Dirt 2-Xbox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Dirt 2
Release Date: September 8, 2009
Genre: Racing
Rating: T for Teen
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Warner Home Video Games
Developer: Codemasters

Fall of 2009 is a wonderful time for fans of the racing genre. At least four major racing games are being released for multiple consoles; Dirt 2, Need For Speed: Shift, Gran Turismo for PSP and Forza Motorsports 3. You could probably even throw Indianapolis 500 Evolution in there, though I don’t plan on reviewing that one. The first of this series of releases is Dirt 2, an off-road simulation racer and the sequel to the very popular Dirt, which was released in June of 2007.

Dirt 2’s career mode is set up inside of a camper. You walk inside and look around to view different things you can do. A map lying on the table has different locations plotted out, each of which offers a number of races. There are about 10 different locations with a few courses at each. The vehicle collection is pretty big, with multiple categories and car selections inside that category. One thing that bothered me about career mode is your inability to skip the videos. Especially right when you first start the game, you have to set through a few minute long video that just shows cars driving around tracks, nothing you absolutely have to see are shown here, but you still cannot skip it.  Then there are short videos between races that just show and scan the area around your camper, as if you were standing and looking around. These also cannot be skipped.

Dirt 2 is visually beautiful. The front end presentation is very good. The music is a fitting blend of contemporary. The cars are rendered nearly identical to their real life counterparts and environments are vast and breath-taking. There were a couple times when I was playing and the visuals would get very trippy on me. What happened is a lot of background surfaces, such as building walls, mountains and rocks, will all switch to the same advertisement graphic. It’s kind of hard to describe, but just imagine every surface in your house, besides the floor and ceiling, with a two foot by two foot Taco Bell logo covering them, it was very distracting. The controls are polished and tight, power-sliding around corners on gravel tracks feels exhilarating. The difficulty is interesting; there are multiple levels of difficulty that can be changed in between races.  This is quite fitting since I’ve found that the different vehicle categories often take different difficulty levels to be competitive. I also encountered a couple instances when the game would freeze up while loading, I only had this a few times though, so it’s something you have to worry about constantly happening, like in Madden 10.

Tracks are mostly made of dirt and loose gravel and weave through hilly environments in between trees and rocks. There is a pretty cool effect where you will be able to see tire treads in the loose gravel.  Even though this is cool looking, the vehicles do not behave as if it were that absorbent. It looks like kitty-liter but your car handles as if it were a tightly packed dirt road. The track’s boundaries are often guardrails, plastic orange fencing and bails of hay. This is where the game really takes a dip in realism. I find it extremely hard to believe that a two-high stack of hay bails can stop a truck traveling at 75 mph as if it were made out of cardboard.

This game has an awesome characteristic that all racing games should adapt, Flashbacks. Flashbacks are the ability to rewind a certain amount of time so you can retry an area you performed poorly on. No longer will you have to restart a long race just because you got distracted by something when entering the final corner. Their only problem comes when doing rally races, your co-pilot doesn’t rewind with everything else so you will have to rely on your memory for the last few corners you rewound through.
Dirt 2 is available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. This is a pretty good off-road racer. It’s a nice combination of simulation and arcade that would be easy for a newbie or an experienced racer to pick up and play.  It’s great as a rental, but you should wait for the price to go do down to around $40 before making the purchase.

Overall Rating:

The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Review Staff Team Leader

October 26, 2009

For questions or comments on this review send an e-mail to rsmith@muzikreviews.com

PSP Debate: Should Sony Pull The Plug?

pspdebate

YES:
Over the past few years, the Sony PSP has undergone change after change after change and during the next month there is the great possibility that a fourth edition will be announced. With so many alterations made in the system’s life cycle, one has to wonder whether Sony knew what they were doing when they decided to compete in the handheld market. Was the PSP a great idea mishandled by inexperience or was it the beginning of a trend that lead the Playstation brand from being the top gaming platform in the world into the third place winner in a three man competition. The truth of the matter is that no matter how many times the PSP undergoes the knife; nothing will make the portable console appealing to the masses unless Sony addresses some major issues.
 
The PSP library has had few successful titles. Aside from Patapon, Loco Roco and God of War: Chains of Olympus, the selection has been largely forgettable. In some cases, games are simply striped down versions of PS2 titles such as Metal Gear Solid, Tekken, Socom and the Grand Theft Auto series while other games are re-releases of older PSone titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Valkrye Profile. These games were fun when they were initially released with better graphics and sound quality many years prior on a much larger display. Original content for the PSP is consistently underwhelming. There is a lack of a certified system seller or “killer App” to give the PSP an identity. Some franchises, however, managed to reinvent themselves onto the small screen by altering their genre slightly. Critically acclaimed Sony first person shooters Killzone and Resistance: Fall of Man are proof of this trend. Killzone became a top-down strategy shooter while Resistance became an over-the-shoulder third person shooter and the end result for both was… interesting, but ultimately not compelling enough to warrant purchasing the system.
 
