Colin McRae DiRT

[SirClive]

Just played the 360 demo and all I can say is WOW!

What a great game. I tried the Forza demo and like the look but the game didn't do it for me, but DiRT is so playable. The presentation is also fantastic. While loading it tells you about your records (fasted lap, lomgest drift etc - not a critique of your Nick Kershaw collection).

I would be interested to know what you driving geeks think of it (Duds).

[felgekarp]

I've just deleted the demo from mine, I was very impressed with the presentation of it, the menu's etc, very reminiscent of the comedy connections show on the beeb with all the branching, I just can't play those types of games.

[Freshmetal]

I tried the PC version but I was rather disappointed to see that the Colin McRae series has done a "Toca" and gone from it's roots as a pure rally racer to a mix of different styles, which is a shame as I was looking forward to it being a solid rally sim (hopefully there'll be a WRC game soon). Plus I found the steering to be all over the place, but steering is always notorious in demos and generally fixed by the full game release.

[Mootown]

I got the full game, and it is pretty cool, but all the over done presentation gets on your t i t s after a while - you just want it to get on and play the game instead of listening to some extreme 'dude' telling you about the 'awesome' event coming up.

Also, it has the issue that I hate the most in games - slightly jerky frame rate at times and that weird line that goes across the screen when you turn quick - it seems to happen on PC games a lot and 360 games developed by companies that make PC games! Look left and right quickly on Ghost Recon and you'll see what I mean.

I don't like the weird fuzzy glow around everything either that I guess is supposed to look like natural light.

I prefer Forza - I like the clean, crispness of it and the unfaltering 60fps frame rate...

But Colin is fun - no way does it look better than Motorstorm though as I've read in some reviews - it doesn't have the same scale and wow factor...but I guess it's not supposed to.

[Dudley]

Just played the 360 demo and all I can say is WOW!

What a great game. I tried the Forza demo and like the look but the game didn't do it for me, but DiRT is so playable. The presentation is also fantastic. While loading it tells you about your records (fasted lap, lomgest drift etc - not a critique of your Nick Kershaw collection).

I would be interested to know what you driving geeks think of it (Duds).

Well I have the full game and the demo's an accurate impression. At times it's absolutely stunning graphically and Travis Pastrana (you hear him a little in the demo) does a very good job on the menus whose presentation is just top notch.

The progress in career mode is very much the odd school "points open events" style although you'll still need money to buy cars and liveries. The money is awarded based on the difficulty level as in Forza.

If you're liking the demo, get it. now.

play the game instead of listening to some extreme 'dude' telling you about the 'awesome' event coming up.

Travis is a riding and driving legend. He can be as "extreme" as he likes, he earnt it. His most recent notable achievement is winning the Rally car event at the X-Games.

Second was a bloke called Colin you may have heard of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Pastrana

and that weird line that goes across the screen when you turn quick

That's a lack of Vsync. You never get it in PC games unless you suck at setting your system up. I've never seen it on the 360 outside of VGA mode. not to say it doesn't happen.

I prefer Forza - I like the clean, crispness of it and the unfaltering 60fps frame rate...

Me too, but this isn't one of those exclusionist scenarios, both do their job exceptionally well. Forza would look better if it didn't have 360fps physics on 8 cars to worry about for instance.

[Mootown]

The weird line is on loads of 360 games - mostly ubisoft stuff - Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, even Bioshock (not yet released) has it - boo. My mate HATES it and won't play any games that do it.

Chances are a lot of people don't notice it - but I have to as my friend rings me up each time a game does it and complains

I think he believes I can do something about it.

I think tonight I'll do an hour on Forza, then an hour on Colin then just keep swapping. Keeps my night of gaming fresh!

[HEAVYface]

i worked on Dirt on environments and have to say that a lot of the art team didn't like the fuzziness either. the producer thought that it looked "next gen" so it went in......

also the fact that the tracks are flat, your car doesn't hit bumps and grooves making every track surface play like tarmac, was also the cause of much consternation.

most people like the interface though....gives you something to look at whilst its loading?

cheers!

[Antiriad2097]

That line is not weird. Its very sensible. Its caused by the system displaying two halves of different images - one from the frame at the start of processing, then halfway down it flips to a new frame that will be slightly offset. The technical term is 'tearing', which references traditional cell animation techniques where elements are overlaid.

Enabling Vsyc where available (certainly most PC games, your gfx card may even have the option to force this on) prevents it. Vsync only allows the display to be changed when the physical display is 'in between' frames. This can cause marginally slower screen updates at the expense of smoother visuals. Turning vsync off is a common method of increasing game speed, accepting that tearing will be evident in doing so.

[Mootown]

That line is not weird. Its very sensible. Its caused by the system displaying two halves of different images - one from the frame at the start of processing, then halfway down it flips to a new frame that will be slightly offset. The technical term is 'tearing', which references traditional cell animation techniques where elements are overlaid.

Enabling Vsyc where available (certainly most PC games, your gfx card may even have the option to force this on) prevents it. Vsync only allows the display to be changed when the physical display is 'in between' frames. This can cause marginally slower screen updates at the expense of smoother visuals. Turning vsync off is a common method of increasing game speed, accepting that tearing will be evident in doing so.

It might be sensible, doesn't stop it looking rubbish tho ....

[Mootown]

i worked on Dirt on environments and have to say that a lot of the art team didn't like the fuzziness either. the producer thought that it looked "next gen" so it went in......

also the fact that the tracks are flat, your car doesn't hit bumps and grooves making every track surface play like tarmac, was also the cause of much consternation.

most people like the interface though....gives you something to look at whilst its loading?

cheers!

I like the interface - it looks cool and all but I think I'm too impatient to appreciate it! Stems from my arcade up-bringing. I want to press start and be straight in!

My fave interface of all time has to be the one on Wipeout 3 - which I know a lot of people hated.

[Dudley]

The weird line is on loads of 360 games - mostly ubisoft stuff - Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, even Bioshock (not yet released) has it - boo. My mate HATES it and won't play any games that do it.

Chances are a lot of people don't notice it - but I have to as my friend rings me up each time a game does it and complains

I think he believes I can do something about it.

I think tonight I'll do an hour on Forza, then an hour on Colin then just keep swapping. Keeps my night of gaming fresh!

Well the first 3 of those are effectively the same game and not a genre I like. I've seen tearing in Dead Rising in VGA but not in Component.

You should NEVER see it on a PC, if you do, it's your fault.

[Mootown]

You should NEVER see it on a PC, if you do, it's your fault.

My PC sucks anyway - all it's good for is a jukebox.
As for my work PC, well it spends a lot of time on message boards

[The Penultimate Ninja]

The demo looks pretty good, but it's so soon after Forza that I can't see myself buying it for some time.

[davrho]

To any Irish residents. Its only 55euro in virgin. "Game of the week" compared to 70 in game.

I want to buy this but i cant see me stopping playing Forza for a while. I have hardly made a mark on Testdrive either. Looks impressive though

[Grahame]

Yup, it looks a cracking game. Played the demo countless times and Travis is a legend (well said Dudley!). Not gonna get it for my 360 though, waiting on PS3 version so i have something besides Ridge Racer 7 and Resistance to play!