Through the roar of the engine before you heard the voice of the Navigator to read the transcript from his notebook. The spray of dirt with a thick layer, cover the windshield and make it difficult to concentrate on the track. It remains only to trust my own experience and almost blindly at high speed to enter into the next turn that separates you from the finish line. Only after some time until you hear the applause of the fans, and there comes the realization that you beat all rivals and became the winner of the race. These feelings are familiar to fans of the series racing game DiRT. Today we will talk with you about the game Dirt 4, which was released in early June for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
British Studio Codemasters for 20 years pleases fans of rally racing for its wonderful games. The DiRT series has grown from a once popular franchise Colin McRae Rally. After legendary driver Colin McRae died in 2007, his family withdrew the right to use his name in the titles of video games, so developers had no choice but to rename their new game of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 in DiRT 2 just. After it was followed by DiRT 3, DiRT: Showdown and DiRT Rally, of which I have, incidentally, told me last year. The fourth numbered game in the series was created with the direct participation of the legendary rally racers Chris Mick and Petter Solberga.
DiRT 4 surprises from the first minute. For the first time in my memory, the game offers us to customize the appearance of the rider. Character editor, of course, do not anyhow which, but for the first time will fit perfectly. Secondly, the game immediately gives you a choice of one of the control modes. The first mode is called “Gamer” and offers the player an arcade driving style, simplified in all respects. The second is called “Simulation” and that is clear from the title, provides the most realistic behavior of cars on the track, making the gameplay significantly more challenging, but at the same time interesting. In other words, DiRT 4 for the first time gives us a choice: to be the game entertainment arcade game or a realistic simulation of maximum devotion. Honestly, I’m still closer to arcade style games, but veterans of the genre rally racing game will not hurt.
In addition to the two approaches in terms of governance, DiRT 4 offers players several modes of difficulty. In the “Racer” you will be competing with normal computer opponents can endlessly restart individual races from the beginning, and also get help in management. However, the cost for facilities will reduce experience gain to 73%. In the “Professional” you will encounter strong opponents, get 10 restarts to check in, as well as partial assistance to operate, but will have 79% of the experience. The “champion” will offer you powerful opponents, 5 restarts, limited assistance and will reward 86% of the experience. Well, for the most daring developers saving mode “Fearless”, which to you would be no leniency, but the experience gain will increase to fair 100%.
The game includes several modes. Naturally, the fundamental Career, which includes four different discipline. The first is “the Classic rally racing” when you have to go through one competition after another, getting a new license and car that allows you to get from the bottom to the top of the automotive sport. The second discipline “LandRush” returns to play the spectacular races for buggies and trucks on tracks covered with mud and sand. The third discipline is racing “Rally-cross”, created under license of the FIA World RallyCross Championship. And completes the four regime of “Historic rally”, you’ll find practically the same as the first mode, only you will have to race on the legendary cars from the past. Each of the modes will be offered to participate in dozens of races, so that the pleasure is stretched for long hours and even days.
If the impressive career mode you feel inadequate, you can take part in the activities offered by the mode “Competitive”. The developers of DiRT 4 publish new tests on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, so fans of the game will never feel the lack of new emotions. In addition? you can always go online and converge in the race with other fans of the franchise. You will be able to join the already established races, and customize your own race and wait for someone interested in your offer. The Freeplay allows you to create your own tournaments and invite friends and revolutionary system will help Your Stage for a few seconds to build its own track. You simply specify the location, duration of the track, weather conditions and other important parameters, and the game will do the rest for you. The tracks are procedurally generated, essentially turning the game into an endless source of joy for fans of the rally.
As a bonus, the developers have built the game mode is “Joyride”, which includes 60 tests in two categories. You can pass the track to the time or speed to shoot down spaced along it with a square layout. There is also a free mode, so to speak, for the soul, in which you’ll be able to drive to different locations and just genuinely fun. Beginners series I strongly advise you to pay attention to the mode DiRT Academy. Here you will demonstrate 27 lessons, teaching driving, I will explain how to slow down and enter into the turns, how to carry the weight of the car how to behave when you are aquaplaning, but as on the roads with different surface and in different weather conditions. After the demonstration, the game will prompt you to test the acquired knowledge in practice. In the previous game DiRT Rally no “practical part” was not.
Another enjoyable moment of the game is the menu “My team”. Here you will be able to manage a team of people around you during the race. Because to win a championship without talented Navigator, engineer, logistician, and even the PR professional will be Oh how not easy. All of them you have to hire myself. Improving the conditions of their stay or by purchasing the front dining room, you will immediately affect the morale of your comrades. The extension of the garage will allow you to place all more bought from dealers or on the secondary market. Rest room will reduce stress after a particularly stressful and bad races, the logistics Department will establish your relationship with sponsors and R&D Department will provide you with the highest quality parts at a low price. In other words, DiRT 4, your team is actually half the battle. Try to give her attention and time. In all of this upsets me, just the fact that all modifications and improvements look just like a text menu. You know what they are doing and what all it brings to your team, but see in front of me are walls of text.
