DiRT Rally infuriates and invigorates, providing the go-to racing game for the PS4

It is finally time, for DiRT to come to the next gen consoles in the form of DiRT Rally. DiRT 2 was one of my favorite racing games, and while DiRT 3 and Showdown strayed a bit too far from it’s roots, I was still looking forward to seeing how it would look and play on the PlayStation 4.  In DiRT Rally, Codemasters has provided 39 cars across the sport’s history around the world through 70 stages. Events range from traditional rally stages, Rallycross that also includes official FIA World Rallycross content, and the Pike’s Peak hill climb. While you are unable to customize the look of the car outside of liveries, but you do upgrade the performance of your car over time and even faster by way of hired crewmembers with assignable perks. Now it is time to see how it plays. 

To start, DiRT Rally sticks to it’s roots by making the gameplay and physics incredibly tough to master, which makes placing during events very, very satisfying. The way in which each car handles is very different and unique to each other, just when you think you have gone and mastered your car and feel like switching classes, it is like learning all over again. The locations and cars are beautiful and even at high speeds it looks stunning, even after driving through tress, signs, and stones the dilapidated vehicle hobbles as rough as it looks towards the finish line. While the single player career mode is near perfect, Rallycross is available via online multiplayer and there also community events to see where rank in the form of daily, weekly, and monthly challenges with entry by way of the cars in your garage. 

In my time spent playing through the multiple modes, there were a couple nuances that took away from the game and features that didn’t quite seem fully functional yet. Playing PvP while fun as hell to play against people from across the world, lobbies are rarely full and there are a lot of people that race dirty with no penalties for their actions. The leagues, while available by way of the DiRT Game site are not displayed in the game menu after linking the console to your Racenet account. I do miss the ability to rewind a certain amount times each race in order to right your wrongs, which make mistakes that much more impactful and frustrating, resulting in numerous restarts in search of the perfect run. 

At the end of the day, DiRT Rally did a great job of avoiding all the flashing lights of 3 and Showdown while providing a good amount of what made DiRT 2 so much fun, the right amount of Rally and Rallycross. While there are some blemishes to it, none of them take away from the experience of white knuckling the controller and swearing at the TV the way the developers had intending. The gameplay stability really shines, thanks to the 60 million miles driven by the DiRT community during the release on Steam’s Early Access. If you are a glutton for punishment, just wait until doing a night run on an icy track with no headlights due to not listening to your co-pilot when he says don’t cut. Seriously…don’t cut. Codemasters, if you are listening please bring us some of the locations events and vehicles we last saw in DiRT 2.

Asphalt 3D |Review

So I have had about a week with the Nintendo 3DS and a handful of the release titles to help accelerate the crossing of my eyes and melting of my brain. I figure that it is about to start working on a few reviews and help any of you on the fence regarding Asphalt 3D. When I went into reviewing this title, I immediately thought about the racing titles for the DS and how there really weren't any worth remembering. Did Asphalt 3D even stand a chance of getting a good review? Well we will get to that soon, but before that, a little background of the Ubisoft released 3D racer. Developed by the mobile mogul Gameloft is a game that holds 42 licensed cars and 17 locations making for a lot of goal based events.

Now back to that first question about whether this game had a chance...you betcha. The reason being is that the this handheld isn't just a DS with 3D, this is like the difference between the Game Boy Advance and the DS. Asphalt 3D is definitely one of the games you can show off to your friends still on the fence and waiting for a sucke...I mean friend to get one first to make sure it isn't the next DSi. Being a fan of Forza, Gran Turismo, and just about any other racing game, licensed cars are a huge plus in my book, as it isn't much fun to crash a car that resembles like a Lamborghini. This is not a racing sim though, it is more like Need for Speed and San Francisco Rush had a long night in Cabo during Spring Break. Here is the part you are all waiting for, the 3D, I liked it mainly because it was subtle and not as is your face as Street Fighter 4, making it easier to play longer without feeling discomfort while enjoying the depth and layers the I hadn't noticed before.

What were some things that I felt didn't bode well for the experience? I would start with the load times. At times, mostly when going starting the game and before races, I felt I was thinking why does it take so much longer to load than it did on the DS. Next, and this is a personal issue, but is it necessary to have in game advertising on a small screen you need to hold inches from your face to be seen? I crashed multiple times trying to see the ad on the billboard for wheels, not noticing the track as I squint trying to decipher what the brand is. Lastly, it felt a bit like I was playing an on rails game where the tracks feel confined and walls do not slow you down much at times.

Though, not without quarks, it was a solid racer chock full of leveling up, modifying, painting, and racing that stays fun event after event. Though there isn't much competition right now for the top 3DS racer, it did have stiff competition with the age old franchise, Ridge Racer, and I feel that for gameplay, Asphalt had me playing longer, where as with Ridge Racer, I felt was more the showoff to friends game, that didn't hold my interest as long. It does boast the Street Pass feature and local multiplayer, but was unable to try either feature but looking forward to exchanges ghosts with strangers.

