Presentation
This review was created for version 0.3, mainly the first version of Dirt Rally Early Access. As expected, since the game is in full development right now, there isn’t that much content to begin with, yet there’s a lot more than you would expect. I was able to play more than 20 different tracks, which are included in 3 stages: Greece, Monte Carlo and Wales. Each one of the stages is highly polished, despite the game not being fully released, and while playing I encountered only a few minor hangs, but the core mechanics work seamlessly, which is a major plus.
Game modes
Even in this early stage, Dirt Rally brings you a career mode where you can go through all the tracks we mentioned earlier, as well as a custom event where you can choose the stage you want to play. Of course, in the latter you can also select one of the 5 AI difficulty modes and other cool stuff! Then, there’s also the league mode where you can design your own competitions against friends.
Races and handling
Of course, when we talk about a car game, what matters the most is the driving feel. In Dirt Rally there are many car categories, starting with the 60’s and finishing with the 2010’s, so there’s a lot of variety and difficulty based on the car you use. Modern cars are easier to handle and thus suitable for beginners, but the older cars can test your nerves and challenge you quite a lot. Overall, I found the handling of all cars to be realistic, and after using the controller as well as a racing wheel I have to say that these work seamlessly. The preferable control option for me here is the racing wheel but the keyboard works quite good too. Of course, there are cars that don’t work as well as you would expect, but, as always, it’s up to you to experiment and find the best car for you.
The interesting part, when you play campaign, is the fact that you can upgrade cars and, based on the amount of CR points you get, you can purchase new ones. These not only help you get better results during the campaign, but also transfer to the online modes as well, so there is an incentive to play the campaign, especially if you want online races. I truly enjoy this, because it makes the game cohesive and the interconnection just works.
Car management and garage
You do have a garage in Dirt Rally and here you can manage your cars as well as hire engineers that will help you make the most out of your car. Hiring engineers does require CR points and they are quite expensive, but thankfully there are many engineers to choose from, and each one is specialized in a certain field. You can hire up to 5 engineers. As a side note, it’s nice to see that all car liveries come for free right from the start and you don’t have to unlock them.
Gameplay challenges
Since everything is geared towards realism, you need to avoid moving too fast and instead you have to listen to the copilot instructions, because this is very important. Speaking of him, the copilot is very accurate and the instructions are clear, something that I like a lot!
But what I enjoy the most in Dirt Rally is the simple fact that you can customize your own experience. Sometimes you want to gear things towards realism, so you turn assists or any other additional help off, other times you just want an arcade feel yet tougher competitors, and you can do that as well. There are no limits here, and this is the amazing thing about the whole experience, the fact that you are in complete control at all times!
Graphics and sounds
The music in Dirt Rally is very good, and the sounds are very realistic. However, the standout feature here are the amazing graphics! The game world is very large, in fact it’s much larger than all other Dirt games before, and the tracks actually seem that they belong there, and they aren’t just thrown away just to be there like in the previous installments. The realism that you can find when it comes to handling is also encountered in the case of car damage as well. The car damage can be felt as you play, and the car will actually stop when its components are destroyed. But, you will have the opportunity to distinguish this from a visual standpoint as well.
Conclusion
Overall, I was very impressed with Dirt Rally and its Early Access debut. Sure, there are some things that need to be added, and there are a few bugs here and there, but for me it’s the most solid, polished and content packed Early Access game I saw until now. After a somewhat disappointing Dirt 3 and a disastrous Dirt Showdown, Codemasters are back on track by delivering a masterpiece of the genre. We look forward to see how Dirt Rally will evolve in the near future, but even now, it’s a must buy for rally fans, especially at the current, discounted price.