, the engine, the wheelbase and the cooler. The way the damage gets worse is dependent on the difficulty degree so at the easiest level you’ll be able to drive against just about any rock or tree but the most difficult level can make your car turn into wrecked metal after having an encounter with only one tree. Visually this also gets shown very nicely, your car gets broken down piece by piece and bent to scrap metal. Also the environment damage is cool with flags that remain attached to your car when driving over them until you do your next jump or a curve in the right direction. Another ridiculously cool feature is the replay mode where the camera will take the best positions to show your car as best as possible. Combine that with the beautiful graphics and it looks like you’re watching TV.

I didn’t encounter many graphical bugs althuogh my car sometimes arrived at the starting line without a hood and the shadows in one level were so screwed up that it was difficult to remain on the road. It’s difficult to explain but the went straight down and didn’t “bend” with the road anymore. Quite confusing!

I’m all but a car expert but the engine sound were quite convincing (and are different with every car) and the turbo whistles like the best. Also here you notice the makers have paid attention to the smallest details as when you’re going over gravel your hear the tires knisper while they squeek when driving over asphalt.

Of course it’s best to connect your favorite steering wheel, but the game is perfectly playable with the arrow keys. It’s a matter of practise after which you’ll find the right dose of throttle, braking and steer movement to take any curve at top speed. Of course you’ll also have to adjust to the road as every different type of soil has an influence to the driving behaviour.