As good fans of simulation racing titles, we cannot remain indifferent to the arrival on the market of Dirt Rally 2.0. After having cleared all the accumulated mud by navigating through forests and steep slopes with the first iteration of the title, it is time to sit back at the simulation table enjoying a high-class menu based on gravel, earth and asphalt, accompanied gives a good sip of adrenaline with a touch of hysterical excitement.
Antipasto: Dirt Rally
Con Dirt Rally Codemasters has shown that they really know how to do it with simulations, launching on the market a product that has gradually been integrated in all its parts with elements that have smoothed out its defects. What started out as an immature product on PC, arrived on the latest generation consoles in splendid shape, with a respectable technical sector and a granite frame rate of sixty FPS that enhances the approach. Dirt Rally 2.0 fully takes the characteristics of its predecessor e takes them to another level, paying attention to aspects of gameplay and simulation that were only half completed, exponentially increasing the quality and the resulting frustration, on the other hand, returning an even greater feeling of satisfaction. Dirt Rally 2.0 is even worse, so much so that it could be called Majin Dirt Rally.
First course: mode
Started the game we are faced with a menu which stylistically follows that of the previous chapter, few interactive panels and exploratory menus, this only puts emphasis on the main mode of the game or the Career, it is from here in fact that Dirt Rally 2.0 plays almost all its cards on the front single player, providing a carousel of events of increasing difficulty, starting with low-performance cars such as the Lancia Fulvia, without any kind of tutorial (not even on video like the predecessor), thus significantly increasing the learning curve ai less accustomed to the genre, given the highly peculiar nature of rally driving. The difficulty of the Career is contained on three levels. The first is given by variable artificial intelligence, which changes the times and therefore the skill of the other pilots during construction. If you are a novice pilot you will find slower opponents, vice versa if you are veterans of the genre you will immediately find what is right for you. The second level of difficulty it is identified by real cars, since each vehicle is strongly characterized by its ability to adapt to curves a depending on the traction (rear, front or 4WD), the number of horsepower unloaded on the drive wheels and the steering angle, rather than the weight of the car itself. The third and last level of difficulty is identified by tappe, given that each type of terrain requires radically different approaches and driving characteristics from one race to another, a race on earth makes the car unstable and staggering between the ridges, but a race on wet earth becomes hell at every turn. , where the slightest mistake can cost you a nice bodywork stamp on the wall on the nearest environmental obstacle. From the point of view of the land we consider Dirt Rally 2.0 one step further Compared to the previous chapter of Codemasters, the response of the car is much more credible, managing to assist in a much more realistic way the essence of the car we are driving and the structure that is intact and not of the track we are driving.
The second big way is using the license Fia World RallyCross Championship which is certainly not the beating heart of the entire package, but it certainly manages to dissolve the tension between a demanding stage and the other with the sound of doors. The mode will put you at the center of very fast races, which branch off from the preliminary stages to the final, against pilots led by artificial intelligence very aggressive to tell the truth (perhaps too much), with which you will often find yourself having to battle for the first position. We consider this Rallycross a bit weak due to the lack of bite from a content point of view and which substantially extends the sector of modalities, but in a little depth. As for the online sector, however, there is a series of community events organized by the software house, aimed at achieving your best times on predetermined stages, which will then be used to unlock credits to be used in the game.
Second course: News and technical side
If from a content point of view the Codemasters home simulator has nothing to envy to anyone, from a technical point of view we can say practically the same thing. Although the graphic engine remains the same (EGO Game Technology Engine), the improvements emerge in a sensational way from the point of view of lights and particle effects. The glance as soon as you get into the car or from the previews of the stages is immediate, Dirt Rally 2.0 offers truly captivating color choices, where the previous iteration did not shine with its own light. You will often find yourself passing through lush woods sprinkled with red leaves immersed in a New Zealand landscape typically autumn, rather than drifting on the gravel seeing in the distance the dawn of a day that is about to arrive. Use of the new light that manifests itself in all its splendor especially in the night stages, where you can even notice the crossing of the light of the brake indicators through the dust raised from the rear or even the reflections of the high beams on the torrentini that accompany us along the stage. The quality of the car models remains essentially identical to the already excellent representation of the predecessor, while the audio quality of the engines also greatly increases, which especially from the internal view of the cockpit returns almost every facet useful to understand the perfect shift rather than mechanical damage. Another implementation of this chapter is the tire management, totally absent in Dirt Rally. At the beginning of each stage you can choose whether to tackle the route with soft tires and therefore more performance but with a shorter duration, hard tires, which is the exact opposite of the previous ones, or medium, the intermediate solution between the two. A careful choice of tires is essential, it is very easy in fact to find yourself against the barriers due to loss of grip that will lead your car to skate like you were on ice.
The bitter morsel
If from a content and technical point of view Dirt Rally 2.0 is the perfect incarnation of the style most loved by off-road riders, the downsides of the production are a bitter morsel in the quality feast on offer, which ends up ruining the whole dinner. The first defect, the least serious in reality, because it can be corrected with a few patches, is the use of Force Feedback. We played with both the pad and the Thrustmaster t-150 steering wheel and encountered some quite evident problems in the management of the force feedback, especially on sudden changes of direction, moment in which the engine stops traction for a few seconds, giving the impression of driving on an air bubble. The issue was promptly reported to the developers on the game's official forum, who are currently investigating the incident. The second problem is actually the most important and refers to lack of snow rally, not only because it is one of the most characteristic and loved by the entire population of off road pilots, but because it will be introduced in the first DLC available free only to those who have purchased the Deluxe Edition of the game, being available only for a fee for those who alas bought the standard edition. The writer is absolutely in favor of the presence of paid downloadable content in video games, which, however, cannot be shared when the cake that should be complete and offered in the standard package is cut and disassembled only with a subsequent paid update.
Conclusions
Dirt Rally 2.0 improves the previous chapter from every point of view, mitigating the small gaps it carried with it, such as tire management and more convincing physics. Net of all the improvements, however, it is impossible to postpone the lack of completeness of the land package that we would have expected with a maximum, free update. However, Dirt Rally 2.0 remains a solid exponent of the off-road category and one of the most intriguing and merciless rally simulations of the last decade. An essential purchase for enthusiasts.
USEFUL INFO
We played Dirt Rally 2.0 on the standard PlayStation 4, not detecting particular frame rate problems except on sporadic occasions, selecting the view inside the cockpit in adverse weather conditions. Despite the problems related to the force feedback of the steering wheel, we believe that to fully enjoy the experience that Codemasters offers, it is mandatory to recover one. The experience with the pad, on the other hand, is still enjoyable in conjunction with your skill, more experienced users will be able to complete the stages with excellent times even turning off all the aids, an activity that involves the investment of many hours of practice.
Structure- The game offers six locations for rallies, on which different types of stages are available that can be tackled with different weather conditions. There are many cars available, an attempt has been made to satisfy all palates by offering a fleet of fifty vehicles that range across all the main categories, both for Rally and Rallycross.
Graphics
The visual sector is very accurate, thanks to a noteworthy management of lights, a convincing modeling of the cars and a color choice of the right landscapes.
88
SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM
Engine audio is a great representation of the car's character and a wake-up call for mechanical damage.
85
GAMEPLAY
It is the sequel to one of the best rally experiences of the last ten years, but fully improved.
