Preview - DiRT: Showdown hands-on multiplayer
Whether you're speeding around a figure-8 track in 8 Ball mode or indulging in balls-out demolition derby in Rampage, it's abundantly clear where DiRT Showdown's priorities lie. It likes crashing and destruction, and lots of it. When it's not burning rubber and performing donuts in the hoonigan gymkhana modes that is. The focus of this hands-on is specifically on DiRT Showdown's Smash & Grab and Knock Out multiplayer modes though, and laying the smack down on rival vehicles is the order of the day.
Starting with Smash & Grab, a simple but addictive game of red cars versus blue cars and a novel spin on old playground favourite 'tag'. It's capture the flag in all but name, with support for up to 8-players split into two teams of four. From the off, you have to jostle to grab the neutral flag (AKA the 'loot) from the centre of the map and then hold onto it for as long as you can as the timer ticks away. The loot carrier's car turns yellow, sending every car buzzing after it like a swarm of bees and shunting the yellow car steals the flag. Holding on to it is not nearly as easy as it sounds however, so you'll need to rely on your team to protect you while you're in possession of the loot.
The team that hangs on to the loot for the highest accumulated amount of time wins the match, but with a random period of double points popping up, the score can chop and change in mere moments. Smash & Grab is every bit as frantic as you'd expect then, and Knock Out mode is almost as chaotic, with a small platform suspended in the middle of a the Golden Gate Square arena in San Francisco the venue for another wildly destructive multiplayer mode that's not unlike an automotive sumo wrestling match.
You start at the foot of one of the outer ramps, driving up it to dive onto the platform, belly-flopping right into the action with your ride. Once again, Knock Out is a team-based affair, so it's red team versus blue team, and the team that manages to shove the most rival cars off the platform wins. You can respawn as many times as you like should you be knocked off the platform, and each time you have to speed up the ramp to leap back into the action. It's non-stop smashing and crashing, that has the potential to be endlessly entertaining. Collaborate your efforts as a team to nudge opponents off the platform, and you can really start racking up some hefty scores too. It's enormous fun.
Like any DiRT title worth its salt, there's also a huge garage full of vehicles to choose from, with the relatively conservative modes like Smash & Grab favouring licensed cars like the Ford Fiesta H.F.H.V, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Ford Mustang GTR, Ford Escort Mk 2, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X and the Scion tC. DiRT Showdown's more destructive modes utilise unlicensed cars based on real-world counterparts, so there's hot rods, muscle cars, vans, trucks, pickups and even a hearse, all with their own distinctive liveries.
DiRT Showdown is shaping up to be a truly fantastic racing title, with plenty of nods to the old-skool arcade thrills of Destruction Derby and the like. It's a smart move on Codemasters' part to split the DiRT franchise in two, with Showdown promising the pyrotechnics, stunts and other 'extreme' driving shenanigans that the purists shunned in DiRT 3, while DiRT 4 could deliver the pure rally racing that hardcore fans have been screaming out for. Until then however, DiRT Showdown has the potential to be yet another indispensable entry in Codemasters' enviable stable of racing games.