Get Nail'd and get free DLC token

That is right, this just in from those wild and crazy peeps over at SouthPeak,if you purchase a new copy of Nail'd in the states, you will also receive a token for a free content pack. What is in the content pack you say? Well, you can expect to find four new tracks, vehicle paint jobs, parts for both mikes and ATV's, and rider suits. Also, you will see a new tournament called the Bomb Cup that will have five new campaign events.

Nail'd trailer is available to fulfill your off road fetishes

SouthPeak Games has released a new trailer for their extreme off road title to be expected at the end of November. Nail'd is more of an arcade racing experience, think along the lines of San Francisco Rush meets MX vs Atv. Enjoy the trailer and mark your calendars for November 30th.

Two wheel enthusiasts, get a load of these SBK X screens

As you may recall, a couple months back we reviewed the most recent Moto GP title, well SBK X is releasing shortly and those that did not like Moto GP or ready for something new have something to look forward to. So enjoy these screenshots and keep an eye out for more to come.

Car Carnage in the form of reality TV coming to the PSP

Yes, that Michael Bay looking, highly addictive, racer that is chock full of triggers to take our your competitors is coming to the PSP. For those that are still not following, I am speaking of Split/Second. Now you don't have a reason to stay inside as you can now take it with you, well this holiday season you can.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 takes you to Ibiza

This recent trailer shows your the tropical island of Ibiza in which you will be calling home as you race through cliffs, beaches, towns, seaports, and off road trails. This is looking to be a very good looking game and the soundtrack is proving to be just as spectacular with dance hits from such world renowned artists as Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, and more.

Last and certainly not least from E3 is Southpeak Games

Texas based Southpeak Games allowed us over to see them at E3 to show off a little of what they have to bring to the table in the new future and it was fun! Three words, I got nail’d! I will explain shortly, but what they did give us was time with their upcoming off road racer, Nail’d and their upcoming sequel to the massively huge RPG, Two Worlds II. Aside from their patience of having to deal with me after three NOS energy drinks and being in awe from just entering E3 for the first time in ten years, they handed me the controller and let me loose.

As stated above, the first game I got to play was Nail’d, and from having a past with years of ATV riding and my love of racers, I was ready and didn’t need much of an explanation. This title is not your realistic racer with lots of stunts, but more of an extreme over the top racer, focusing on landing huge jumps and avoiding environmental obstacles to gain boost to work your way to the front of the pack. Yes, the developer gave me an ample looking racer which I blame most of my crashes on, but the real fun was hitting massive jumps and the new feature to me, which was the ability to steer in mid air. Along with the fast gameplay, large tracks, and larger jumps, I was ready for more, but they took away my controller and sat me in front of Two Worlds II.

Now I never played the original Two Worlds title, so I had one of the developer’s actually play it for me switching between classes, skills, and environments while explaining changes made between the original and the sequel. We starting in a dungeon to show off how detailed the environments can be and the improvement of collision detection from walking through puddles, rattling hanging chains, and attacking encountered enemies, and it was pretty damn smooth. After the environments and graphics, comes the character development and here is where I am happy I didn’t get to try my hand at this because the number of options are limitless between the three classes as you have the option to customize your abilities, weapons, and armor at any point during gameplay. Here is where I fell in love, with the game of course, you can reassign you ability points towards different attributes at any time to change your character’s strong suits to help take down the harder to defeat fiends.

A blurry review | Blur Review

When Activision sent us their latest game Blur, I attempted to figure out the best way to write up a review.  Considering the beta was out for some time, countless users on Xbox Live had their chance at the reigns just as we did.  The multiplayer addiction that is the online racing infused with that "just one more race" leveling up component, was known about months ago.  So what more can I possibly tell you?

Well, considering the fairly low numbers of the gamers online last time I checked in to play a few rounds, apparently, I need to tell you all about this game.  Blur being "just another racing game" couldn't be further from the reality here, and even I admit, I was in that camp initially...that was until I played a few races.  You've no doubt seen the latest commercial airing, taking on a comic approach touching on the nostalgia that we've all played Mario Kart in our days.  This is boiled down to Mario Kart for Grown Ups.  Not "grown-ups" as in you have to be old and proper and talk down to kids (though that's always fun as well), but more Mario Kart, Grown Up.  The game-play itself has seen an evolution, an aging as it were, with the polish you expect from Bizarre Creations (the devs that brought us the Project Gotham series on Xbox), who have a little experience with the genre.

