AUDIO: The vehicle exhaust popping, as the car shifts gears, is often all you hear. Sure, your co-driver will be barking in your ear about crests and crescents but you'll be too involved in the speed of the game to notice. It might have helped if the co-drivers directions made sense to me. Isn't a crescent a type of moon or a morning pastry? In DiRT it is apparently a corner. It would have been better if the co-driver would have said "45 degree curve ahead" or "jump coming up." Who knew we had to learn rally speak to play DiRT?

THE WRAP-UP

PARENT'S TAKE: DiRT is fun for children—depending upon their ages. The speed is the hardest thing for young children to overcome. They might be able to complete a track tapping on the brakes or going slow, but they may never win a race. And that can quickly turn to frustration. Actually, some children might have more fun just smashing into things and watching the car explode.

FINAL WORD: DiRT is easily the best racing game for the Xbox 360. Sure, some areas could have been better—particularly when it comes to tweaking vehicles. There is no other racing game that can compete with DiRT in terms of racing tracks and landscapes. Most racing games feature a track that you circle over and over again. Many tracks in DiRT are one very long lap through various terrains. DiRT is a blast — it's just too bad you can't stop and enjoy the scenery.