The knowledge of the perfect racing line. A sixth sense for when to brake. The ability to cleanly overtake your rivals. You won’t be needing any of those skills when playing Dirt Showdown.
The Dirt driving series has predominantly, up until this point, been a simulation of the rallying experience. Showdown is different. There’s still racing, but dominating your opponents is now achieved by a mix of speed, style and — here’s the key one — destruction. So, in a way, it’s like Mario Kart, but without the blue shells and banana skins.
Across 10 locations — including London, Yokohama and Miami — you’ll take part in races, time trials (with multiple routes to test) and events where your goal is simply to wreck as many opponents as possible.
And there are twists on standard races, such as a mode where the racer in last position is eliminated at regular intervals, and one where the race is split into short stages — so a bad start doesn’t discount you from winning if you do well on the next three legs.
The single-player campaign will take roughly 12 hours to drive through, but all those modes are also available for you to play online. Multiplayer-only features include a motoring version of ‘Capture The Flag’ and ‘Trick Shot’ — where you’re challenged to do certain stunts on demand.
Finally, it’s worth noting that this game announcement is actually two announcements. Codemasters is keen to stress this is not Dirt 4 with a fancy new title — it’s an offshoot of the brand. So Dirt 4 surely won’t be too far behind Showdown in terms of release. It’s not official, but it’s as good as confirmed, which is also good news if you’re a fan of keeping to the racing line.
Dirt Showdown will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012