DiRT Showdown

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[Jim di Griz]

Yeah, I know what you're saying - I expected more especially as even RBR on PS2 has better that this. Grid though is an exceptional game for damage - shame if at least the same level isn't available from the people that made it in the first place.

Like you say though, we'll see.

[Jim di Griz]

I see from the 'challenges' and such that a few of us have tried the demo.

Oddly the whole things felt like a stumble backwards for me - the physics have gone full-arcade and I gave up after about ten minutes. It wasn't much fun (for me) the cars in the one race pretty much stayed rock solid - even in the online demolition derby part, not one car rolled. I appreciate that most of the beasts were built to be bottom-heavy but I just felt no real sense of engagement with the game - not like I did with the D2 demo.

Oh well.

[Jim di Griz]

For those interested, it's out tomorrow DiRT Showdown

[Rhymane Flameheart]

I haven't posted here since before the demo came out? I'm getting sloppy...

I tried the demo, and like you Jim I found it disappointing. From the hype and the videos I was expecting an entire game based upon GRID's Demolition Derby mode, but the demo certainly was not that, The controls were indeed to arcade, with no real feel for the car's weight and momentum, and no feedback from the actual impacts between vehicles. It was looking like possibly becoming DIRT Letdown.

However (possibly against my better judgement) I still decided to go ahead and buy the full game. I've been playing it quite a lot these past few days.

I can say that, pleasingly, the full game is slightly better than the demo. There is a little more feedback through the pad and in the controls, and the physics seem marginally better. In the full game cars will indeed roll over, I have been launched onto my roof quite a few times. That being said, this is still a purely arcade title, so don't expect GRID levels of physics here, let alone anything more. The difference is marginal.

I think the main issue for me is that I was coming at the game with preconceptions. As I said I was hoping for GRID's Demo Derby made into a full game, which Showdown most certainly is not. But if I try to clear these preconceptions and take Showdown simply on it's own personal strengths, then it does in some ways become kinda fun. It's not great, and certainly not a worldbeater, but it's okay, and good enough to hold my attention at least until I complete it.

Is it worth the £30 I spent on it? Difficult to say, I think it would depend on whether you're into the genre or not. If you like a good arcade romp with no rules and lots of chaos, then yeah it probably is, but if that's not your thing, then no it isn't worth that. Is it worth picking up when it drops down in price and becomes cheap? If you're saving up for or currently playing through another title then perhaps not, but if you have the cash spare and nothing else to play for a while then yeah, I'd say it is. It will keep you occupied for a few days, if nothing else.

So on the whole...not what I had hoped for, at all. And not really anything madly special even without those preconditions. However taken simply for what it is, it's not bad. Not great...but not bad.

[Rhymane Flameheart]

Update on the previous post:

I think I might have found the purpose of this game, the place where everything suddenly makes sense and it really shines. And that purpose, is multiplayer.

My mother and I sometimes have split screen games on my PS3. We usually play GT5, but today I asked if we could quickly check out the split screen option of Showdown instead, just to see what options it has available and features are there to play. So this is what we did.

Almost all the game modes are available to play in split screen, complete with AI drivers to fill up the field and plenty of options to customize the gameplay. And it's playing with friends where this game really comes alive - the chaos and laughter as the cars crash, the insane accidents that can happen. All of that is fun on it's own, but as if that wasn't enough, there is also an option to play team games against the AI, so all the chaos is interlaced with a dose of tactics and strategy too. I laughed harder that I had done in a long time when on the first corner of one race, I picked a very large truck and parked it as a roadblock on the first corner, causing all the AI cars to barrel into my side while my mother slipped past on the inside line to take the lead.

Split screen mode can really be a blast on this game - you forget the arcade physics and small niggles, and just start to laugh. I would certainly recommend the game to anyone who has children to play with, or friends who come around to their houses. And if online mode has half the features and options which are present in split screen, I can foresee that being hilarious as well

I'll have to investigate a little more, but if true, this one element could well redeem what for me would otherwise be a mediocre game. It could become like Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars - a bit of a disappointment offline, but utterly compulsive and really funny in multiplayer. I'll keep you all posted.

[spaceboy]

It does sound like a fun time perhaps just with adjusted expectations.

[Jim di Griz]

Thanks for the review Rhy - glad you found some redeeming qualities and downright fun aspects in this.

[Rhymane Flameheart]

Ok, the final verdict is in - this game is a disappointment.

I have now completed single player, and in doing so have found a huge and very obvious flaw. Once you complete an event, you cannot win prize money from that event again, but the money you win from completing every event on the board is NOT ENOUGH to purchase all vehicles in the game! This means you are forced to go online to get more cash and complete your car collection - if anybody does not have an internet connection and is unable to play online, there are some cars that they will NEVER BE ABLE TO OBTAIN in single player mode. This oversight is quite simply ridiculous and shocking, no respectable games company should make a mistake such as this.

Secondly, the glimmer of hope that I saw in multiplayer has fizzled out in online mode. Yes, online gameplay can be fun and intense, that cannot be denied. But it is marred by serious flaws, like the automatic team selection in team games which seems to have no rhyme nor reason to it (I was once pitted solo against four other drivers all higher levels than me...fairness, anyone?). Also, so far as I can see, single player private lobbies have no control over what events are run besides a cursory voting system the same as open rooms - no option selection and individual choice, either by the host or by the party as a whole.

So the final, overall review, taking in all factors mentioned in this post and others above:

The gameplay of this game is nothing special, but it can be fun at times. It really shines in offline multiplayer splitscreen, and much hilarity can ensue from this mode. This is only a single good point, but it is a big one that should not be discounted.

From there on in, however, the game ranges between disappointing and downright shocking, and unfortunately fails very hard on a number of points. CodeMasters have apparently done their work again - a possibly fantastic game has been ruined. Unless you spend an awful lot of time playing with friends in split screen, I'd have to recommend that you avoid buying this game.

Dirt Showdown...more like Dirt Letdown.