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Wii REVIEW – DiRT 2

Posted November 3rd 2009 by Brandon Schmidt.

Dirt 2

At this year's E3 event, DiRT 2 was one of the many, many games I had a chance to try my hand at. While I've mostly stuck to arcade-style racers during my gaming years, I decided to give it a try while passing the kiosk. While the game looked like it would be a lot of fun, I had a difficult time adjusting to a simulation driving experience. When the game debuted on Wii, I decided to reevaluate my early impressions by getting back in the driver's seat.

For those unfamiliar with the series, DiRT 2 is, as its name suggests, an off-road racing game. The courses range across the globe from cityscapes in the USA to desert villages in Africa. This variety is one of the things I like most about the game as the different settings make for different styles of courses. Some tracks are, to no surprise, entirely dirt courses. This has a dramatic effect on the way you have to play the game as the different track surfaces have a variably adverse affect on your vehicle's traction.

Speaking of vehicles, the game offers a variety of them, each unique in their handling. Unfortunately, early on you're often forced to drive a specific vehicle for a given race. While this won't put you at any kind of disadvantage against the computer opponents as they will be driving the same or similar vehicles, I find being forced to drive the Hummer and other larger vehicles incredibly frustrating. There's just no handling there and oftentimes you'll spend the majority of the race creeping around corners. It's akin to trying to drive a humpback whale through the desert. Yes, I've done that many times. With a bit of practice, I was able to get a handle on driving the sportier cars in such a way that I could at least be competitive.

Even on the lowest difficulties you'll constantly be challenged to be aware of how fast you're actually going. If you don't, you'll easily wipe out on the first sharp turn you have to make or the first bump you receive from competitors. Even if you don't feel like you're tearing up the road at high speeds, you may in fact be hitting triple digits in MPH and your car will handle appropriately. It's important to learn not only how to handle your car when it's just you and the course, but also how to handle bumper to bumper racing. One fender bump from an opponent can practically end any chance you had of ranking. While the game doesn't necessarily coach you up, it does make sure you don't take on challenges that are too difficult by having you unlock the next circuit of tracks, one circuit at a time. While I usually find this convention tired and annoying, for a game with this level of difficulty I think it actually helps you progress at an appropriate rate as your skill level improves.

The visuals on Wii are a mixed bag. The game runs fairly smoothly, and the backgrounds are varied, but the actual course environments aren't as detailed as one would hope. Once again, the visuals just don't come anywhere close to what you see on the other consoles. We're now a few years into the Wii's lifecycle and you'd think that we could get some decent looking dirt and hills. If you're a multi-console owner, you'll probably want to stick to the more technically-impressive platforms. On the audio side, the soundtrack is pretty decent with bigger names like Queens of the Stone Age, Franz Ferdinand, The Prodigy and more. The rest of the audio is standard for a racing game, with the engine revs and collision noises you'd expect. While the on-screen map can help you detect opponents coming up behind you, the audio is pretty good at reminding you when someone's about to swap paint with your bumper.

While it might sound like I've been hard on the game, there are aspects I really did enjoy. There's a challenge mode which has you trying to accomplish goals aside from the typical "finish the race in first place." One challenge has you attempting to repeatedly grab hang time by accelerating up ramps that have been added to one of the standard tracks. This mode has a much more arcade-ish feel to it. It's a nice alternative to your standard race, but chances are if you're picking up this game it's because you're a fan of realistic off-road racing with a simulation feel. The one thing I can't stress enough to those who are thinking of picking up this game is to know what you're getting into first. While that's true of pretty much any genre, racing games come in many flavors and it's important to know which style(s) you enjoy. DiRT 2 is an off-road simulation racer. It's not as terribly deep in the simulation aspect as some other racers currently out there like the Forza series. It's different enough from the Mario Karts of the world, though, that mom and dad might want to try it before they buy it.

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Tags: dirt 2