Dirt Showdown Review
Developer Codemasters
Publisher Codemasters
Platform Xbox360, PS3
Release Date Out Now
Codemasters have restructured recently to focus heavily on their racing franchises that have been so strong in recent years, a smart move I guess seeing as how well both F1 and the Dirt games look and play. In another smart move they have split the Dirt series into two very different games. Dirt is essentially the continuation of the brilliant Colin McRae series of Rally games, a more serious take on the off road racing world. Dirt Showdown then takes the more insane elements out of the game and is set to build its own series.
What to expect? It is loud! From the loud obnoxious announcer, the booming sound track to the screeching tires and crumbling metal. Showdown has more in common with a destruction derby than the WRC. You earn points by smashing bumpers not track records.
Outside of the Destruction derby is the head to head Rally cross events, these take place on tight figure 8 tracks where you race against other AI cars but without the need to tune your car work on your tire selection or even learn how to drive particularly well the fun is quite limited.
Dirt showdown is definitely going for a different market, it is not for everyone but its stripped down physics, limited car tuning options will appeal to the player who are looking to be able to simply jump into a game and start racing.
Players who are looking for a rally sim though will be bitterly disappointed, the cars are generic models rather than licensed cars. You do not have the option to swap your tires, fine tune your engine or suspension. In fact the differences between the cars are quite small and outside of some small speed differences that can be eliminated by cleaver use of Nitro it really doesn’t matter what you choose.
Going online offers the chance for you to pit your driving skills against other racers but this can be hit or miss, if you are lucky you are in a race pretty much straight away but other days can see you waiting for 10 mins before a race begins.
Overall : Dirt Showdown is not the natural successor to Dirt 3 but a very different game going for a very different market. If you are bored by the constant tweaking required in most racing sims then and want something that you can pick up and play for 10 mins then it ticks all the boxes but don’t expect to be putting hours and hours into this title.
SCORE 6.5/10
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