Codemasters Cheshire, who were once known as Evolution Studios, have taken their first stab at the hugely successful DIRT series. With games on their resume like Motorstorm and OnRush, the studio have decided to trade any aspects of simulation for a bad attitude and over the top mayhem in DIRT 5.
New Attitude
The change in direction is sudden, but ultimately fine. The art style is consistent with a high-octane soundtrack and over the top, set-piece laden tracks. There is never a point where DIRT 5 doesn’t know its identity and it wears it loud and proud.
If you are looking for the intense rally races with a co-driver in your ear, you may be disappointed. The new arcade approach completely rids itself of this famous race type and the punchy, difficult to master driving has been replaced with easy to pick up and floatier feeling cars.
Everything feels fine and fits the style that Codemasters Cheshire have gone for, but fans of the engaging more simulation-based driving, may find the new arcade feel difficult to get on with.
Lots to Do
Despite getting rid of the procedural track generator from DIRT 4, there is still a decent amount of variety to be found in DIRT 5. This isn’t even mentioning the very impressive ‘Playgrounds’ mode which allows you to create and try out custom tracks from other players.
Races differ dependent on their event type and these can range from racing across frozen lakes, to brute forcing your way up a rocky mountain in a buggy. Fans of point scoring drift modes can find some fun in the ‘Gymkhana’ events and there are tonnes of intense rally or cross tracks to enjoy too.
As these races will take place on reused tracks from time to time, they are helped made less repetitive with some extreme weather conditions, that help add some truly unique obstacles to the tracks.
Bad Directions
Unless you are motivated by cosmetics only, there is not much to talk about in terms of DIRT 5’s very shallow progression system. Outside of the track there is nothing to manage or improve, so the gameplay loop of selecting race after race can get tiresome with nothing to break it up. This is especially disappointing following the robust team management that DIRT 4 offered.
To make the career mode feel like a career mode, the game features narration from an in-game podcast (Donut Media). Alongside this are performances from stars Troy Baker and Nolan North, who play rival drivers. All narrative aspects are told through this podcast and some mentoring quips from Troy Baker’s character.
Eventually you will get placed into a rivalry against the villainous Bruno Durand (Nolan North), which leads up to a final showdown. The issue here is that this starts heating up far too late in the game making it very difficult to care about or even notice.
Bailing Out
From the get-go you will be flooded with in-game currency. This means that no matter the event, you will be able to purchase the top car for said event every time without fail. No excitement to be found when you buy your first Aston Martin or finally acquire the car that has been kicking your ass for ages. All it takes is a quick look at its performance rating and then a click of the button.
This unbalanced design of currency further damages the game’s progression system, by taking satisfaction away from racing incentives. You simply don’t think about the money that you will receive from each race, because you never find yourself in a position where you need any.
The Competition
The difficulty of the AI in DIRT 5 is a mixed bag. Sometimes you will find yourself running away with 1st place very easily, whilst other events may see you face fierce competition. There are even a select few races that are difficult to finish above last place in, let alone a podium finish.
As DIRT 5 is an arcade-based racer, aggressive tactics are seen from all the AI drivers, making for some enjoyable race moments that are reminiscent of other classic arcade racers. Obviously, these moments can only be enjoyed when you face a close competitor throughout an entire race. This is when DIRT 5 is at its absolute best and this happens often, but perhaps not often enough for some.
What’s Under the Hood?
DIRT 5 can be quite visually unimpressive from a technical standpoint. Whilst the art style is well executed and the loud colours offer some eye candy, there are some issues with questionable textures and bizarre lighting. You will be offered two modes which offer higher FPS or higher texture quality, with the latter being by far the superior way to experience the game.
Using the performance mode on a PS4 slim, caused some jarring lighting problems far too often which are less frequent on the other mode. Plus, the game’s impressive reflections are easier to enjoy in the mode that prioritises detail.
It must be noted that these things may be fixed by the time of release, but even without its technical hiccups in some areas, the general visual quality is still below par.
A New Era
DIRT 5 is a dramatic change to the series and may rub people the wrong way. With that said, Codemasters Cheshire have delivered an impressively consistent experience that is able to offer hours of hectic fun. It would be nice to see a better attempt at the career progression system and better overall visuals, but it’s a good starting point for the new developers in town.
Review code provided by PR
