It’s gonna get a little dirty
Launch games are hard. Like it or not,DiRT 5 is being touted as a launch game for the next generation of consoles. With that comes a lot of eyes on it. Full disclosure: I do not have an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 at the time of this writing, so my experience of DiRT 5 is entirely done on an Xbox One X. That said this is still an impressive game. Built by the team behind titles like Motorstorm, Codemasters latest is truly a joy to play. It does come with some caveats though. Playing it I couldn’t help but utter to myself constantly: “I really can’t wait to play this on the next generation of consoles.”
Let’s tackle the elephant in the room first. DiRT 5 is a good-looking game. On Xbox One X it has two image modes, and I only recommend using one of them. The image quality mode displays a full 4K resolution with better textures, but the frame rate is so uneven it was nearly unplayable to me. It looked gorgeous though, and drives home what I said about waiting to see it on Xbox Series X. I am assuming this is the mode that will run a locked 60pfs on the new consoles, but as of now it is just not worth the frame rate trade-off.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99
I spent most of my review time in the performance mode. While the visuals do take a hit, it runs almost locked the entire time. It feels good, but there are a host of frame tearing issues that cropped up in our review build. Even with these issues the game is beautiful. Racing games like this make the dirty things look amazing. Mud deformation, ice reflections, and of course watching the dust cake on the car as the race progresses. Few games make it look better than DiRT 5. The little droplets of water on the bumper are outstanding. This game looks amazing. The HDR support is also some of the best I have ever seen. The neon glow of lights beaming during night races is just incredible.
Another neat thing DiRT 5 does is spatial audio. I am using a soundbar, and the music would move around me as I raced through the tracks. Funny enough there is also solid voice acting from the most well-known in the business. It doesn’t add a whole lot, but the quality is appreciated.
The campaign mode takes all the various events in the game and randomizes them. This means no two campaigns are the same. Players will quickly discover which ones work for them. I was not a fan of Gymkhana modes, so I usually used my ability to re-roll those. If players don’t prefer a specific type, they can spend some money to re-roll the entire campaign or individual events. This is a nice option because it doesn’t create being locked into events players do not care for.
There is also a creation mode that allows players to build their own tracks and upload them for others to challenge. It is a very rudimentary system and a lot of the items are locked behind paying for items with in-game currency. Thankfully that cannot be purchased with real money so it is literally a matter of how much you want to invest in that piece of the game.
Multiplayer is also included, and not only does it feature standard races, there are also a host of arcade modes that are neat to play around with. Modes such as Vampire and King mix up the action. Of course, this being pre-release servers took a little while to get matches, but onceI was in they ran great. There is a lot to keep players occupied long after they finish the campaign. I had a blast when I was with a large group of other players.
DiRT 5 feels like a game that is built to showcase new hardware. Still, if players stick with the frame rate mode it works just fine on the last generation as well. I cannot wait to dig in once I get my Series X, but even on One X this game is truly a looker. The game play feels fantastic, it just feels like a game that will showcase better on more powerful hardware.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.