Dirt 3

DiRT 3 is hard to pick fault with. It's got the looks, the style, the superb sense of speed, and spot-on handling model that blurs the line between sim and arcade.

In Dirt 3 a few scratches tarnish an otherwise impeccable product. It’s a superb racing experience and shouldn’t be missed. While the agent isn’t the best leader through the tour, and the garage is limited in its operation, the solid gameplay, variety of tracks and events, and overall fun factor make this a terrific game.

Codemasters simply makes great racing games, and DiRT 3 furthers the argument that these guys are the best in the business.

For racing fans, DiRT 3 is the main dish, and features everything that the sport has to offer. The rest of the game’s content serves as a full range of the traditional games of the genre and presents challenges not found in any other title. Small problems do not diminish the brilliance of the title, which features beautiful graphics, bold vision and exciting challenges. Above all, DiRT 3 is a title different from what most gamers are accustomed to. It is also not an exaggeration to put it among the top racing games of this generation.

Whatever the answer to that question, it’s excellent, and comes highly recommended.

Despite loving DiRT 2 for what it was – a sublime off-road racer – I moaned about it a lot. I could be often found skulking in dark alleys at night screaming “Where’s all the traditional rally!?” at the top of my lungs whilst knocking back as much whiskey out of a brown paper bag that I could muster. If you were unfortunate enough to be nearby when I was reviewing the last iteration, chances are you caught the brunt of this. I moaned at my parents, who thought I’d had a stroke... ...