DiRT 2's roots stretch back to the Colin McRae Rally series, the flagship franchise for the off-road racing genre that became popular primarily because of its excellent simulation-based gameplay. Over the years, popularity for the extreme sport has grown, and, to follow suit, its games have had to become more ambitious. DiRT 2 has skewed the focus of the gameplay a bit away from realism to create a more forgiving and accessible experience. However, making the game capable of reaching mainstream buyers did not lead to a removal of its simulation features. Instead, players are given the capability to fine tune the difficulty to create the type of experience that they want.

This variable difficulty is really the crown jewel of DiRT 2's experience. Before each race, you can select from a six-tiered range of settings. This allows you, for instance, to choose how much damage you want to affect your ride; the most forgiving option would be to make your car invincible. The two major variables, the difficulty and the damage-effect, can allow you to really create the feel you want in the game. If you are a fan of realistic, simulation-styled gameplay, then crank up the difficulty, turn the damage to full, and you will quickly find yourself needing to carefully plan each turn if you want to make it to the finish. Lower the difficulty and you will end up with a more fast-paced, arcade-styled experience.

If you fall off the mountain, no problem. Just flashback and take the turn over again.

Yet, no matter how you choose to play, the difficulty is never insurmountable because the new flashback system allows you to rewind short bursts of a race. What this means is that you will rarely need to restart entire races just because of one wrong turn. As such, frustration and tedium are removed, yet, at every difficulty level, opponents will keep pace with you and never let you get away with an easy win. There never seems to be a rubber band catch-up type of effect, so you will never feel cheated if an opponent passes you close to the finish. The fact that each race winds up being a fair but truly hard-fought battle makes the gameplay that much more rewarding.

Most of your time in DiRT 2 will spent in the long career mode. Your main goal here is to ride with and defeat famous racers like Travis Pastrana and Ken Block. These rally celebrities add a nice touch when it comes to getting you out onto the course. The races, however, are so well done that your really won't need much motivation to get going. Events will take you all around the world, and have you enjoying a wide array of off road events. This diverse set of events will leave you driving classic rally cars, buggies and trophy trucks. The vehicle roster is pretty expansive as well, and, as you progress in the game, this list expands. The transition from vehicle to vehicle is surprisingly smooth, as each machine feels distinct but not too difficult to adjust to. The accessibility of these automobiles allows you to easily transition from one race type to another based entirely upon your mood.

All of these excellent features make DiRT 2's career mode noteworthy as a whole, but a few small shortcomings will negatively affect your experience. In an effort to add a more dynamic feel to the gameplay, Codemasters added a relationship system. By increasing your reputation, facing off against drivers one on one, and avoiding crashes with other racers you can turn an opponent into a buddy. These friends will then be available for team races and will also treat you nicely during single player events. This sounds fine as a system for rewarding a kind disposition, but once you have made a few pals, the whole thing starts to fall apart.

You can aggressively run a buddy off of the course and into a catastrophic crash, but rather than getting angry, he or she will ask if you are okay. There are even moments when a competitor in a race will encourage you on to victory when you have passed him/her. This dysfunctional logic seems out of place and takes away from the otherwise competitive nature of the races. Another small problem is simply that the variety in race events is almost too diverse. While this is nice because it keeps things fresh, it can be difficult to get into a rhythm and find a feel for the game as a whole. With such a long career mode, this lack of continuity can be a little bit problematic. Yet these imperfections are only moderately troublesome, and they do little to detract from the overall game.

The stellar single player game is almost matched by the online multiplayer. Every race type from the career mode can be experienced with your friends. The staggered start rally events are fun, but the true gems in multiplayer are actually race types that are not as prevalent within the single player game. Domination races are a great example of this. In these events, players attempt to finish with the fastest times for specific sections of the course. This mode is ideal for taking on friends because nobody is ever out of the race. You can win the event with relative ease even if you do not finish in the top three simply by dominating enough stages. At the end of the day, the only real shortcoming of DiRT 2's multiplayer is the lack of local play on a split screen.

Excellent presentation creates a delightfully atmospheric experience.

While focusing on a race, you may not immediately notice all of the small details and graphical accomplishments of DiRT 2. Cars are very realistic, and both the interior and exterior of each vehicle is highly-detailed. And, contrary to reality, these automobiles look even better when they get smashed up. Damage effects are well done, and the courses do a great job of leaving their mark on your vehicles through mud, dust and scratches. The environments around the tracks are splendidly rendered and, while the game's great sense of speed doesn't leave you with much time to look around, the effect on each race is noticeable. Jungles, forests, mountains and deserts all provide an excellent backdrop for your off-road challenges. The sound effects in the game are similarly well done. Beyond some poor voice-work from the drivers that befriend you, the audio is spot on. Engine noise, music and environmental ambience all add positively to the atmosphere of each locale that you visit. Presentation values are a great tool to keep users involved in a game, and in this instance, the graphics and sound achieve that goal well.

With a career mode that will keep you busy for hours on end, high quality multiplayer and excellent presentation values, DiRT 2 should appeal to just about anybody. There is almost no end to this title - the career mode is gigantic, and will take about as long to play through as the most expansive games in the genre. That length is then further expanded with a well-designed multiplayer mode component. This excellent rally experience should not be missed by anyone with even the slightest interest in the sport.