If you are too lazy to understand the jungle of text menus, you can just click the magic button “Hire me”, and the game will automatically choose for you the best team of specialists. Similar button is there to ensure that your mechanics and engineers repaired your car after off-road racing. But don’t forget what kind of damage will have to pay you. The checks will come in regularly. In General, the game is very delicately adjusted to each individual player, so in this respect, be happy, without exception. However, somewhat saddened me the fact that DiRT 4 has not been translated into the Russian language as the previous game DiRT Rally, over which the guys from Russian publisher Buka has done just an excellent job on the localization. In principle, the English language is not very complicated, so that problems players have, at least superficially speak the language, should not occur. I was also surprised by the lack of support for PlayStation VR headset, which was present in the previous game. I really hope that in the future the patch will come with support for virtual reality.
During rally races DiRT 4 will allow you to visit five locations around the globe. This is Australia’s Fitzroy district, the French province of Tarragona, state of Michigan, Swedish flax värmland and the British County of Powys. In the discipline of “rallycross” you also happen to be on the official FIA tracks in Norway and Portugal, and the regime of the “Landrush” will take you to arena, California, Nevada and Mexico. The game includes more than 50 legendary rally cars. Here, you and the classic model of “Group A”, and representatives banned in the mid-80’s “Group B”, and the modern descendants of groups “N” and “R”. The list of car manufacturers includes names such as Peugeot, Alpine, Fiat, Ford, Opel, BMW, Renault, Audi, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Citroen and many others.
Play car simulators need only with a good helm. The controller is not able to convey a tenth of the pleasure you can get from the race. There has never by the way had my recent acquisition. After learning that the Gran Turismo Sport is coming out this year, I bought a wheel of a Racing Wheel APEX of the Japanese manufacturer Hori compatible with the gaming console Sony PlayStation 4 (I will try to write a review of this device in the near future). This is a very budget model steering for 8000 rubles, but at the time I just didn’t have the funds to buy a monster like Logitech G29, the cost of which is included in full ranges at around 25-30 thousand rubles. As it turned out, my new steering wheel in the database of supported devices from DiRT 4, not listed (most likely, support will be added in subsequent patches), so I had to manually configure it in the special menu. Reducing the dead zones to zero and play around with the other indicators I had created for himself the necessary comfort. And here naturally stuck in the game for 8 hours without lunch breaks and family. The wheel and pedals completely transform the perception of any car simulator for the better.
During each check-in story mode the game will put before you a number of goals, reaching which you will earn additional money and experience. For example, you will need never to fly beyond the track or check-in time not to damage your car. Most often you are asked to first attempt to take one of the three prizes or if the track is truly treacherous, at least to enter the top ten leaders. In addition to credits that can be spent on repairs, the purchase of new vehicles and spare parts for them, you will gain valuable experience and new ranks for his rider. One should not neglect the sponsorship. Many companies will be glad to see their logos on the body of your car and hastened to conclude a contract with you for a tidy sum, as soon as you make a name for themselves during one of the Championships. But do not forget that if in the heat of the race you get the logo mud, the sponsor may be unhappy with the results and deduct the penalty.
The weakest point of the game is significantly outdated graphics. Don’t get me wrong! DiRT 4 looks very nice: beautifully crafted cars, the route is incredibly scenic and diverse, and the weather conditions are realistic. But the eye from time to time rush blurry textures, low poly objects and “dead” fans. The game sometimes is not enough impressive special effects, as, for example, in a series of Forza Horizon. Of course, you say to me now that it is not in the chart here the essence, and you’re right. But sometimes you want to each new game in the series DiRT became more and more beautiful and realistic. And again, returning to a regime of management team: it would be great to see you purchased the improvements with my own eyes. Watch your mechanics and PR agents relax over a pint in the lounge area or develop new parts for your cars in the workshop. But most do not. Yet.
The sound in the game is excellent. The roar of the engines of different models of cars sounds very realistic, and your faithful companions during the races voiced by professional rally co-drivers Nicky grist and Jen Horsey. The music of the game is also very enjoyable. In the process of the races you will hear a musical composition of such groups and performers as The Amazons, Sigma, The Hives, FREAK, Pretty Vicious, The Chemical Brothers, Disclosure, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bastille and many others. The soundtrack focuses on rock and electronics, but from time to time you’ll hear soul, R&B and other music styles. In any case, the selection of this incredibly harmonious and creates the game the right mood.
Pros:
- The management style of the car can be arcade or realistic.
- Great career mode, which includes four disciplines.
- Many additional modes and a huge number of tests.
- You can do the hiring and management of his team.
- Training mode DiRT Academy allows beginners to quickly settle into the game.
- Great selection of more than 50 models of rally cars.
- The ability to quickly and easily create your own tracks.
- The picturesque locations in different corners of the globe.
- Wonderful sound and music.
Cons:
- Visually the game felt a gradually aging.
- Not enough visualization mode “My team”.
- Is no Russian localization.
- There is no support for PlayStation VR.
DiRT 4 is concentrated joy for fans of rally racing and beyond. The game can be recommended even to those people who had car simulators are not fond of in principle. You need only a bit to taste, to feel the philosophy of rally racing, read about the history of this kind of motor sport. And then you’ll understand that this is sheer passion and pleasure. Among the many modes, everyone will find something suitable for yourself. And thanks to the game DiRT training Academy and a simplified management model “Gamer” series has become incredibly friendly to newcomers. The developers put in the game all his soul, felt from the first seconds. Therefore, the hand does not rise to put the game score lower than 9 out of 10.
Review game DiRT 4
Sergey Grey