DiRT 3 Review (360)

DiRT 3 Complete Edition

DiRT 3 is the eagerly awaited third title from the series. Released by Codemasters on 24th May, it had a lot to live up to with the already excellent Colin McRae: DiRT and Colin McRae: DiRT 2 as its siblings. As a huge fan of all racing games, but especially DiRT titles, I couldn’t wait for this game to be released. However, having seen the pre-release launch trailers and clips that Codemasters began to release, it slightly worried me as to how much actual racing there would be. With DiRT 2 being about all racing aspects, not just rallying like the first DiRT, DiRT 3 seems to go to the next level adding Gymkhana as well as the Battersea compound. This will upset the hardcore Colin McRae fans, but I welcome it as it means they’re trying something new to give you a new experience, not just the same thing over and over again. Gymkhana is what Ken Block is famous for and it is a great deal of fun the first few times you have a go, but after that it quickly gets boring and you only end up playing it to complete the single player events. Even if it crops up in the online multiplayer it tends to get skipped straight away by the players in the lobby” Battersea DC compound challenges, on the other hand, are very good fun. Finding all the big jumps and hidden logos, it gives you the chance to get used to the way the cars behave compared with DiRT 2.

There really is a lot to like about DiRT 3.

Codemasters have also added new tracks in new countries with very different styles of driving to win such as Kenya, Finland, Norway and Monaco. Also in DiRT 3, they have added Head 2 Head races; Drift and Smash attack to name a few. Whilst they have added new things, they have also taken away. Buggies and trucks now only have one vehicle for each, whereas before each had four options. It isn’t actually a real problem as you only used to use one vehicle from each and there was always one best vehicle. Also tracks such as Utah trailblazers are no longer part of the game which is disappointing as they were brilliant fun but, the new additions like Kenya takes its place rather nicely. DiRT 3 The graphics seem to be better than DiRT 2 but not by a massive amount. I only noticed purely because I played DiRT 2 for 100+ hours; however, anyone coming to the series might think they were a bit dated by today’s standard. I feel like they could have really upped the graphics to F1 2011 standard but it doesn’t seem to be the case. However, the upside to that is the loading screen time is very small (less than 40 seconds) where as some games can be up to 3 minutes. With me it’s all about loading times, if a game takes a long time to load I get bored and turn it off but this wants you to stay in and move onto the next race as soon as it can and I love that. Online DiRT 3 is much the same as DiRT 2 and I’m more than happy with that. Codemasters knew the multiplayer was good so why change it. The light system used is great and should be available in other games. Ata glance, it gives you an indication of what type of players you are racing with. Red = Aggressive, Yellow = Moderately aggressive, Green = Neutral, White = Safe/Cautionous. If you see someone with a white circle behind, you know he isn’t going to wreck you, where as if you see someone with a red circle well – you best buckle up. DiRT 3 From what I could tell the sounds of engines and tyres on the gravel and tarmac/asphalt is either the same as DiRT 2, which proves they’ve been busy working on the games engine itself or they didn’t think it needed to be changed. The soundtrack that accompanies the game works really well as it seems to make you go faster when you’re about to race (there have been studies on that I’m sure) and mellow-ish music when you have finished racing. Also DiRT 3 is now available as the Complete Edition which comes with an extra disk full of all add-ons and DLC that have been released. Legendary tracks such as Monte Carlo rally track which really are excellent. If you’re going to just get the standard game and one piece of DLC it has to be the Monte Carlo trac! You will also see some tracks remade with new layouts from DiRT 2 in the X Games Asia track pack (Shibuya from DiRT 2). 13 extra cars including the Lancia Delta S4, Ford Escort Mk II and an original Mini Cooper S Gymkhana to name a few. Having played 50+ hours racing on DiRT 3 all I can really say is that I’m still playing it so it must be good. There really is a lot to like about DiRT 3. If you like racing games you’ve got to get this and get stuck in to some DiRT.

The Good: Great racing action with all the thrills and spills you want.
The Bad: Not as hardcore rallying experience as you expect


DiRT 3  DiRT 3  DiRT 3  DiRT 3  DiRT 3  


Gold Y AwardGold Y Award
4.5 4.5 / 5

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