Game Title: DiRT

Platform: Xbox 360

Studio: Codemasters

Rating: E — for Everyone

Score: 9.5 out of 10

THE REVIEW

GAMEPLAY: DiRT is the fourth Colin McRae release and easily the best of the series. It doesn't take a lot to get right into the swing of racing off-road. The hardest thing to adapt to is not racing on pavement and the lack of continuous left turns.

DiRT is made up of nine off-road styles of racing: Rally, Hill Climb, Rally RAID, Rally Cross, the CORR desert series, and more. Some of the racing styles may be unfamiliar to the layperson; however, your guide, Rally champion Travis Pastrana, helps break down every race and car. You'll need his help if you plan on modifying your vehicle — a process that is more complex than it needs to be. DiRT could have taken a lesson from Forza Motorsport 2 for the Xbox 360. Even without racing or vehicle knowledge, gamers could easily make cars better in Forza, while DiRT makes it so complex you might opt out of tweaking vehicles at all.

Career mode is structured like a massive pyramid full of tracks you must complete in order to work to the top. It may seem daunting initially; however, halfway through you'll wish there were more tracks so the game would last forever.

After a practice lap or two, DiRT is easy to slip into. It's a sweaty-palm thrill ride, especially if you use the hood cam. I started out using the behind-the-car cam until it became apparent that it was hard to see the track ahead of you. The behind-camera angle from certain cars makes it impossible to see upcoming curves while coming off a jump or small hill.

Much of the racing is against other racers or versus the clock. When racing against other cars you have a benchmark ahead. When racing the clock, however, you can only tell how far ahead or behind you are each quarter of a lap, as the clock tracks your time against the track leader.

One of the thrills in DiRT is the vehicles. The 46 licensed vehicles with 100 liveries, or decorations for the uninitiated, are amazing. Each car handles differently. The Subaru Impreza sticks to corners like glue while the Opel feels a little more apt to find the rocks and trees off the track. Depending on the vehicle, it can be hard to keep some of vehicles on the road. On dirt and gravel, some vehicles lack enough traction to keep the back tires following the front tire's lead.