Colin McRae: Dirt
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| Colin McRae: DiRT | |
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| Developer(s) | Codemasters |
| Publisher(s) | Codemasters |
| Engine | Neon Engine |
| Version | 1.2 (July 20, 2007)[1] |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| Release date | Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360: EUR June 15, 2007 NA June 19, 2007 PlayStation 3: AUS September 21, 2007[2] |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | PEGI: 12+ ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| System requirements | Minimum: Windows XP Pentium 4 @ 3.0 GHz or Athlon 64 3000+ 1 GB RAM, Graphics Card: GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1300 or above DirectX Compatible Sound Card Recommended: Windows XP/Vista Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66 GHz or Athlon X2 3800+ 2 GB RAM Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 or Radeon X1950 Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card |
| Input methods | Gamepad (Consoles), Keyboard/Mouse or Gamepad (PC) |
Colin McRae: DiRT (shortened to DiRT in North America) is the sixth racing game in the Colin McRae Rally series, developed by Codemasters, and the last of the series to be published before Colin McRae's death. It features new graphics, audio, physics engine, new vehicles and a new game engine which was co-developed between Codemasters and Sony Computer Entertainment. The game features a variety of off road racing categories as well as World Rally Championship style events.
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[edit] Gameplay
The single player game plays out through 3 modes. Career, Championship, and Rally World, which is a single race set up.
The Career mode is set up in a stylized pyramid that has 11 "tiers", with the bottom tier having 11 different events. Each event consists of one or more race events of a single type requiring a specific type of car. The player earns up to 10 points for their placing in all the races within the event. Most events require a specific number of points within a specific tier to unlock, and thus as the player earns points, more of the pyramid becomes unlocked, moving up to the "Champion of Champions" event at the very top. By winning races and earning money the player is able to purchase cars and liveries (skins) for the cars. In total there are 46 different cars and 186 liveries. The amount of money earned is based on the difficulty level picked by the player when selecting the event; higher difficulty levels have more challenging AI opponents and more realistic damage effects. Completed events can be repeated at any time, although unless challenged at a higher difficulty level, the player will earn significantly less money than when they first raced it. In Rally events with multiple races, the player has the opportunity to repair damage between races, but is only allotted 60 minutes of damage repair at each point based on time estimates to fix each component of the car.
Championship mode offers up a series of races in which the player's combined time throughout each stage is cumulative.
Multiplayer allows the player to race up to 100 other players in rally races through solo competition, as there are no other cars, ghosts or players present on the track. Fastest time determines who wins.
[edit] Release
DiRT was released on June 15, 2007 in Europe and on June 19, 2007 in North America for the Xbox 360 and PC. The PS3 version was released on September 1, 2007 in North America and on 14 September [3] in Europe, the day before a tragic helicopter crash claimed the life of Mr McRae, his son Johnny, and two other people.[4] In response to the death and after an agreement was made with the McRae family, Codemasters have withdrawn a major advertising campaign for the PlayStation 3 version of Colin McRae: DIRT.[5]
[edit] Critical response
Dirt has received largely positive reviews, IGN UK and US awarding it 9.0 and 8.4, respectively. It has also received 9.0 from Official Xbox Magazine, 8.3 from Gamespot for the Xbox 360 and PC versions and 8.5 for the PlayStation 3 version (due to a smoother frame rate), and 8 from Edge. 500,000 copies were sold worldwide in the first week of release.[6]
The game was selected as part of Gaming Target's year-end "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007" list.[7]
[edit] Demo
A playable game demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on May 24, 2007.[8] The demo for PC was released on the same date.[9] The demo contains 3 tracks and 3 race types to try out.
The PC demo also included an online multiplayer mode. The Xbox demo was also included in the August 2007 demo disc from Official Xbox Magazine.
The demo was also released for the PlayStation 3 on August 16, 2007 on the US PlayStation Network, [10] but does not include the hill climb.
[edit] References
- ^ Codemasters : Downloads : Download details
- ^ Games Release Schedule, 04/09/07
- ^ DiRT UK Release Date. Gamespot (September 14, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ "Colin McRae feared dead in helicopter crash - police", Yahoo! News/AFP. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ Codemasters pulls Colin McRae ad campaign. gamesindustry.biz (September 20, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ DIRT sells 500k copies in first week. GameIndustry.biz (2007-06-28). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007. Gaming Target (2007-12-31).
- ^ Demo: Colin McRae: DIRT. Major Nelson (2007-05-24). Retrieved on 2007-05-24.
- ^ Goldstein, Maarten. "DiRT: Colin McRae Off-Road Demo Released". Shacknews. Retrieved on 2007-05-24.
- ^ DUS PlayStation Network updates for August 16th. Jem Alexander (2007-08-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
