Dirt 2 for the DS is a racing game for the DS that features a variety of off-road and on-track courses. The back of the box states that this is one of the most accessible racers on the DS. There is definitely truth to statement in as this is one of the easiest racers to pick up and play on the DS. Getting started is simple whether you are getting into the career mode, multiplayer, or the customization menus.
The main meat and potatoes of the game is the career mode. In it, you travel around the world competing in different races and receiving money for your victories. Winning races will unlock new locations around the globe for you to race on. The money can be used to unlock new cars or upgrade your current vehicle in terms of steering and suspension in order to give you a more competitive edge in the races. I think this mode would have been better off being named arcade mode rather than career, as its just one race after the next with little in the way of presentation or atmosphere. If the career mode doesn't suit you, then you can stick to single races in the main exhibition mode.
The controls are easy to learn with B being for acceleration and Y being for brakes and reversing. The cars handle well but in all honesty there wasn’t too much difference between the different models of cars as they all feel fairly the same. However in career mode, you can buy upgrades with your race winnings in order to improve your steering and tire traction which helps to alleviate this somewhat.
The cars themselves are the nicest looking part of the game, as all the models are shiny and stand out well from the rest of the game’s surroundings. Players can further add to the customization of their vehicles by making custom logos in a paint editor that’s similar to ones found in other racing titles. Like the rest of the game, it’s easy to use and apply. Surprisingly, for an E rated game, there is no language filter for this mode as I was able to cover my car in a variety of words that were not appropriate for such a title.
As far as the racing itself is concerned, the tracks themselves are not as detailed as the cars. For a title named after the substance you are racing upon, one would think that the dirt would be more detailed to give the game the grimy feeling of off-road racing. As you tear around the tracks you can see dirt flying from your tires, but it’s just random brown dots rather than anything visually impressive. The touch screen isn’t really used for much in this game during the races at all other than to act as a map. This has become a standard for most DS racing games though, so it’s not really something to complain about at this stage.
On a final note, oddly, this game has loading times. There has been plenty of other cartridge based games to have loading, it just catches me off guard when it’s a game that isn’t incredibly visually impressive. Hence, what exactly is the load time for then? Thankfully these load times only pop up before the start of a race and they aren’t that long at all. So it’s not a huge negative that ruins the game.
