DiRT Showdown: Best Racing MP Modes?

Acert93

Artist formerly known as Acert93
Legend
DIRT Showdown may have the best Multiplayer options / modes of any racing game ever. The game received mixed reviews: 76 Metacritic (Xbox 360 version) but has a unique spread with 90s from the Xbox magazines, 85 from GameTrailers, 80 from Edge Magazine, Eurogamer and Gamespot; but a 70 from Destructoid and a 60 from IGN. I saw the game last week for $20 on Amazon and I have been looking for another split screen racing game that was accessible/easy to pick up and "fun" while not being a weapon/gimmick game. This seem to fit the bill quite well.

I can see why there are some low reviews: not a lot of tracks, lacks a ton of tweaking options for gameplay and cars, car purchase and upgrade system is pretty simple (only 3 car characteristics for example), lacks polish (e.g. no overhead track views to preview layouts, no description of the gameplay modes when selecting, little information on how to gain boost, clunky but pretty menus, etc), the physics are more simple than other DiRT iterations, and so forth.

These things don't make the game bad (most of it makes it more general/accessible imo) but I can see where this really could rub the wrong way, especially as it is a departure from the DiRT core and gives a baseline to compare to, so I can see the low scores.

On the flip side I can see the high scores: the Multiplayer modes are *great*. The game is fun to play and has a huge variety of gameplay modes. From Wiki:

Racing

Race-Off — A straightforward race with eight cars on the circuit. Obstacles, including jumps, barricades and piles of debris litter the circuit.

Domination — A points-based mode of play where the circuit is divided up into four sectors and players are awarded points for setting the fastest sector times. The winner is the driver who finishes with the most points, rather than the first player across the line.

Elimination — A race which features a timer. Each time the timer reaches zero, the driver in last place is eliminated.

Demolition

Rampage — Eight cars take part in a demolition contest set in an arena. Points are awarded for crashing into other cars, with bonus points on offer for destroying a rival's car. Destroyed cars re-spawn in the arena.

Knock Out — A variation on Rampage where the arena features an elevated table-like structure. Points are awarded for crashing into other cars, with bonus points on offer for pushing a rival off the table. Destroyed cars re-spawn at the bottom of a ramp leading back up to the table.

Hard Target — The player starts in the centre of the arena and must fend off attacks from other cars, with more cars being regularly added. The winner is the driver who survives the longest.

8-Ball — Racing takes place on circuits that feature multiple cross-overs. These cross-overs are open intersections that allow player and AI cars to collide with one another.

Hoonigan

Trick Rush — Similar to the Gymkhana mode in Dirt 3. Players are given a limited time to complete as many tricks as possible, which are then scored.

Head 2 Head — Two drivers must complete an obstacle course as quickly as possible, successfully completing tricks along the course. At the end of the first round, the drivers switch lanes for a second attempt. The winner is the driver with the fastest aggregate time after two runs.

Smash Hunter — The player smashes through coloured foam bricks in the order that they are called as quickly as possible. Smashing the wrong colour forces the player to back-track and find the right bricks to smash.

Party

Party modes are only available in multiplayer.

Smash & Grab — A race where one team grabs the loot and the other team needs to get a hold on it by "hitting" the opponents. the team that holds the loot for the longest period in the game wins.

Transporter — A race where you will be forced to grab the flag and bring it to the base, the player that brings the flag to the base the most times wins.

Speed Skirmish — A time-based mode in which drivers need to race through 6 checkpoints in any order before finishing.

DiRT Showdown would make a great Arcade game at $15, especially if they were able to squeeze in 4 player split screen. (Maybe a good idea for an early next gen arcade title?)

Now this is not to say the gameplay cannot use some improvements (better physics and damage would be at the top of the list, as well as more mode tweaks/options) but this may be one of the better non-sim racing game efforts I have seen this gen (my opinion of course, right behind Split/Second). Some notables:

Domination: The race track is broken into 4 segments where each segment has its own "Time." At the end of the race each player is ranked in the 4 segments and overall placing, so you could in theory finish near the end of the overall race but clean house on the segments and win. This adds a lot of strategy to the race and general awareness--it is very much like having a GP all in 1 race. This is a LOT of fun.

Demolition: All 4 demolition modes--Rampage, Knock Out, Hard Target, and 8-Ball--are a blast. Rampage is standard demolition mode but knock out adds a nice twist of pushing everyone off from an elevated arena. Hard Target you run for your life and 8 ball is racing in crisscross tracks. Get tboned and you are bound to lose a lot of track time, tbone someone else and ramp up your boost.

Online has essentially an Oddball and CTF variant (which was what caught my eye when considering a purchase). I have not had a chance to play these yet (no split screen online--boo!!!) but I have watched a number of videos and as the car mechanics work well in the game these modes actually play out well from the games I have watched.

The game is not perfect and while more is not always better this game really does cry for more cars (at least 12, better would be 16), 4 player split screen, and bring the split screen online.

That said DiRT Showdown is a lot better than expected and it may have the best selection of online Multiplayer Modes / Options in any racing game I have seen. It has all the core standard race/elimination modes but has a nice compliment of fun modes. For $20 I definitely am enjoying it.
 
Back
Top