DiRT is a strange game. It's partially developed by Sony and is actually part of a franchise known as Colin McRae. So how did it end up on the 360 and PC? And why isn't it called Colin McRae 6 since this is the sixth game in the series? Who knows? But one thing is known, the gameplay is still the same even after the change in physics engine.

The three main modes in this game are career, championship, and Rally World. You'll spend most of your time in career mode where you race to win points to buy new cars and unlock races. There's about 50 different cars. But the mode is pretty standard if you've played Forza or any other racer. The only interesting mode is Rally, where you go must compete in a series of races and only have an hour to fix your car between races.

Speaking of standard, the gameplay is almost identical to any other racer out there, except there's a few big bumps to represent the off track racing. But most of the offroad tracks really lack the tiny bumps that you would expect, or maybe these cars have ridiculously good suspension.

This game is gorgeous graphically speaking. The scenery is photo realistic and the engine sounds are great. One thing we did notice was the lack of dust considering you're driving really fast offroad. So you'd think there would be almost a dust storm as several cars run down the track. But not so. The dust is like a vapor trail for cars that shoots out of the back. Apparently, the front tires do not generate dust. But everything else in the game is perfect including the cars. Much better than Forza or any other racer on the 360. The cars aren't shiny as hell. They look absolutely realistic.

This game has enough single player offroad racing to satisfy any racing fan. Plenty of different cars and tracks only enhance that experience. But what's sorely lacking is the multiplayer, which is just time trials against other players. Time trials? Yes. Beat the clock and see where you stand. That's it. And you can't customize your ride other than change the skin from one of about 200 skins. Without the standard multiplayer and customization, we have to lower this game's score. It's a good game for single player racing, but as a complete package, it fails compared to Forza and a few other next-gen racers. Especially, considering this is a franchise game so they should know better than releasing a franchise racer with missing parts.