Mobile Game Review of "Colin McRae's DiRT"

Image via WikipediaColin McRae's DiRT was a tour de force on the consoles and PC, giving you a taste of rally, rallycross, hill climb, and so on with buggies, rally cars, and his R4's. Is the mobile version any good? I hate to say this, but not really, not when we've seen much better.

You see, this adaptation is something closer to Outrun, with the 2.5D sprites pretending to be 3D, than true 3D. We have seen true 3D driving games like WRC 3D Asphalt 3, or even Jet Ski Racing, so this retro-looking game is already sub-par.

Once you're in the game, the main menu is rather reminiscent of the console version, until you realize that it's simply polygons floating. There are basically two modes... The "Career" mode, which you compete in ten different events with different cars. There are always 3 other cars on the course, and you need to stay ahead of all of them. While the courses are varied, like Sinkiang China, Alps, Switzerland, Desert of Arizona US, and so on, you don't actually *do* much. All you do is left turn, right turn, and make sure you don't counter-turn too much so you end up sliding all over the road and lose too much speed. You don't really even have to use the brakes.

Some of the events, that put you in a slower car can be tough, but most races I beat the first time through.

There are additional events, like time trial (hit all checkpoints before time runs out), knockout (last place at end of lap is eliminated), and chasedown (overtake the opponent and stay ahead until the end). However, they are all quite easy to finish.

Finally, there's "quick game", which is random car on random course of career mode, and exhibition game, where you can pick which car on which course type and course.

Honestly, there isn't much game here. Only ten races, I finished it all in like a couple hours, with all the extra events. And that's it.

As stated before, the sprites for the cars are UGLY and sometimes blinks and flickers as cars get close to each other. Turns are a joke, and sounds are horrendous. There are also no elevation changes, except for the occasional "bumps" where the car kinds hops a little bit, while you hear a feet stomp on sand. I swear that's what it sounds like. Argh!

All in all, DiRT as a mobile game really blows. This is a SAD tribute to Colin McRae, one of the greatest rally drivers. Go buy the console or PC version instead. I've seen the PC version down to $10 or so. Forget about the mobile version. It's not worth your money.

Overall rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: Looks rather like the console cousins
Cons: Way too cut down, graphics way too retro, don't FEEL like DiRT