Sony developed the UMD format so that a variety of media could be enjoyed on the PSP. Sadly, the world turned its back on the new format. Downloadable distribution changed the way we look at on demand entertainment and as a result the UMD format became a burden that fell squarely on Sony’s shoulders. UMD movies have all but disappeared and the only titles left can be found in bargain bins throughout the country. The UMD format became the beta max for the 21st century. The only media now that the UMD carries are games, which is fine, but Sony recently released Patapon 2, the sequel to one of the better games for the system as a download only. This suggests that even Sony has outgrown the UMD format and embraces the benefits of downloadable distribution.
 
Seriously, how often have you actually carried around this thing outside your home? The screen is virtually unprotected while the chances of dropping the system are fairly high. In what scenario are we traveling and playing games at the same time. If you are driving, it is dangerous. If you are a passenger, it is nauseating. Forget about using it on the bus or the subway. In the time it takes for a game to load, you will already be half way where you need to go and let’s not forget the bull’s-eye on your back telling everyone to rob you—we are talking about a two-hundred dollar piece of hardware. The battery life is unforgiving with constant recharges that provide only a couple hours of genuine playtime. Most of your PSP experience forces you into house arrest due to the fact that it is plugged into the wall most of the time.
 
So why are we choosing the PSP in the first place? It is not like we are devoid of options when it comes to portable entertainment. If I want a device that simply plays great games, I’ll buy the less expensive Nintendo DSi. If I need an all-in-one device to play games, watch movies, listen to music, web browse and take photos, I’ll get the Apple Iphone. With that I’ll be able to engage in everything listed above right out of the box along with a GPS, cell phone and a touch screen. So why are you buying a PSP? Mainly, because it matches your PS3 and you were promised original content that wasn’t abysmal.
 
In closing, the PSP might not be as future proof as Sony had once intended. The games are not strong enough to grab consumer’s attention the way other consoles do. The UMD format is archaic and has no real place in the world of downloadable distribution. The PSP is not very portable with its delicate nature and pitiful battery life and there are other devices on the market that do what the PSP does better.
 
M. Michael Chwedyk-MuzikReviews.com Sr. Video Game Reviewer
 
May 17, 2009
 
 
For Questions or Comments on This Review email me mchwedyk@muzikreviews.com


 
NO:
The Sony PlayStation Portable has been through many ups and downs throughout its short lifetime, originally released on March 24th, 2005 in North America, but I think it still has potential or at least more potential then most people give it.
 
First off the PSP has big time name recognition. With both “Sony” and “PlayStation” appearing on the box, they’ve already won over fan-boys of Sony’s home consoles. It’s also a huge selling point when the system can sync up with the home console and, for example, be used as the vehicle’s rear-view. On top of this the system also hosts an abundance of Sony exclusive titles that some fans may not be able to play new versions of because of the PlayStation 3’s steep price point. Games that are not always ports of the PS3 version, but rather all new adventures that follow the same story line as their older brothers. Series such as God of War, S.O.C.O.M., Metal Gear Solid, and Hot Shots Golf, not to mention Final Fantasy VII, which is arguably the best RPG of all time.
 
Another benefit to having the Sony name is being able to access the PlayStation Store, where you can purchase: old games that may or may not have appeared on a previous Sony system, new games that publishers release as downloads instead of on a cartridge and other applications that will help extend the system’s uses.
 
A strong point to the PSP is its ability to see other things. Users can it play games and watch movies, the small screen might not seem like much but it is high def, and most things look better on the 11cm screen then they look on he biggest tube televisions. On top of that, you can listen to music and view pictures. There is even an internet browser, if you happen to be somewhere that offers free WiFi. The system has a slot for memory cards, so you could have multiple memory units, each with its own type of media on it.
 
Another great feature is its sleep function. You no longer have to find a save point to stop playing, just turn off the power and the system will save the current state of the game you’re playing, so next time you turn it on you will be able to continue playing from wherever you stopped.
 
The PSP offers a low price as well. For as low as $140, or the $170 recommended price, you can own one of these powerful, multimedia machines that is graphically comparable to the original PlayStation, but portable (I wonder where they got the name).
 
The PSP also has longevity. A lot of its titles receive just as good of scores as the top games on other consoles. The Grand Theft Auto: Stories games, Lumines and even games that were originally released as budget titles; like LocoRoco 2 all have garnered rave reviews. These games are all great examples of what this system is capable of.
 
All in all the system’s sales might not be enough to predict the console’s future success, but Sony is still doing everything they can to make this little piece of hardware as popular as possible.
           
The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Sr. Review Staff
 
May 23, 2009
For questions or comments on this article send an email to rsmith@muzikreviews.com