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We'll let that pass, however, and focus on the stuff that I do enjoy, which is pretty much all the other racing events. It's a stage that you cannot skip in the single-player tour – a baffling decision when the previous tour menus of Dirt 1 & 2 were so open and forgiving of what events you'd have to participate in. I could have screamed when I realised I was going to be forced to make my Ford Fiesta dance like a ballerina for an imaginary crowd of open-mouthed Londoners. This would have been fine if it was optional, but it is not optional.
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Instead you are obliged to spin and slide your way around a number of plastic bollards. The first of these might be set in Battersea power station, but it is most certainly not within the spirit of old fashioned British Rallying.
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I'd imagine it's a place that cars dream of, and Codemasters have been granted access to it by the ghost of a Ford Cosworth, or something like that.Īnyway, the transatlantic nature of the game has not disappeared, because one of the core sections is a Ken Block-led “Gymkhana” series. There's no carnival trailer-yard pseudo-character menu here, just some platonic shapes floating in a strange menu dimension. This third Dirt game seems to have stepped back a little from the excesses of the previous game, in which the attempt to merge the relatively austere accelerated dangers of rallying with the XTREME AWESOMENESS of our American Cousins' X-Games branded attitude sports experiences seemed a little-the-top. It takes a broad approach, and tries to be as lively as possible in its portrayal of hi-tech hatchbacks and vintage rallycars alike. Tight, satisfying, forgiving off-road racing, it most certainly is. It's been true that Codemasters' recent racing games have satisfied these desires for me for the past few years, and Dirt 3 is no different. I want the sense of speed and the feel of mass, but without the hubris of honest handling. I want the thrill of sliding on gravel, but not the actual physics. I just want to throw a car about and not care about the consequences. Perhaps it's down to years of trying to compete with my Grand Prix Legends-loving chum and sliding off at the first or second corner on each attempt, or perhaps it's because I just want something different from racing. In some areas of gaming I enjoy simulation, even crave it, but not in racing. Good thing too, because I've come to realise that my tastes are not consistent. Dirt 3 slid neatly into its release spot on Tuesday, before accelerating its way onto my hard-drive.
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