So what's different?  Well, there are two main game-modes.  The single-player, and the multiplayer.  The Single-Player career mode plays out in similar fashion as we've seen before.  Start off with a few (slow) car options, and work your way through the "level" as you compete in a number of gameplay events.  From straight-up racing against 19 other cars, to a checkpoint mode, just you and the stop-watch, careering to each gate with as much time left as possible, to the destruction mode; where you just chase after spawning cars, and destroy as many as you can while you make your way through the track.  You gain levels by earning "fans" by driving in style, utilizing your power-ups, competing in specific fan challenges, and overall just winning races.  As you level up, more cars open up, as you work your way towards each level's "boss"; a one-on-one race to the finish, winner take all event.

Single player is a good time, and if you're socially inept, you can find a lot worse to waste your time with, but where the meat of this game really shines (can meat shine?); is the multiplayer.  The devs did a fantastic job of easing you in, and you can start in the kiddie pool/bunny hill online, where you're limited to levels 1-10.  Play a handful of races, and you'll soon be graduating out of the room and moving on to bigger and better players.  The multiplayer gameplay is the same as the single-player, but the element of human opponents really ups both the challenge and reward payout.

Power-ups include a number of what you'd come to expect in an action-racing title.  Shooting projectiles forward (or backward), a heat-seeking missile, speed burst, repair, and a few others; a nice selection, though I was hoping for something a little more unique to the series.

Mashbuttons.com gives Blur an 9 out of 10.  Graphics are arcade-y, but also vibrant, and the animation maintains a smooth FPS throughout.

Blur is available now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC

Split/Second| Review

Synopsis: Reality TV fans, racers, and just plain destructive people in general have a reason to unite with the new racing title, Split/Second. Disney Interactive got us our review copy on Friday, so we got a few days without multiplayer to unlock new cars for when multiplayer racing went live Monday night. In Split/Second, you are a driver in a reality TV series show, where racing takes place in a destructible environment and your goal is to complete the season and become the champion. Explosive events and power plays triggers which, when timed right, take out opponents and alter the track are rewarded for drafting, drifting, close calls, and catching air. These trigger are what separates this title from other recent racing titles. The season is made up of 24 episodes and each episode has a number of events to play through to unlock the next episode and specific requirements to unlock additional cars on your way to become champion. Let’s get to the review so I can get back to playing online.

Praise: Racing fans rejoice because this is all you will need to cure your itch for fast paced near flawless racing. This is not your typical racer, it’s like Burnout and Grid, made a baby and Blackrock Studios shows their love for their work when playing through this. Whether you are into single player, two player split screen, or online play, you will enjoy all that there is too offer as there are numerous race modes to prevent single player from getting old and racing online has not lagged for me at all. There are a variety of cars and each handle significantly differently focusing on different things like drift, speed, acceleration, and strength. Rather than unlocking the newest car and only using that, it is helpful to change up your cars for the different type of events to help your chances of becoming champion at the end of the season. Outside of the gameplay aspect of Split/Second, the looks and sounds are like you are watching an actual race, especially with the very minimalistic HUD. Another new feature that is a great way to show off all your achievements to friends and rivals is that the achievement pictures are placed on your car as decals. Oh yeah, it’s also nice to have more explosions than a Transformers movie.

Gripes: A few features and issues that I wish were different in the game is a very short list. There is no vehicle modification outside of visually, as it would have been nice to have some sort of performance modifications available to make to the cars in your garage. Though there are a number of events, about halfway through the game, it does begin to feel a little repetitive, but the motivation to unlock better cars to play in multiplayer does make it so you want to complete the season. The lack of licensed cars is something I feel took away from the title as most games nowadays have licensed vehicles and not generic vehicles made to have a “similar” look. Finally, the opponents on the single player mode rubber band constantly, as it seems no matter how well you race or how many cars you take out, the other racers always seem to be right on your tail.

Overall, this is a game where you come for the single player season but stay for the online races. With a huge replay value as long as you have an Xbox Live membership that allows you to play online you will be coming back for a while. There are only a few online modes but how often do you get race in a remotely destructible environment, having races that only last a couple minutes each, and enough online support to minimize the amount of lag when online. Little issues aside, this is a game that is just plain fun, not having to worry about getting through a story, just plain racing, so if you like your games with that good arcade feel, it is definitely worth the purchase.

Mashbuttons.com gives Split/Second a 9 out of 10.

