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 PlayStation 3 |
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
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
Aggregator | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
PC | PS3 | Xbox 360 | |
GameRankings | 84.36%[30] | 83.17%[31] | 83.49%[32] |
Metacritic | 84/100[33] | 83/100[34] | 83/100[35] |
Publication | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
PC | PS3 | Xbox 360 | |
Edge | N/A | N/A | 8/10[4] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | 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] |
GameRevolution | 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] |
Official Xbox Magazine (US) | N/A | N/A | 9/10[26] |
PC Gamer (US) | 82%[27] | N/A | N/A |
PlayStation: The Official Magazine | N/A | 8.5/10[28] | N/A |
Digital Spy | N/A | N/A | [29] |
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
- ^ Robinson, Martin (19 November 2008). "Colin McRae: DiRT 2 Announced". IGN. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ^ "Colin McRae feared dead in helicopter crash - police". Yahoo! News/AFP. Retrieved 16 September 2007.[dead link ]
- ^ Martin, Matt (20 September 2007). "Codemasters pulls Colin McRae ad campaign". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Edge staff (July 2007). "Colin McRae: Dirt (X360)". Edge (177): 88.
- ^ EGM staff (August 2007). "DiRT (X360)". Electronic Gaming Monthly: 78.
- ^ Reed, Kristan (3 October 2007). "Colin McRae DIRT (PS3)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Albiges, Luke (12 June 2007). "Colin McRae: DIRT (Xbox 360)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Kato, Matthew (November 2007). "DiRT (PS3)". Game Informer (175). Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Kato, Matthew (August 2007). "DiRT (X360)". Game Informer (172). Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Kilgore (3 October 2007). "Review: DiRT (PS3)". GamePro. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Ouroboros (29 June 2007). "Review: DiRT (X360)". GamePro. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b Costantino, Jesse (5 October 2007). "DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road [sic] Review (PC, PS3)". Game Revolution. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Costantino, Jesse (16 June 2008). "Race Driver: GRID and DiRT Review (X360)". Game Revolution. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b Navarro, Alex (19 June 2007). "DiRT Review (PC, X360)". GameSpot. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Navarro, Alex (14 September 2007). "DiRT Review (PS3)". GameSpot. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Kuo, Li C. (28 June 2007). "GameSpy: DiRT (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Villoria, Gerald (27 September 2007). "GameSpy: DiRT (PS3)". GameSpy. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Villoria, Gerald (25 June 2007). "GameSpy: DiRT (X360)". GameSpy. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ "DiRT Review (X360)". GameTrailers. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Bedigian, Louis (27 September 2007). "DiRT - PS3 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Zacarias, Eduardo (18 July 2007). "DiRT - 360 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Goldstein, Hilary (29 June 2007). "DiRT Review (PC)". IGN. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Goldstein, Hilary; Roper, Chris (6 September 2007). "DiRT Review (PS3)". IGN. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Burman, Rob (8 June 2007). "Colin McRae: DiRT UK Review (X360)". IGN. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Goldstein, Hilary (8 June 2007). "DiRT Review (X360)". IGN. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Curthoys, Paul (July 2007). "Dirt". Official Xbox Magazine: 74. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "DiRT". PC Gamer: 60. October 2007.
- ^ "Review: DiRT". PSM: 85. December 2007.
- ^ Gibbon, David (25 June 2007). "Xbox 360: 'Colin McRae: Dirt'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "DiRT for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b "DiRT for PlayStation 3". GameRankings. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b "DiRT for Xbox 360". GameRankings. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b "DiRT for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b "DiRT for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ a b "DiRT for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Martin, Matt (28 June 2007). "DIRT sells 500k copies in first week". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ GT staff (31 December 2007). "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007". Gaming Target.
- ^ "Demo: Colin McRae: DIRT". Major Nelson. 24 May 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Goldstein, Maarten (24 May 2007). "DiRT: Colin McRae Off-Road Demo Released". Shacknews. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Alexander, Jem (16 August 2007). "US PlayStation Network updates for August 16". Engadget (Joystiq). Retrieved 29 August 2015.
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
- 2007 video games
- Codemasters games
- EGO (game engine) games
- Off-road racing video games
- Rally racing video games
- PlayStation 3 games
- Sports video games set in Italy
- Video games developed in the United Kingdom
- Video games set in Australia
- Video games set in Germany
- Video games set in Japan
- Video games set in Spain
- Video games set in the United Kingdom
- Windows games
- Xbox 360 games
- Multiplayer and single-player video games