Colin McRae Dirt 2 is Codemasters sequel to their highly realistic rally racer, Colin McRae Dirt. With a new approach and now being able to take part in the X Games, can the latest version pass by the previous or will it be left in the dust by it’s predecessor?
In this game you take part as the rookie who is traveling from show to show in your run down RV. The RV is your main HUB and it is where you can check the map to see what races you have available, go online and check your stats. The map is sectioned into eight different areas from around the world including Baja California, London and China. The majority of the races will be locked in the beginning, but as you complete races you will gain experience points as well as money. The experience points will level you up and will unlock new events as you go along.
Once you select a destination you will zoom in and have to choose from a variety of different races. You have the five standard races: rally, rally cross, trailblazer, land rush and raid. These races are extremely varied in that the trailblazer will have you racing across wide open spaces at break neck speeds, but the rally cross will have you bumping and sliding your way around a multiple lap race with eight of your closes friends.
Within each particular type of race, there will be different rules. The Gate Crasher will have a timer counting down and you will have to smash through gates gaining two seconds for each successful hit trying to have the most time left on the clock. Last Man Standing is an elimination type race where every 20 seconds the last place driver is eliminated until there is only one driver left. The last mode is Domination this one requires you to try and be the fastest driver through each section of a race just because you may be in fourth place on the track does not mean you may not have first place points.
Besides choosing to race in each particular area there are also world tour events. These events will have you competing in one race type in five different areas and the person with the most points at the end of the tournament wins. You also can compete in the X Games which are broken up into three different race types. In the first two races you do not have to win just simply finish in the top four to advance, but in the last race the winner takes all.
The last thing to take note of before you select a race is the different classes. There are three different classes: rookie, pro and all star. Each class has their own speed levels as well as an increasing skill level. Now this is different then the actual difficulty settings which you can change before each race. These are already set and can not be changed.
Now once you do select the race you are taken to a screen to select the difficulty. There are actually six different difficulties ranging from extremely easy, to very hard. With each increase in difficulty the amount of money and experience points are increased, but the amount of flashbacks are taken away. More on what those are later.
From the difficulty screen you go to the vehicle selection screen. At the beginning you are given a car, but you will need to purchase all new vehicles later. Besides purchasing vehicles you will also need to purchase upgrades so that you can run in pro and all star classes as well as compete in some of the different races. Once the vehicle is selected you can change your paint job as well as the toys hanging from your mirror or sitting on your dash.
