Colin McRae: DiRT 2 Demo

The Colin McRae Rally series has been around for quite some time now, with a decent number of both phenomenal and mediocre titles under its belt. However, since the release of the first DiRT, things took a turn for the better, with a lot more attention to detail and a heavily improved graphics engine to refresh the franchise.

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 builds on its predecessor and provides you with an even more modern experience when it comes to off-road racing, by including a variety of new game modes, cars and current rally stars to keep you company. Hence, the career mode is narrated by the legendary Ken Block, but you can also compete and interact with the likes of Travis Pastrana and many others.

Just like before, the races are not all about classic rally tournaments anymore, although you can easily compete in those as well, if you so desire. Instead, a lot more unique competitions are capturing the public's attention, such as drift events and various other challenges that require both speed and technique in order to execute properly and get out without a scratch as well.

In case you are not able to control the vehicle properly, though, pieces fly off one by one and you are soon left with something that can barely move, let alone make a podium finish. Harsher accidents total your car instantly, leaving you unable to continue the race. The flashback element is present in this title as well, which means that, unless you play on the highest difficulty level, you can rewind the race and give it another go and restart from before the scratch.

Visually, the graphics quality is downright stunning, especially when it comes to vehicle geometry, reflections and special effects. Moreover, the car damage is incredible detailed and realistic, while the high-resolution textures make everything almost feel the same as it would in reality. Naturally, the soundtrack has remained as intense as before, with big names from the electronic and rock scene.

At the end of the day, Colin McRae: DiRT 2's greatest strength is the fun factor, since every aforementioned element works toward creating an incredibly entertaining environment for you to enjoy, whether with the AI in the career mode, or with people from all over the world in multiplayer.