30 days of Dirt 4... reviewed

[Mazier777 0]

So I have owned Dirt 4 for 30 days...... In that time I have completed the career, I am at level 63, I think I have all the cars ... Plus I do the daily, weekly and monthly challenge..... when they work.

Now importantly I use the game on 'gamer' and as easy a possible..... I don't own a Stars Wars T Shirt, I can't speak a little 'Kling On', I have never visited a Comic Con, my mother doesn't have a basement for me to live in...... Further I don't play Dirt 4 on brutal, pepper spraying my own eyes before starting a stage to make sure it is proper difficult man level play! Indeed I'll never make a real electronic rally driver ... No, I just play for entertainment; my entertainment, no one else's.

Dirt 4 ..... The tracks/roads are good, the graphics good, the handling on 'Gamer' is good ...... Quite why the handling turns into 'Cut & shut with bald remoulds on ice car' if one turns on Simulation, "I like a challenge".......  I really do have no idea.

But I am mystified by Dirt Rally and now Dirt 4 ...... I have not seen the proof on Dirt Rally because like most I just threw it in a corner after a couple of weeks of palpable irritation at how garbage it was....... Because it was and is a very stupid game which is way too difficult with no notable options ... But the proof of what I suspected has appeared on the screen, with the somewhat easier but also very irrational, Dirt 4.

My suspicions have been brought to light and fruition by two figures..... Firstly, last week, I completed the Historic Rally Championship in Career mode and a little blue notification pops up ..... Achievement! You are one of 0.68% of people to complete the Historic Rally Championship .... What? 0.68%? Less than 1% of players complete a major part of the career section? Shocking but not shocked.

Then today I get the 'pay out' for the monthly on line rally, which I played through the first day I got the game and further confirmation of my suspicions .... Yes, I finished all 12 stages! .... So another little blue well done title appears ..... "You are one of 0.79% of people to complete a monthly challenge!"

LOL... Wow, hold on now............. 0.68% finish the Historic Rally Career Championship, whilst 0.79% complete a monthly 12 stage rally test?

In all honesty I am not posting this because I care what anyone thinks... This forum is obviously inhabited by the same handful of people who play the games so they are not opinions which carry any weight in my world.

No, what I am stunned by is the game producers .... Do any such people read this forum?

If so you must know those figures; don't they worry you? If I were paying your wages they would scare me to death .......... Don't you grasp that you are doing something very wrong to have so few people complete not only major sections of the career, but the daily challenges? Daily Challenges which no doubt are designed to keep people playing the game until they buy the next new instalment? Then there is Pro Tour... What is Pro tour? I don't even know what Pro Tour is, nothing tells me and I cannot be bothered to play anything which is not even defined.

It really doesn't seem overly difficult to me either in concept or application ......... Your game is missing some very real basics... Firstly, a rewind facility.......  Then proper control of AI difficulty settings, offering from super, super easy - to super super hard ..... Decent tracks for the off road vehicles as appeared in Dirt 2 ..... Driving lines for people to follow if they wish to ... DLC content to buy, new tracks, new vehicles, something to keep the game alive for the player..... You know, make the thing accessible to everyone, make it actually entertaining for the majority, not a handful.

Since Dirt Rally it has been obvious that the development of Dirt Rally went very badly wrong, that some hidebound gaming devs somehow gained control of the project and created a game for their half a dozen mates... Dirt 4 whilst better is still a poor example of a game that a wide range of people wish to play .... 0.68% & 0.79% show that reality in stark relief.

How you can continue to make games which are so drastically unpopular except with a handful of hard core gamers is mystifying.... Surely it is not economically viable especially with the effect on new product sales? However I suspect it will change and there will be a new company formed by the ex-Dirt devs.... Then they can make really awful, pointlessly hard games until they go Chapter 11.

Hopefully leaving Dirt to become once again the really great series it used to be.

[tharding67 68]

Mazier777 said:

So I have owned Dirt 4 for 30 days...... In that time I have completed the career, I am at level 63, I think I have all the cars ... Plus I do the daily, weekly and monthly challenge..... when they work.

Now importantly I use the game on 'gamer' and as easy a possible..... I don't own a Stars Wars T Shirt, I can't speak a little 'Kling On', I have never visited a Comic Con, my mother doesn't have a basement for me to live in...... Further I don't play Dirt 4 on brutal, pepper spraying my own eyes before starting a stage to make sure it is proper difficult man level play! Indeed I'll never make a real electronic rally driver ... No, I just play for entertainment; my entertainment, no one else's.

Dirt 4 ..... The tracks/roads are good, the graphics good, the handling on 'Gamer' is good ...... Quite why the handling turns into 'Cut & shut with bald remoulds on ice car' if one turns on Simulation, "I like a challenge".......  I really do have no idea.

