![]() ![]() This is the most generous Codemasters has been with its rallies as well, on the surface at least. ![]() All that, and the return of Nicky Grist in the co-drivers chair - and good god is it lovely to have the Welshman back. At the end of each stage, you must bring your car to a stop by another marshal, a small, weird detail that actually works wonders after the intensity and pressure of running a stage, it's a serene moment of release that helps ground you in the reality of it all. There's an enthusiast's eye for detail at work here the running order of each stage now has an impact with different weather coming into play, the track marshal warning you of what hazards lie ahead in a more dynamic take on events. Given how fans have been vocal about how traditional rally is where the series' appeal lies, though, you can hardly berate Dirt 4 for having a focus on the discipline, and it's pleasingly authentic too. This is still often more survival horror than it is driving game. If you allow it, the challenge from Dirt Rally remains intact. A small shame, then, that this side of the game feels slightly undercooked and under-served, with only three courses and a handful of cars - a problem shared with the rallycross, which despite carrying the official licence feels like a sideshow rather than a serious event. There's a delicious amount of travel in the suspension of these generously sprung, ludicrously chuckable beasts, and racing them is as boisterous and bruising as a session in a bouncy castle with a half-cut rugby team. Nowhere is that updated handling model felt more than in the rear wheel drive buggies that make up the Land Rush mode, where that simulation model is particularly welcome. A knock-on effect, it would seem, is that while playing on a wheel is still the way to go, a gamepad is now a much more viable option. There's a bigger window of opportunity with which to go about your business, making it a slightly more forgiving game than the original Rally while not forgoing any of the complexity. The suspension modelling has been improved, and there's now much more play in each car. ![]() Maybe that's because we were spoilt by the exemplary handling of Dirt Rally, which returns here with some thoughtful tweaks in the Simulation model. It's a throwback to the older, simpler Codemasters rally games (even if it's still entirely possible to clutch kick the rear end out, a first for the mainline series, I'm sure), and it's perfectly serviceable even if it feels a little muted. There's a schism here that proves mostly effective, with two very distinct, disparate handling models on one side there's Gamer, which ladles on the assists, granting your front-end superhuman grip on turn-in and ensuring everything stays neatly in place upon exit. How do you play to the wider audience while maintaining your hard-won integrity? How do you cater to two very different crowds? Dirt 4 carries the official FIA World Rallycross Championship licence, and features five official tracks, but it never really feels like it makes the most of itĭirt 4 has some fairly convincing answers, though as a follow-up to Dirt Rally it occasionally falters. Which leaves the first Dirt game since Rally - and the first to carry a number since 2011's Dirt 3, itself the product of a very different Codemasters to the leaner company the Southam outfit is today - with something of a conundrum. It earned that respect, too - Codemasters has a long history of making driving games, but I still think none of them had ever come close to the exquisite depths of Dirt Rally. Dirt Rally was a hardcore offshoot that had more in common with Warthog's revered Richard Burns Rally than it did any of Codemasters' earlier games this was a full-blooded sim that wasn't afraid to fling you into the woods if you'd neglected to study the intricacies of weight transfer under braking, and one that demanded your attention and respect. Availability: Out June 9th on PS4, PC and Xbox OneĪnd then, in 2015, the series took a very different turn.It was a play for a broader audience that might have proved divisive, but it did result in a handful of lavish, bold and enjoyable games that were often more glitz than grime. Dirt 4 is an authentic and innovative off-road racer, though it lacks the focus and finesse of its exceptional predecessor.ĭirt was always positioned as the Colin McRae Rally series' louder, brasher offspring, taking Codemasters' wonderfully pliable off-road racers and giving them a heavy American slant (at a time, it's worth remembering, when the late Scottish superstar was wowing fans across the Atlantic with his showstopping antics in the X-Games). ![]()
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