Split/Second is available now for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Trackmania is the next racing game for the Wii in a year full of racing releases

We recently received the newest trailer for Trackmania on the Wii and looks like they are really pushing the track editor feature of this title. With over a thousand building blocks it seems that their should be a number of both good and bad tracks to play over the Wi-Fi connection. Along with the track editor, 200 tracks are available to play, numerous game modes, and multiplayer game modes from split screen to online.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 trailer has catchy song

We had previously posted on the recently announced sequel to Test Drive Unlimited. Well we have received the trailer for the upcoming racer and have posted it below. From what we are told, players will race exotic cars to earn money to live the playboy lifestyle every boy dreams of, consisting of buying houses, clothes, cars, and then customizing said car. It looks somewhat promising as it is scheduled for release Fall 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

New trailer available for Split/Second

So I am now officially torn on whether to get Split/Second or Blur. After playing the Beta for Blur I was hooked, however, after seeing all the gameplay trailers and videos of Split/Second, I am officially back on the fence. I have attached the most recent Downtown trailer for Split/Second for all to check out and give me your thoughts as to which you will choose. I think, like Blur, we should get a Beta, you know for comparison reasons until each come out.

Atari is bringing back Test Drive franchise

Atari has recently announced that Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be hitting next gen consoles and PC this Fall. What that means is that we will be getting another racing title this year, but this time with Massively Open Online Racing, or M.O.O.R., according to Atari. This new feature places drivers in an online environment that allows you to compete, team up, and share achievements online. This title will also feature vehicle damage, weather effects, day/night cycles, and a new island to explore.

DIS finally releases launch date for Split/Second

We got word from Disney Interactive Studios that the upcoming acion racer, Split/Second from the studio that brought us Pure will be hitting store shelves on May 18th in the states and May 21st in Europe. For those of you unfamiliar with this title, it is a racer set in the world of a reality TV show where contestants trigger explosive events to take out other players and find shortcuts.

New Blur trailer

Former Microsoft-exclusive developer Bizarre Creations is working on wrapping up their latest racing creation, in the form of Blur; this time published by Activision.  A new take on the standard racing career formula, this new game will blur the lines between realistic racing action, and the arcade-like fun found in any of the "Kart" games.

You won't just race around a track, attempting to out-drive your opponents; you'll have access to an assortment of power-ups, including shooting other cars with bursts of energy, boosting your speed, and more.  From looking at the video below, you'll see some of these examples.  I get the feeling it's going to be a cross between their own Project Gotham series, injecting a storyline from the Need For Speed games, and polishing up with the action from a Mario Kart.

Check out the latest trailer showcasing the development team talking about their latest (bizarre) creation.




Blur will be available this spring on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC

360 owners get Mario Kart without the bananas...I mean Blur

Bizarre Creations, who brought us the beloved PGR series, is bringing racing fans Blur. It is another fast paced racing game that Bizarre Creations is able to do so well, with a new feature to to break away from the large number or racers coming out this year, power ups.

Yes, I said power ups, like the ones found in Twisted Metal or Mario Kart, but with out the cartoon antics and Mad Max-esque vehicles. Sure, it sounds like a risky move, but having the ability to race against 20 players online, or 4 player split screen, I think it is about time the 360 gets something like this.

DirT2 teasing, leaving us feeling...DirTy

Codemasters is promoting DirT2 in full force at E3, with having a porn star as a booth babe and all. But along with that is the E3 teaser and gameplay trailer. There is much excitement behind this game for a number of reason. The graphics are stunning, large soundtrack which includes 40 popular bands, and lastly, no shortage of events to play.



With the number of largely anticipated racing games announced at E3 and the others that are expected to come out this year, DirtT2 still stands out with the heavy hitters as a title to check out. With DirT2 releasing on almost all platforms, everyone can get DirTy.

Another FUEL video to tide you over until the 26th

Last week, we provided you with a dose multiplayer goodness regarding what to expect when playing FUEL online. Now we have a video showing the 16 player free ride and it looks pretty promising.



Straying from the typical races on closed tracks is about as taboo as coloring outside the lines, you want to do it, but you have always been told not to. Now there is 5000 square miles to race and ride through, and you know if you ever get bored, you can take the destructive route, chase down, and wreck your choice of 15 other players.

Multiplayer free ride lets players gather to explore the massive world, find collectibles, and enjoy ad hoc races. FUEL is scheduled to launch June 2nd on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, while the PC is slated for a later release.

'Events' of FUEL through interpretive video

Codemasters' latest video for their upcoming release, FUEL, shows us the numerous gameplay events. Players are able to compete in hundreds of events or have the opportunity to create their on starting on May 26th.



5000 Square miles is your for the taking whether you want to use the terrain to take down a helicopter in 'Chopper Chase', collide with your rivals to destroy them in 'Seek and Destroy', or race checkpoint to checkpoint in 'Blitz' and 'Speed Run'. The classic gameplay modes of 'Checkpoint', 'Circuit', and 'Raid' as also at the player's disposal



The online capabilities allow for 16 players to race against each other or explore via free ride using quads, buggies, bikes, cars, and trucks. If that does not work then just use the race editor to make your own event to share online.

Get your copy of FUEL May 26th on XBox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.