But I am mystified by Dirt Rally and now Dirt 4 ...... I have not seen the proof on Dirt Rally because like most I just threw it in a corner after a couple of weeks of palpable irritation at how garbage it was....... Because it was and is a very stupid game which is way too difficult with no notable options ... But the proof of what I suspected has appeared on the screen, with the somewhat easier but also very irrational, Dirt 4.

My suspicions have been brought to light and fruition by two figures..... Firstly, last week, I completed the Historic Rally Championship in Career mode and a little blue notification pops up ..... Achievement! You are one of 0.68% of people to complete the Historic Rally Championship .... What? 0.68%? Less than 1% of players complete a major part of the career section? Shocking but not shocked.

Then today I get the 'pay out' for the monthly on line rally, which I played through the first day I got the game and further confirmation of my suspicions .... Yes, I finished all 12 stages! .... So another little blue well done title appears ..... "You are one of 0.79% of people to complete a monthly challenge!"

LOL... Wow, hold on now............. 0.68% finish the Historic Rally Career Championship, whilst 0.79% complete a monthly 12 stage rally test?

In all honesty I am not posting this because I care what anyone thinks... This forum is obviously inhabited by the same handful of people who play the games so they are not opinions which carry any weight in my world.

No, what I am stunned by is the game producers .... Do any such people read this forum?

If so you must know those figures; don't they worry you? If I were paying your wages they would scare me to death .......... Don't you grasp that you are doing something very wrong to have so few people complete not only major sections of the career, but the daily challenges? Daily Challenges which no doubt are designed to keep people playing the game until they buy the next new instalment? Then there is Pro Tour... What is Pro tour? I don't even know what Pro Tour is, nothing tells me and I cannot be bothered to play anything which is not even defined.

It really doesn't seem overly difficult to me either in concept or application ......... Your game is missing some very real basics... Firstly, a rewind facility.......  Then proper control of AI difficulty settings, offering from super, super easy - to super super hard ..... Decent tracks for the off road vehicles as appeared in Dirt 2 ..... Driving lines for people to follow if they wish to ... DLC content to buy, new tracks, new vehicles, something to keep the game alive for the player..... You know, make the thing accessible to everyone, make it actually entertaining for the majority, not a handful.

Since Dirt Rally it has been obvious that the development of Dirt Rally went very badly wrong, that some hidebound gaming devs somehow gained control of the project and created a game for their half a dozen mates... Dirt 4 whilst better is still a poor example of a game that a wide range of people wish to play .... 0.68% & 0.79% show that reality in stark relief.

How you can continue to make games which are so drastically unpopular except with a handful of hard core gamers is mystifying.... Surely it is not economically viable especially with the effect on new product sales? However I suspect it will change and there will be a new company formed by the ex-Dirt devs.... Then they can make really awful, pointlessly hard games until they go Chapter 11.

Hopefully leaving Dirt to become once again the really great series it used to be.

While I agree with some of your points, I think it sounds like Dirt 4 is more of a niche setting than Dirt Rally. Based on the statistics you provided, it would seem fewer people are continuing with Dirt 4 than the numbers from Dirt Rally. I, personally, enjoy Dirt Rally more. The car feel, the track feel, the difficulty (while frustrating) is rewarding when done right. While Dirt 4 has good qualities, as you mention, for me, there are some glaring issues that have been brought to light in the forums and there has been little to no obvious improvement. I think that is what most people are annoyed with. Part of it, of course, is a personal bias and part of it is marketing of the game. As noted elsewhere, Dirt 4 was NOT supposed to be a successor to Dirt Rally. Well, their marketing discussed how Dirt 4 would have "improved Dirt Rally handling." If it's not a successor, don't mention the previous game at all and don't get it in people's minds that it should behave like an improved Dirt Rally. If I take a step back and approach Dirt 4 as it's own game, get rid of the mind set of an "improved Dirt Rally," then I can have fun on the game, as well as have my higher difficulty, and see the good in the game. It's hard to change your biases sometimes, though. I would love to see an updated Dirt 1 or 2, which had a good balance of sim and arcade, a variety of cars and tracks, and improve on it further to where we could get Dirt Rally difficulty if you choose to do so.

Also, on another note, the last time I pepper sprayed my eyes to make Dirt 4 or Rally more difficult, my girlfriend wondered why I was crying playing a racing game, so I just use nipple clamps instead. Much more subtle to get that little dose of extra torture. ;)

[SkiddyMcCrash 311]

Pepper Spray? Gouge out your eyeballs and just use the co drivers pacenotes, that's how the hardcore do it.

[tharding67 68]

SkiddyMcCrash said:

Pepper Spray? Gouge out your eyeballs and just use the co drivers pacenotes, that's how the hardcore do it.

Ah, this is true! You know, what I think I might try, is just have the notes be as early as they can be, and then just try to remember it throughout the stage. Would probably be just as effective. I'd actually really like it if the co-driver could just tell them all to me as soon as I start, and then I just have to try to remember. I'd get the same results, I'm sure.