I'm a pretty big DiRT series fan, loved the first three games, and I was pretty disappointed by this demo. I really like the Destruction Derby concept, but I didn't find myself having much fun in the demo. The more arcade-y controls seemed suiting for the style, but I don't feel like the overall design lends itself too greatly to the gameplay. Taking out the rewind feature makes sense in a destruction derby game, but the issue I really had was that it seems like you still just need to come in first to get the gold medal; not really encouraging the destruction aspect of destruction derby. Hopefully the full game is more focused on actual destruction derbies rather than the races.

So is it just me, or did other people come away with the same feeling?

@Winsord: I thought it was an interesting take on the DIRT series. The destruction derby elements were pretty interesting. I can imagine that being fairly fun online. I also did enjoy the figure 8 track for the most part. The handling seemed a bit more arcadey, which was more to my liking.

I hadn't really been paying attention to the game prior to the demo, but now I'll have to keep an eye on it.

@MightyDuck said:

@Winsord: I can imagine that being fairly fun online. I also did enjoy the figure 8 track for the most part. The handling seemed a bit more arcadey, which was more to my liking.

This was something I had thought of after having played the demo; it seemed like even though I didn't love the single player race, the set up could be really fun for multiplayer. The bummer with it in the demo though was that you had to "challenge a friend" in order to unlock access to the multiplayer. Might go back and spam someone with an invite to give it a shot.

@Winsord: Have you tried it any more lately?

I was able to come in first on one of the races and the derby. It allowed me to upgrade some of the stuff on the car. I'm really liking the handling of the game and enjoying the arcade boost concept.

This had fallen off of my radar over the months, but I might have to end up picking it up.

@MightyDuck: I put in a little more time last night and spammed an invite off; my opinion sadly didn't change much. I don't think it's inherently bad now though, I more so get the feeling it's just not for me. Never was too big into the online portions of the prior DiRT games, so I'm not too surprised that didn't pull me in. I'll probably still end up giving the full game a chance at some point when it's cheaper.

Not feeling it - sending a challenge to someone to unlock multiplayer's kinda obnoxious (i'm sure it was only for the demo...had to be....right?) - no one's playing this multiplayer demo so didn't do any destruction derby stuff.

Unless there are some surprisingly good reviews to this game i have no interest in it.

I have played over Colin Mcrae and every DiRT game so I will keep watch on it, but I didn't really enjoy the gameplay of the demo.

I literally knew nothing about this game prior to playing the demo. A fact made perfectly clear by me going to the menu to change the transmission to manual and realizing that I couldn't. I got a really 'Dirt-Karting' feeling from this game. This is the arcade version of Dirt. Which is kind of neat but I have some worries about it. The handling is very similar, though heavier, than Dirt 3. So you'll still have to control slides, try to powerslide, etc. It still has a similar feeling to a Dirt game just that now it's a little more forgiving. Because of this it feels like it is serving two masters. Hardcore Dirt enthusiasts won't like the driving model because it is too arcade feeling. Arcade racing enthusiasts may not enjoy the technique required to feather drifts and powerslides and may feel like the cars are too heavy and sluggish. So I don't know who would want to play this. It feels like they are halfway between making a full swing to an arcade racer but feel as if they have to pay homage to their simulation roots.

For me, I though the demo was fine and I could see myself playing the entire game. But, unlike the other Dirt games, there's nothing about the game that makes it a must buy for me. Nothing about it stands out as being something that I can't get anywhere else. Plus, what it is offering (arcade racing) isn't something I feel I need to buy right away.

As a side note, the announcer guy during the race needs to shut the fuck up. I didn't like those announcers in the arcade or in previous console arcade games and I really don't like it now.

The game is not worth $50. I thought this was gonna be a $15 DLC via XBL or Steam... This does not warrant a "brand new game". Codemasters is continually exploiting their fanbase. First with F1 2011 including a online pass, and endless online glitches that they never end of fixing. Shame.

@JasonR86: I agree, I could have done without the announcer piping in throughout the race.

It seems to come off as a solid arcade racer with some "DiRT" elements in the periphery. I'm curious to see how it's received when it's out to the public.

Not what I want from Dirt.

No in car view; no deal.

I liked it. Will probably pick it up in a few months after a price drop. Too much other stuff to play now anyways.

I'm still waiting for Grid 2. Lets get that going Code Masters.

@JamesValdes said:

No in car view; no deal.

This. It isn't DIRT without the beautifully rendered cockpits.

Woah, generous demo.

As with the AC multiplayer, it felt really random with no differentiation between good and bad players.

Is the demo literally just that one race? My word. It lasted quite literally 2 minutes.

I want to murder the announcer

why are you allowed to have infinite amount of respawns in a demo derby? the whole fun of demo derbies is outlasting your opponents and driving around in your beat to shit car that may or may not be on fire. this is what i thought was really dumb about the demo.

This feels like a bad imitation of Flatout and the engine and dubstep is terrible...

FFS the core engine is older than Source. Codemasters try spending some money on programmers in stead of fucking cameos from 40-year old has-beens.

I only found one race in the demo, is it just me? I found the controls to be very basic and uninspired, there's no cockpit view and the boost function didn't add anything, unlike Midnight Club, for example. Overall, this doesn't feel even close to a 60$ game.

@realkman666 said:

I only found one race in the demo, is it just me? I found the controls to be very basic and uninspired, there's no cockpit view and the boost function didn't add anything, unlike Midnight Club, for example. Overall, this doesn't feel even close to a 60$ game.

I agree that, similar to Rock Band Blitz, this game seems like such a weird, shallow offshoot from the main series that it seems way more appropriate to sell it as a $15 downloadable game. Asking $60 for it, when racing around a circuit with other cars has always been the weakest part of the DiRT series, seems like a little much.

No cockpit view was the thing that made me delete the demo after the first and only race, I just can't play racers without cockpits anymore I was spoiled by NFS Shift and DiRT, also it doesn't feel as arcade-y as it should be like it lacks something I don't know what that game is trying to be.

I bet there is but I hope there is no online pass because I expect the multiplayer to become a pretty barren place soon.