Nintendo DS: Dirt 2 Review

Back in 2007, Codemasters unleashed the rally game Dirt onto the market. Other Than removing the late Colin McRea's name from all non-Euro packaging, Dirt was mostly known for it's photo realistic scenery and satisfyingly intense offload inspired game play. Dirt 2 on Nintendo DS is sorta like that, in parts.

If I had to make some sort of over elaborate comparison( the best comparisons often are over elaborate), I'd say Dirt 2 was like a bite-sized Snickers bar. This is a Nintendo DS game. That's what you would come to expect from multi platform releases that also get ported to handheld devices.

While Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dirt 2 feature ground breaking visuals and top presentation that really help to engross the player in the game, Dirt 2 on Nintendo DS is more like a throwback to off road games featured on the original Sony Playstation(sans any load times, because Nintendo wasn't stupid enough to use a disc based format on their handheld, unlike Sony with the PSP.)

Visuals are similar to games like Test Drive: Off-Road and V-Rally. Everything looks decent enough, till you get to the winter races. They look as though the developers neglected to ad textures to those levels . Instead of snow covered raceways, it looks more like that dream I once had about a marshmallow factory exploding, and crippling the nearby city with stickiness. That dream occurred after playing this game, but I don't feel it was directly triggered by it.

Dirt 2 is a nice little pick up and play type of racer.This isn't a Rally inspired Gran Turismo clone, it's a full on arcade type experience. You'd think that some sort of online option would be a no brainer for games such as this. Mario Kart has Wifi. Other Nintendo DS titles also allow people to compete with one another via Wifi. Dirt 2 falls short of being a must own DS game because of this exclusion.

It's a shame really. The track editor, music and car customization are all decent. You can look past the bland winter environments if there was an online mode present. Because there isn't one, Dirt 2 just seems like an average racer on a platform that already has better games in the same genre. Earlier, I made the comparison of Dirt 2 being like a bite-sized Snickers bar. I stand by said comparison. This game is good, but I prefer Butterfingers to Snickers.