DIRT 5 (PS4)

I’m a little conflicted on this one, but on the whole, it’s a fun return to form for a genre that’s steadily gotten more stiffly realistic, offering for a more bubbly and fun over-the-top take on things without sacrificing vehicle handling or attention to detail in the process. If you looked at those cheap spectacle racers that have flooded the arcades nowadays and thought “hm, it’d be nice to play one of those if the physics were actually semi-realistic,” this may be right up your alley, as it invites you to throw gorgeous rally machines sideways in the mud as though you’re a kid again racing your Matchboxes about the backyard.

Graphics: yes. Very. This is an absurdly stunningly gorgeous game, and more importantly, it’s surprisingly well optimized. It runs at a nice consistent framerate on hardware that’s struggled with other recent releases, and isn’t afraid to allow you to sacrifice some visual flash if you like/must. The visual style is distinctively vibrant, with a focus on very excessive and bright coloration and patterns that still isn’t visually overwhelming; it’s clean and readable, and I’m immensely grateful for that. I don’t often use photo modes in games but found myself compulsively stopping to pose screenshots on a constant basis.

Story, inexplicably existent. Don’t expect much – it’s mostly a paper-thin excuse to set a scene and get you racing. I like that much about it, though I’m not the most jazzed about their premise of “leave two podcasters and two voice actors in a booth and have them improvise”, as there is some agonizing awkwardness here and there that doesn’t seem to be part of a purposeful bit. I did not watch Donut Media before this and I likely will not be doing so going forward, as some of their rambling is just… painful to sit through and if I have to hear “HERSPERRRRRRRRS” a seventeenth time, I will punch somebody. But hey, maybe this is what’s popular now. I know people were ripped off about the annoying dudebro style in DiRT 2 and 3 and I loved it as a kid, so as long as it works. Troy Baker as AJ is a treat, though, largely because he continues to casually narrate menus long after you’re done with the story, and does so charmingly enough.

Physics, it really depends per car. For the most part, it’s very generous about collisions, but this does mean some goofy “Forza multiplayer lobby” messes here and there, particularly with the Unlimited class, where there straight up isn’t enough room for all the cars on the track and they just helplessly pinball with you stuck in the back the whole time. Sprint cars are… you have to really know what you’re doing to get any fun out of them, but you really shouldn’t have to look up a guide to understand how much countersteer is expected. And the car classes have some massive imbalance where most choices are just flat-out worse than others, with a clear winner in every category that isn’t spec. RS200 will win you every 80’s Rally, for instance.

But besides those irritations, most events in the game are just flat-out fun. The track designs do get repeated quite a few times, but they’re gorgeous and distinct and actually well-thought-out race courses that compliment each other well. Cape Town and China feel like nice callbacks to DiRT 2, with Greece quickly becoming a personal favorite. I adored the Rally Raid point-to-point races and the rock-climbing events, and did find myself kinda wishing there were more of them.

Here’s a point where I’m gonna be a bit hypocritical. I understand this is a new team taking over after DiRT 4. The influence of DriveClub is felt here and it is welcome, getting right a lot of the things that got right, with sense of place and making the limited locales matter by making them all wonderfully detailed and distinct. DiRT 4 had a Joyride mode, and I complained back then that not much was done with it. Well, DiRT 5 tried to one-up it with the Playgrounds mode, where now custom tracks can be made for that, and… I’m still underwhelmed by it. It feels like a discount TrackMania that’s absurdly difficult to actually sort through, with most levels I could find being just utterly tedious or dull. There’s still absolutely no connection to the whole rest of the game in this side mode, so if this is what they’re banking on being the game’s longevity… I don’t see that happening.

But, at the end of the day, while I’m sure I have more to nitpick about, it’s a fun time. People keep saying “there need to be more over-the-top racers out there!”, or “there should be more games with that arcade style but simcade physics” in my orbit, so I feel like I gotta at least tell ’em that this is here, this is that, and this is fun.

(I’d also like to note, I do particularly appreciate the addition of actual rally paint schemes in post-launch patches; they’re also made to fit well with the bright, poppy color scheme, and I really appreciate it!)

Very boring repetitive game just avoid save money Very boring repetitive game just avoid save money Very boring repetitive game just avoid save money

Dont buy this cds its only getting load + non Refuable