Reviews// DiRT Showdown

But this leads directly into the next game section, the Joyride. This part of the game unleashes you - literally - to drive where you like around a sandbox environment that contains a series of challenges, and a number of hidden packages for you to collect by discovering their location and driving through them.

Some of the hidden packages are in hard to get to locations, and you'll need to use your driving skills in order to reach them. If your driving skills aren't up to it - simply try (and try and try) the challenges, and you'll soon find your skills improving. Each Joyride environment is split into several sections - with only the first being open to you initially. You have to complete a set number of the challenges before the next section is opened.

You do not have to complete the challenges in the specified order. If one is proving too challenging for you, you can select another from the list, and your head-up display will guide you to it. If you inadvertently (or even deliberately) succeed in completing a challenge that is not highlighted – the game will still award it to you.

The Joyride section acts as a big, fun, interactive tutorial/practice session for the skills you will need to develop in order to progress through the Showdown Tour, or to win in online and head-to-head races.

It enables you to try and, if you fail, try again and again all the techniques you require for success at DiRT Showdown. But instead of making this a tedious and dry experience, Codemasters has made it a fun and challenging part of the game itself. If you get bored with trying to donut through a particularly tight space, you can hoon off and find some Hidden Packages or do a few jumps, then come back and give it another go.

Once you have amassed the driving skill you need, you can hop back into Showdown Tour mode, where your progress will be saved, and put your new skills to good use.

Each event you win, or place in, will award you prize money that you can use to buy better, stronger or faster cars. So if there is an event you cannot master, the key may be to repeatedly enter other events and slowly amass the wallet you need to buy a better car. Success in events unlocks cars for purchase.

The Showdown Tour is split into four sections, Pro, (DC Shoes) Allstar, (Monster Energy Drink) Champ and (ESPN) Legend classes. You must complete each one to progress to the next.

There is also the head to head mode - the Showdown Mode of the games title, and the thing that sets it apart from previous DiRT titles. In split screen mode you can play against a local opponent and in the Demolition style games particularly this is a hoot. Racing is fun too - but there's something especially satisfying about ramming your opponent off the side of a platform and taking 1000 points for the pleasure.

The online aspects of DiRT Showdown are many and various. At the simplest level, you can issue challenges. So after completing any event, you can share your score with your online friends and contacts - sort of laying down the gauntlet for them to come and beat in the manner of EA's Autolog. It's a glorious asynchronous online experience, whereby you can play against your friends without requiring you all to be at your machines and online at the same time.

Alternatively, you can take part in a RaceNet events. Simply go online and use the code that comes with your game, or - if you've picked it up second hand - buy one from your console vendor's online store. We had problems registering - which you have to do online using a computer and web browser. The RaceNet website was unresponsive, and when we did finally get online registration required we enter a country - but the drop down box did not contain any.

But RaceNet niggles aside - and we're confident Codemasters will iron them out - DiRT Showdown is our favourite driving game of 2012 so far.


Pros:
+ Great looking, sounding, handling.
+ Destruction Derby style gameplay.
+ Comprehensive multi-player features.

Cons:
- Gymkhana mode is frustrating.
- UI sometimes slightly confusing.
- RaceNet registration was slow to respond and buggy

SPOnG Score: 9/10