Dirt Rally

Codemasters' Dirt franchise was designed to encompass all things offroad racing, but through the series' different iterations some rally racing staples have fallen by the wayside. Despite the franchise's roots in Codemasters' Colin McRae Rally franchise, racers looking for a dedicated rally experience from the developer/publisher have been starved for thrills. Out of blue, the company has released Dirt Rally on Steam Early Access – a game that expands the rally racing experience from what the Dirt series has traditionally offered.

I love rally racing more than the general offroading that the Dirt series has offered (I do like gymkhana, though!), so I welcome the return of having to repair between stages, shakedown practice runs, and crazy (long!) stages. I took a little more care with my driving in the game (depending on the assists used), and it wasn't as loosey goosey as some previous Codemasters rally titles, but it's a worthy rebirth. It will be interesting to see how the game's online component grows as the Early Access period continues and the title graduates to a full release. Different kinds of community challenges could keep things interesting, and I also love if there were more career options such as sponsorship.

What's In The Early Access Build?

The game is currently on sale on Steam for $31.49 (10 percent off at the time of this writing), and it offers a hearty helping:

• 36 stages over 3 locations: Monte Carlo, Greece, and Wales. Various weather and time of day states are specific to each stage.
• 17 cars starting from the '60s through today.
• Team management. Hire engineers of varying ability, and watch them progress as your cars also upgrade
• Online challenges of varying length (daily, monthly, and promo weekends)
• Leagues. You can join up to six at once.

What Will Be Added During Early Access?

Hillclimb events are listed as "coming soon" at the moment, and Codemasters is also promising more cars, stages, and locations. New environments include Pikes Peak and a selection of stages from the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship. Online competitive play is planned for this summer.

As the game progresses its price will go up, but updates available after you've initially bought it are free.

Codemasters says it expects the game will be in Early Access until the end of 2015, and it is not currently planning a release on home consoles.

A Team Effort

You start out with a Crew Chief, and can hire up to four engineers with your pool of credits. All of them have an overall rating and various stats related to the parts of your car. Crew Chiefs have a leadership efficiency rating that reflects how well your engineers repair your car, and the more you race with your team the more perks you unlock. Perks allow you to earn XP faster, making everyone better at their jobs. Similarly, car upgrades (engine, weight reduction, advanced setup) unlock as you go and are automatically applied.

It will be interesting to see how much your team, car upgrades, and perks affect your cars' performance and the overall balance of the game.

Seat Time

Damage is obviously important since you have to repair it between stages, but the game is pretty forgiving in assessing and repairing damage. I beat my cars up pretty good, but usually only had to repair once among four stages, and my car parts were kept at 90-percent health. You are given a limited amount of time for repairs, and your team offers handy suggestions for what to fix. The bill for the repairs is deducted after the race.

In terms of mid-race damage, tire punctures were the most common. That being said, I did get into some catastrophic situations, causing me to restart instead of press on. The game does not have Codemasters' signature Flashback feature (allowing you to rewind events), and docks you 1,000 credits from your post-race winnings every time you restart the stage while you're racing. You can do this a maximum of six times.

The audio for the co-driver keeps up with the pace, and gives information I've not heard in a rally game before. For instance, he'll (there is only a male co-driver) tell you when an intersection is coming up or point out other possibly confusing junctions.

The classes of cars all feel different. In the career mode in particular you start out with a '60s rally car which doesn't offer as smooth a ride as the later ones (troublesome in bumpy Wales). The more modern cars naturally have better speed and braking, but this doesn't necessarily make them easier to drive.

Dirt Rally's surfaces also throw you some curveballs, with the various types of gravel greasing your turns versus the grip of tarmac. This changes the rhythm of how you attack a stage's corners and turns. Don't go full throttle at all times – even for the mildest of curves. What's more important is how you set yourself up for what's coming next.