Colin McRae: Dirt 2
Encyclopedia
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is a racing game
released in September 2009, and is the sequel to Colin McRae: Dirt
. This is the first game in the McRae series since McRae's death in 2007. It was announced on 19 November 2008 and features Ken Block
, Travis Pastrana
, Tanner Foust
, and Dave Mirra
. The game includes many new race-events, including stadium events. Along with the player, an RV travels from one event to another, and serves as "headquarters" for the player. It features a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to diverse and challenging real-world environments. The game takes place across four continents: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. The game includes five different event types: Rally
, Rallycross
, "Trailblazer", "Land Rush" and "Raid". The World Tour mode sees players competing in multi-car and solo races at new locations, and also includes a new multiplayer mode.
Colin McRae: Dirt is the first PC video game to use Blue Ripple Sound's Rapture3D sound engine by default. Also it was one of the first video games to implement the then newly released DirectX 11 graphical standard on ATI 5000 and NVIDIA Geforce 400
series chipsets.
A demo of the game was released on the PlayStation Store
and Xbox Live Marketplace
on 20 August 2009. The demo appeared for the PC on 29 November 2009; it features the same content as the console demo with the addition of higher graphic settings and a benchmark tool. The Mac OS X
version of the game will be released by Feral Interactive
.
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is an official sponsor of Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust and Dave Mirra of the Subaru Rally USA. The game also features former rally driver Mohammed ben Sulayem.
The sequel Dirt 3
was released on 24 May 2011.
, was updated to better take advantage of the PlayStation's SPUs, as well as improving multi-core processor utilization on the Xbox 360 and PC. The Flashback ability, allowing players to rewind time mid-race, a new feature in Grid, was kept and improved due to its popularity. In addition, the features and expanse of the multiplayer component, which was often criticized in Colin McRae: Dirt as being fairly anaemic, was completely new to the series.
.
Rally racing occurs on non-circuit
roads which usually involve public (closed) routes and technically challenging courses. Usually involving staggered starts, each driver competes against the clock. In addition, during rally events, a co-driver
is present, constantly reading pacenotes
to guide the driver along narrow and meandering tracks of up to 6 km in length.
Rallycross races involve cars identical to those used in rally events; the races themselves, however, are very different. Each rally-cross race involves up to eight racers competing in multiple lap events on circuit tracks of mixed surface type. The tracks, half tarmac and half dirt, exist in closed settings, such as in or around stadiums, and are approximately 1 to 1.5 km in length.
The most similar real-world equivalent of Trailblazer events are hill climbs. Unlike hill climb events, however, trailblazer races do not require a positive change in elevation. Similar to rallying, trailblazing features staggered starts. Trailblazer (and hill climb) cars, unlike rally cars, usually feature massive aerodynamic aids, such as spoilers, diffusers, and splitters to help keep traction at higher speeds, regardless of track surface or conditions.
Raid races are multi-car events involving heavyweight vehicles, such as buggies and trophy trucks
. Each race begins with a simultaneous start of up to eight competitors, with tracks averaging 5 km in length.
Landrush events are similar to raid races, but take place on a circuit. Each event features eight racers on a dirt track of about 1 km, and involve multiple laps.
Gatecrasher, which uses Rally courses and cars, involves smashing yellow barriers; competitors race against the clock. When smashed, the "gates", strategically placed along the best racing line, add time to the clock; whichever racer finishes the event with the most time on the clock wins. The format of the race is more similar to a multi-competitor time trial than to a traditional rally race.
Domination, playable Rallycross and Land Rush stages, involves multiple drivers competing to set the lowest time in any given track sector. Points are awarded based on the final number of controlled sectors, as well as the final race position.
Last Man Standing is an elimination-style race, during which the driver in last place is eliminated in a 20-second interval.
as well as local
multiplayer. Up to eight players can compete in ranked (Pro Tour) or unranked matches (Jam Session). Within the "Jam Session" category, any class of cars may be used on any track; the game lets hosts know when a combination is not necessarily advisable, such as Trailblazer cars on a Rallycross circuit. Ranked matches are, by comparison, much more restrained; only the prescribed cars may be used on a track.
gave Colin McRae: Dirt 2 a score of 8/10 with their main criticisms being reserved for the lack of weather and track deterioration, and that fact that damage now has very little influence on the game, with drivers receiving a brand new car for each race.
