Colin McRae: Dirt

Colin McRae: Dirt
Developer(s)	Codemasters
Publisher(s)	Codemasters
Producer(s)	Clive Moody
Designer(s)	Matthew Horsman Brian Coller Jamie Adamson Paul Coleman Paul Lovell
Series	Colin McRae Rally
Engine	Neon Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release	Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360 EU: 15 June 2007 NA: 19 June 2007 AU: 29 June 2007 PlayStation 3 NA: 11 September 2007 EU: 14 September 2007 AU: 27 September 2007
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Colin McRae: Dirt (Dirt in North America) is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It is the sixth game in the Colin McRae Rally series 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. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 in Europe on 14 September 2007, prior to Colin McRae's death. The sequel, Colin McRae: Dirt 2, was released in September 2009.^[1]

Gameplay

A player driving in a rally.

The single player game plays out through three 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.

Events

• CORR — Closed setting off-road races involving Championship Off-Road Racing class vehicles such as buggies and trucks. Multiple vehicles are involved, starting simultaneously, and must complete several laps.
• Rally — Non-circuit races where players attempt to post the best possible time with the help of a co-driver. There are no other racers on the track, which can be a mix of dirt and tarmac.
• Rally Raid — A sort of hybrid of the previous two events: heavyweight vehicles competing head-to-head on off-road circuits with the aid of co-drivers.
• Rallycross — Rally car races on arena tracks that are half dirt, half tarmac. Players must complete multiple laps against numerous other racers without the benefit of a co-driver.
• Crossover — One-on-one dirt/tarmac races where the competitors start precisely halfway around the circuit from each other. The winner is the first driver to return to their starting point.
• Hill Climb — Similar to rally races but involving high-powered vehicles (including big rigs) and a continual increase in elevation. Unlike rally races, there is no co-pilot providing pacenotes.

Release

Colin McRae: Dirt was released on 15 June 2007 in Europe and on 19 June 2007 in North America for the Xbox 360 and PC. The PS3 version was released on 11 September 2007 in North America and on 14 September in Europe, the day before a helicopter crash claimed the life of McRae, his son Johnny, and two other people who were family friends of the McRaes.^[2] In response to the death and after an agreement was made with the McRae family, Codemasters withdrew a major advertising campaign for the PlayStation 3 version of Colin McRae: Dirt.^[3]

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PC PS3 Xbox 360 Edge N/A N/A 8/10[4] EGM N/A N/A 8.17/10[5] Eurogamer N/A 8/10[6] 8/10[7] Game Informer N/A 8/10[8] 8/10[9] GamePro N/A 4/5[10] 4.25/5[11] Game Revolution B+[12] B+[12] B[13] GameSpot 8.3/10[14] 8.5/10[15] 8.3/10[14] GameSpy [16] [17] [18] GameTrailers N/A N/A 8.7/10[19] GameZone N/A 8/10[20] 8.5/10[21] IGN 8.4/10[22] 8.4/10[23] (UK) 9/10[24] (US) 8.4/10[25] OXM (US) N/A N/A 9/10[26] PC Gamer (US) 82%[27] N/A N/A PSM N/A 8.5/10[28] N/A Digital Spy N/A N/A [29] Aggregate scores GameRankings 84.36%[30] 83.17%[31] 83.49%[32] Metacritic 84/100[33] 83/100[34] 83/100[35]

Colin McRae: Dirt was met with positive reception. It currently has a score of 84% and 84 out of 100 for the PC version,^[30][33] 84% and 83 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version,^[32][35] and 83% and 83 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version according to GameRankings and Metacritic.^[31][34]

500,000 copies were sold worldwide in the first week of release.^[36] The game was selected as part of Gaming Target's year-end "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007" list.^[37]

Demo

A playable game demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on 24 May 2007.^[38] The demo for PC was released on the same date.^[39] 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.

A demo was also released for the PlayStation 3 on 16 August 2007 on the PlayStation Store;^[40] it features three tracks: rally, raceway and dirt.

See also

• Ambisonics, the audio technology used in the PS3 version

References

External links

• Colin McRae: Dirt official site
• Colin McRae official site
• Interview with Simon Goodwin of Codemasters, who developed the audio engine
• DiRT at MobyGames

Codemasters
Franchises	Brian Lara Cricket Colin McRae Rally Dizzy Formula One LMA Manager Micro Machines Operation Flashpoint Overlord TOCA
Related articles	Sega Racing Studio David Darling Anil Ambani Reliance Big Entertainment List of Codemasters video games
Video games portal