Now this is video games.
Every single issue I had with the first DIRT has been addressed and solved here (aside from the obligatory seventh generation yellow filter) and then some. Money is less stupid, mechanical damage is less stupid, bloom is no longer blinding, event types that aren't rally are actually fun now, the sense of speed is still great, the sound is no longer painful and it sounds great now AND it gives me useful feedback. The cars still have a lot of grip, but nowhere near as much as the first game, so it doesn't feel as raw and wild as an arcade game anymore, but the controls have also been generally softened and refined to the point that I feel like I have full control of the car (almost) all the time. Difficulty is increased too, I couldn't win at the highest level without a few hours of practice and I'm happy about that, though it is kind of disappointing that picking the right car matters so much and that the Subaru you start the game with is the best car. There's no point talking about the gameplay in any more detail than that, because it really is just the previous game, but fixed and improved.
This game also has an amazing style and atmosphere that I miss dearly, what with the grungy style that's consistent throughout every single aspect of the experience, the 3D menus that actually move you around a space rather than simple flat text boxes, and the relatively dynamic soundtrack that changes to suit your location and make loading screens feel more like part of the fun. This isn't nostalgia talking, I didn't grow up with this kind of music or these kinds of visual themes, I have no past attachments to them, but I definitely love it now. This game and Need for Speed ProStreet have some of the best aesthetics of any racing games I've ever played, aside from maybe Wipeout. If the yellow filter could be easily turned off it would be even better, and I can say that with certainty because the game constantly teases you by showing you how it looks without the filter on every loading screen photo, but when I tried modding it out, I ended up removing basically all visual effects, so I gave up on that endeavor.
Perhaps the most amazing part of this, though, is that Codemasters somehow managed even to carry this quality presentation into the voice work. It doesn't just look good, there are people that talk, and I don't hate them. Well, except for that one guy, Christian Stevenson, who was the announcer in DIRT Showdown, that guy needs to go, but everyone else generally sounds human and not, as the youths might say, Cringe™. DIRT 2 is bursting at the seams with personality and it's not just refreshing to play a game like this, it's cathartic. The game is absolutely, positively, 100% dated and of its time... and yet unlike so many other pieces of media that lean into their own time so hard, not only does DIRT 2 still work, it's still unique to this day.
Everything about this game holds up to modern standards. This is the standard that the name Codemasters used to mean to me.
There are a couple bugs that annoyed me though. One is that the flashback system is tied to the frame rate, so by playing the game at 120 fps, I can only rewind half as far, which makes it impossible to recover from terminal damage because the game forces you to watch the car crash for just too long. I like the flashback feature and would have liked to be able to use it as intended, but I'm no stranger to restarting races 73 times, so I could live with that. Another is that for some reason, this game can't create, read, or write to existing save files if there is more than one controller connected... which is one of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen. When I first tried to play, I did a bunch of troubleshooting expecting the "autosave failed" message to be a linux problem, but no, it's just that there were two controllers. Except I only have one controller. Turns out that by having Steam open, it creates a second virtual controller, so I can only play DIRT 2 with Steam closed. Weird.
The biggest weakness this game has is a lack of variety in its content. There are different event types, yes, but it essentially boils down to trucks, rally, and rallycross. Trailblazer events are just rally events in faster cars without a co-driver - hillclimb without the hills - which is cool I guess, but I wish it was actually different. There are also far fewer rally events than I would have liked, but I can let that slide since the other events are still fun. All of that said, though, the real root of this problem is the tracks. There are nine locations in the whole game, and each location only seems to have one or two unique tracks, and that simply is not enough. It only takes a couple hours for things to start feeling repetitive if you aren't intentionally jumping from place to place often to stave off that feeling a bit.
If there were at least twice as many unique tracks and trailblazer events were proper hillclimbs again with their own dedicated set of tracks separate from rally, I think this game could have been the best offroad racing game. That said, everything else about DIRT 2 (except the yellow filter) holds up perfectly well today, and while it may not be on top, it's certainly one of the all time greats, like its namesake. It may not be a hardcore rally simulator like some people probably wanted, nor does it even take itself seriously at all, to the point that it sometimes feels closer to a Tony Hawk game than a rally racing game, but with how good it is at what it does, I feel like putting Colin McRae's name on it is still a worthy tribute.
Rewarding progression, great style, and pure fun. You can have all three, DIRT 2 is proof of that, and man do I miss games like this.