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
released in September 2009, and is the sequel to Colin McRae: Dirt
Colin McRae: Dirt
Colin McRae: Dirt has received largely positive reviews, IGN UK and U.S. awarding it a 9.0 and a 8.4, respectively. It has also received 9.0 from Official Xbox Magazine, 8.3 from GameSpot for the Xbox 360 and PC versions and 8.5 for the PlayStation 3 version, and 8 from Edge...
. This is the first game in the McRae series since McRae's death in 2007. It was announced on 19 November 2008 and features Ken Block
Ken Block (rally driver)
Ken Block is a professional rally driver with the Monster World Rally Team. Block is also one of the co-founders and recently appointed Chief Brand Officer of DC Shoes...
, Travis Pastrana
Travis Pastrana
Travis Alan Pastrana is an American motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several events, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, and rally racing. He runs a show called Nitro Circus with some of his friends...
, Tanner Foust
Tanner Foust
Tanner Foust is a professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack and rallycross with multiple podium placements and national championships. He is a co-host on the American version of the motoring television series, Top...
, and Dave Mirra
Dave Mirra
David Michael "Dave" Mirra is an American BMX athlete, Subaru Rally Team USA driver and business owner. Mirra holds the record for most X-Games medals, standing and has medaled in every X Games since they started in 1995. His current medal count as of July 31, 2009 in the X Games is 24...
. The game includes many new race-events, including stadium events. Along with the player, an RV travels from one event to another, and serves as "headquarters" for the player. It features a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to diverse and challenging real-world environments. The game takes place across four continents: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. The game includes five different event types: Rally
Rallying
Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...
, Rallycross
Rallycross
Rallycross is a form of sprint style automobile racing, held on a closed mixed-surface racing circuit, with modified production or specially built road cars, similar to the World Rally Cars, although usually with about stronger engines, due to e.g. their 45 mm turbo restrictor plates. It is...
, "Trailblazer", "Land Rush" and "Raid". The World Tour mode sees players competing in multi-car and solo races at new locations, and also includes a new multiplayer mode.
Colin McRae: Dirt is the first PC video game to use Blue Ripple Sound's Rapture3D sound engine by default. Also it was one of the first video games to implement the then newly released DirectX 11 graphical standard on ATI 5000 and NVIDIA Geforce 400
GeForce 400 Series
The GeForce 400 Series is the 11th generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units. The series was originally slated for production in November 2009, but, after a number of delays, launched on March 26, 2010 with availability following in April 2010....
series chipsets.
A demo of the game was released on the PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
and Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
on 20 August 2009. The demo appeared for the PC on 29 November 2009; it features the same content as the console demo with the addition of higher graphic settings and a benchmark tool. The Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
version of the game will be released by Feral Interactive
Feral Interactive
Feral Interactive is a publishing company founded in 1999 that publishes games and other software that did not fit in with the release programs of the large established publishers. It publishes Macintosh games and has relationships with publishers such as Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive,...
.
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is an official sponsor of Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust and Dave Mirra of the Subaru Rally USA. The game also features former rally driver Mohammed ben Sulayem.
The sequel Dirt 3
Dirt 3
Dirt 3 is a rallying video game and the third in the Dirt series of the Colin McRae Rally series, developed and published by Codemasters. However, the "Colin McRae" tag has been completely removed from this iteration...
was released on 24 May 2011.
Development
Shortly before the release of the first game in the Dirt series, Colin McRae: Dirt, Colin McRae: Dirt 2 was described by Matthew Horsman, chief game designer for the game, as a game more improved and refined than its predecessor. The game was later announced officially on 19 November 2008. The engine, EGO, initially featured in Race Driver: GridRace Driver: GRID
Race Driver: Grid is the most recent addition to the TOCA Touring Car series, which is published and developed by Codemasters...
, was updated to better take advantage of the PlayStation's SPUs, as well as improving multi-core processor utilization on the Xbox 360 and PC. The Flashback ability, allowing players to rewind time mid-race, a new feature in Grid, was kept and improved due to its popularity. In addition, the features and expanse of the multiplayer component, which was often criticized in Colin McRae: Dirt as being fairly anaemic, was completely new to the series.
Gameplay
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 features five racing disciplines, all of which are playable offline (against AI bots when applicable) and online. In addition, three "special modes" are included. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 runs on an updated version of the EGO engine, which powered Codemasters' Race Driver: Grid as well. The engine features, most notably, an updated physics engine, which models realistic weight transfer during turning maneuvers, allowing the player to incorporate advanced driving techniques, such as the Scandinavian flickScandinavian flick
The Scandinavian flick, Finnish flick, Manji Drifting, or Pendulum turn, is a technique used in rallying. While approaching the turn the driver applies a slight steering input to the opposite direction of the turn, then steering into the turn, while sharply lifting off the throttle and lightly...
