Knights of the Cardboard Castle

Like half the gaming population of the planet, I’ve been playing D3 this week. Unfortunately mine is Dirt 3. I considered giving Diablo 3 a pass due its high price and its online only requirement but I have such fond gaming memories of Diablo 2 that I will probably pick it up eventually. Dirt 3 isn’t a game that I remember paying for, I just found it as a gift in my Steam account one day, probably due to some kind of promotion. I really enjoyed the previous two Codemasters racing game that I’ve played and so looked forward to it. Unfortunately my expectations went largely unmet.

• It’s noticeably prettier than its predecessor. Damage to vehicles is faithfully represented on your car model, environmental effects like rain, dust and snow all build up as your car races through the level. But I also noticed that the levels are less spectacular now. Some have commented that this makes the tracks more realistic but I really appreciated the grand vistas of the previous game.
• Weather and time of day effects are new. You can now race the same tracks in a variety of different times and under different weather conditions. This makes a big difference to how each track looks and feels and is the single best addition to the game. And it’s not just a binary on-off toggle either. You can get everything from light snow gently frosting the surface of your car to full on “I can’t believe I have to drive through this because I can’t see shit in front of me,” blizzards. Naturally snow and rain changes the driving feel as well, just watch your sporty car slide across snow while it struggles to find traction. Combine snowstorms and night driving for lowest possible visibility races!

• Many events now let you pick a car from a variety of classes to drive, for example, a rally event might let you choose from the Pro, Open, 90s and 70s categories. Combined with the weather options, this means there’s as astonishing variety of possible races to choose from. The main campaign is pretty flexible too. I maxed out my reputation pretty easily while still avoiding many of the events I didn’t like, so it’s very much a choose what you like buffet.
• The big emphasis however is on the Gymkhana events which I couldn’t believe existed for real until I googled it. I guess this is best described as car showboating: performing drifts, donuts, jumps etc. for an audience. I hated them and I’m terrible at them so I skipped them whenever possible. Still, it’s annoying that the game treats this as a big deal. You need a special unlock to qualify for them and everything.
• There is less of a caRPG feel now which makes me sad. Both Grid and especially Dirt 2 did a good job of making the campaign feel like you’re really an aspiring young driver out to make a name for yourself. This time round while the voice overs still try to convey that impression, it’s all kind of half-hearted. You don’t feel like you’re jetting around the world to join competitions and you don’t earn cash to buy cars. It’s just an arbitrary series of competitions.
• Along the same lines, this game just feels like it has less heart and less character overall, which is why I like it so much less. It’s technically competent and it’s still fun to drive around, but there’s no joy or excitement in it. It’s feels like a by-the-numbers effort. The flashy menu system and the emphasis on Gymkhana, all style no substance, just reinforces that. I thought this was supposed to be a rally game? What’s with all that tarmac driving and car showboating stuff anyway?

On the whole, I’d say this is a lackluster but competent sequel. It’s still fun to drive around and look at pretty cars, but it lacks the magic that Dirt 2 had. Recommended only if you’ve played the previous game to death and really need more.