(from my web zone: https://kerosyn.link/i-played-every-codemasters-racing-game-to-prove-a-point/#dirt-2)
Every single issue I had with the first DIRT has been addressed and solved here (aside from the obligatory seventh generation yellow filter) and then some. Money is less stupid, mechanical damage is less stupid, bloom is no longer blinding, event types that aren't rally are actually fun now, the sense of speed is still great, the sound is no longer painful and it sounds great now AND it gives me useful feedback. The cars still have a lot of grip, but nowhere near as much as the first game, so it doesn't feel as raw and wild as an arcade game anymore, but the controls have also been generally softened and refined to the point that I feel like I have full control of the car (almost) all the time. Difficulty is increased too, I couldn't win at the highest level without a few hours of practice and I'm happy about that, though it is kind of disappointing that picking the right car matters so much and that the Subaru you start the game with is the best car. There's no point talking about the gameplay in any more detail than that, because it really is just the previous game, but fixed and improved.
This game also has an amazing style and atmosphere that I miss dearly, what with the grungy style that's consistent throughout every single aspect of the experience, the 3D menus that actually move you around a space rather than simple flat text boxes, and the relatively dynamic soundtrack that changes to suit your location and make loading screens feel more like part of the fun. This isn't nostalgia talking, I didn't grow up with this kind of music or these kinds of visual themes, I have no past attachments to them, but I definitely love it now. This game and Need for Speed ProStreet have some of the best aesthetics of any racing games I've ever played, aside from maybe Wipeout. If the yellow filter could be easily turned off it would be even better, and I can say that with certainty because the game constantly teases you by showing you how it looks without the filter on every loading screen photo, but when I tried modding it out, I ended up removing basically all visual effects, so I gave up on that endeavor.
Perhaps the most amazing part of this, though, is that Codemasters somehow managed even to carry this quality presentation into the voice work. It doesn't just look good, there are people that talk, and I don't hate them. Well, except for that one guy, Christian Stevenson, who was the announcer in DIRT Showdown, that guy needs to go, but everyone else generally sounds human and not, as the youths might say, Cringe™. DIRT 2 is bursting at the seams with personality and it's not just refreshing to play a game like this, it's cathartic. The game is absolutely, positively, 100% dated and of its time... and yet unlike so many other pieces of media that lean into their own time so hard, not only does DIRT 2 still work, it's still unique to this day.
Everything about this game holds up to modern standards. This is the standard that the name Codemasters used to mean to me.
There are a couple bugs that annoyed me though. One is that the flashback system is tied to the frame rate, so by playing the game at 120 fps, I can only rewind half as far, which makes it impossible to recover from terminal damage because the game forces you to watch the car crash for just too long. I like the flashback feature and would have liked to be able to use it as intended, but I'm no stranger to restarting races 73 times, so I could live with that. Another is that for some reason, this game can't create, read, or write to existing save files if there is more than one controller connected... which is one of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen. When I first tried to play, I did a bunch of troubleshooting expecting the "autosave failed" message to be a linux problem, but no, it's just that there were two controllers. Except I only have one controller. Turns out that by having Steam open, it creates a second virtual controller, so I can only play DIRT 2 with Steam closed. Weird.
The biggest weakness this game has is a lack of variety in its content. There are different event types, yes, but it essentially boils down to trucks, rally, and rallycross. Trailblazer events are just rally events in faster cars without a co-driver - hillclimb without the hills - which is cool I guess, but I wish it was actually different. There are also far fewer rally events than I would have liked, but I can let that slide since the other events are still fun. All of that said, though, the real root of this problem is the tracks. There are nine locations in the whole game, and each location only seems to have one or two unique tracks, and that simply is not enough. It only takes a couple hours for things to start feeling repetitive if you aren't intentionally jumping from place to place often to stave off that feeling a bit.
If there were at least twice as many unique tracks and trailblazer events were proper hillclimbs again with their own dedicated set of tracks separate from rally, I think this game could have been the best offroad racing game. That said, everything else about DIRT 2 (except the yellow filter) holds up perfectly well today, and while it may not be on top, it's certainly one of the all time greats, like its namesake. It may not be a hardcore rally simulator like some people probably wanted, nor does it even take itself seriously at all, to the point that it sometimes feels closer to a Tony Hawk game than a rally racing game, but with how good it is at what it does, I feel like putting Colin McRae's name on it is still a worthy tribute.
Rewarding progression, great style, and pure fun. You can have all three, DIRT 2 is proof of that, and man do I miss games like this.
(from my web zone: https://kerosyn.link/i-played-every-codemasters-racing-game-to-prove-a-point/#dirt-2)