.
Rally racing occurs on non-circuit
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
roads which usually involve public (closed) routes and technically challenging courses. Usually involving staggered starts, each driver competes against the clock. In addition, during rally events, a co-driver
Co-driver
Co-driver is the term given to the navigator of rally car in the sport of rally racing, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver, often over a radio headset, due to the high level of noise in the car...
is present, constantly reading pacenotes
Pacenotes
In rallying, pacenotes are a commonly used method of accurately describing the route to be driven in extreme detail. As well as dictating the general route to be taken, in terms of turnings, junctions, etc, all notable features of the route which might affect the way it is driven at speed are...
to guide the driver along narrow and meandering tracks of up to 6 km in length.
Rallycross races involve cars identical to those used in rally events; the races themselves, however, are very different. Each rally-cross race involves up to eight racers competing in multiple lap events on circuit tracks of mixed surface type. The tracks, half tarmac and half dirt, exist in closed settings, such as in or around stadiums, and are approximately 1 to 1.5 km in length.
The most similar real-world equivalent of Trailblazer events are hill climbs. Unlike hill climb events, however, trailblazer races do not require a positive change in elevation. Similar to rallying, trailblazing features staggered starts. Trailblazer (and hill climb) cars, unlike rally cars, usually feature massive aerodynamic aids, such as spoilers, diffusers, and splitters to help keep traction at higher speeds, regardless of track surface or conditions.
Raid races are multi-car events involving heavyweight vehicles, such as buggies and trophy trucks
Trophy Truck
Trophy Trucks are the fastest class of off-road racing vehicles designed and built to resemble modern pickup trucks. Although any truck that meets the safety standards can race the trophy truck class, they, for the most part, feature long travel suspensions and high power engines...
. Each race begins with a simultaneous start of up to eight competitors, with tracks averaging 5 km in length.
Landrush events are similar to raid races, but take place on a circuit. Each event features eight racers on a dirt track of about 1 km, and involve multiple laps.
Special Modes
In addition to the five straight game types, there are three special variants, each applicable to multiple modes.Gatecrasher, which uses Rally courses and cars, involves smashing yellow barriers; competitors race against the clock. When smashed, the "gates", strategically placed along the best racing line, add time to the clock; whichever racer finishes the event with the most time on the clock wins. The format of the race is more similar to a multi-competitor time trial than to a traditional rally race.
Domination, playable Rallycross and Land Rush stages, involves multiple drivers competing to set the lowest time in any given track sector. Points are awarded based on the final number of controlled sectors, as well as the final race position.
Last Man Standing is an elimination-style race, during which the driver in last place is eliminated in a 20-second interval.
Multiplayer
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 features a set of multiplayer modes which the user can partake in over, the PlayStation Network, Games For Windows - Live and Xbox LiveXbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
as well as local
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
multiplayer. Up to eight players can compete in ranked (Pro Tour) or unranked matches (Jam Session). Within the "Jam Session" category, any class of cars may be used on any track; the game lets hosts know when a combination is not necessarily advisable, such as Trailblazer cars on a Rallycross circuit. Ranked matches are, by comparison, much more restrained; only the prescribed cars may be used on a track.
Downloadable content
In February 2009, Codemasters revealed plans to release "a number of small DLC packs soon after launch which players can use to personalise and augment the boxed game". At the time of release, however, only two DLC options were available: "Trust Fund", which unlocks all vehicles, liveries and upgrades, and "Access All Areas", which unlocks all events and tracks. There have been no further DLC releases.Reception
Colin McRae: Dirt 2 was reviewed positively by IGN, receiving a score of 8.4/10 from the US site, and a slightly more favourable 9/10 from the UK site. EurogamerEurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
gave Colin McRae: Dirt 2 a score of 8/10 with their main criticisms being reserved for the lack of weather and track deterioration, and that fact that damage now has very little influence on the game, with drivers receiving a brand new car for each race.
External links
- Official website
- Colin McRae official site
- http://www.feralinteractive.com/game/dirt2DiRT 2 at Feral InteractiveFeral InteractiveFeral Interactive is a publishing company founded in 1999 that publishes games and other software that did not fit in with the release programs of the large established publishers. It publishes Macintosh games and has relationships with publishers such as Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive,...
] - Interview with Simon Goodwin of Codemasters, who developed the audio engine