Modern Warfare, Mario Galaxy and Football Manager, all arguably clear leaders in their respective fields and these names instantly roll off the tongue. The same can’t be said for one of the most competitive genres within our industry. There’s simply no doubting the lack of great games to play for any budding Jenson Button in 2009, something which was confirmed when this award was the last one we decided on. So, without further ado, let’s wave the chequered flag on another fantastic year for virtual racing.

Forza Motorsport 3

Seven other racers, hundreds of vehicles and miles of track. Despite sounding like a motorsport enthusiast’s wet dream, it’s actually something much more. An initial disappointment with the familiar feeling mechanics were easily shortlived, it’s more than your average cookie cutter sequel, despite having an excellent predecessor, Forza Motorsport 3 manages to refine nearly every aspect of the game and then some.

This year for driving has been all about accessibility, for some it was making menus more stylistic and for others it was improving the overall framework of the game. Turn 10, although tweaking both as well, opted to hedge their bets with a rewind feature. Granted it was stolen from last year’s runner-up, GRID, but it has allowed casual fans to improve their performance without the threat of being penalised for being new to the experience.

This one, like last year’s award, was a tough one to decide but the plethora of modes, content and different experiences from race to race made the ultimate decision an easy one. Our driving game of the year goes to Turn 10’s exquisite Forza Motorsport 3.

Need for Speed Shift

Need for Speed’s major shift to compete more with the realistic racers of the world nearly paid off. If it wasn’t for an awkward career mode and a lack of depth unless you seek it out, Shift would have come much closer to being the five star game it could have been.

DiRT 2

Yeah, let’s face it, the new vibe was a bit overbearing and disappointing for those who liked the clean European style of the original but that didn’t stop DiRT 2 becoming one of the best driving games of 2009 and arguably the best rally game of all time.

F1 2009

We initially cast this game to the fire with our eyes set on next year’s modern console release, we did so at our own peril. Codemasters again produced another quality racer, that easily equates to the best Wii racer that doesn’t feature Italian plumbers

RacePro

We almost overlooked this Q1 release and although it doesn’t compare with Forza 3 in terms of style and shear mass of content, RacePro did it’s talking on the track. Let’s hope they get a second shot at it, all it needed was a few tins of next-gen polish.

Stay tuned to Nidzumi all week for more Best of 2009 Awards as we celebrate the past 12 months in gaming

You’re speeding through the famous tunnel overlooking the Monaco Waterfront at two hundred miles per hour. Ahead of you, Jenson Button, so far he’s been top dog, receiving all the plaudits and praise, little does he know that you’ve been gaining precious second upon second and at the next chicane you’ll strike.

He makes a mess of the left hander and goes wide, so being the opportunist you go tighter than usual, you’ve got him on the penultimate lap. Unfortunately for you though you need to blink otherwise your eyes are going to dry out. Darkness descends and before you know it you’ve embedded your nose cone into a tire wall and he’s driven off. Luckily F1 2009 is ridiculously forgiving so your race isn’t over yet.

It’s neither too relistic or too arcadey, nope, this one’s just right

However, that’s the best thing about F1 2009 because of indecisiveness with it’s orientation, it’s neither too realistic or too arcadey, nope this one’s just right. Consider the fact that you have both a racing line and an incredibly overpowered boost button as enough of a blurry line between the two camps. Granted the latter is a result of the oft-criticised KERS implementation, as seen in the real sport, but instead of it feeling like a subtle push it feels like you’ve just unleashed a beast.

Which is fitting considering what we are dealing with here. Formula One cars are no joke and Codemasters have surprisingly portrayed them well, from the roar of the engine to the sense of speed along a straight. Granted the Wii’s limited power only dwarfs the effect but it’s still pretty impressive nevertheless.

The bulk of the game could be spent in either of two modes. The first, Career Mode, where you’ll be starting from scratch as the new kid on the block.  Initial testing offers from BMW and Toro Rosso could turn into full race seats for the season and from there only your results will influence your direction. Once you’ve signed your first contract you are ready for the big time, no GP2 or Karting for you, it’s straight into the world’s greatest car chase. You’ll race in three back to back seasons and have a chance to work your way up through the ranks, or down if you don’t live up to expectations.

Three seasons that could take a while, as the full race weekend is available. Only the hardcore need to experience all of it, with three separate hour long practise sessions to accompany the main events of qualifying and the race its self. Both of which are true to their real life counterparts with the full three stages of qualifying and a pre-set percent of the full race.

No GP2 or Karting for you, it’s straight into the world’s greatest car chase

You’ll have to tweak the settings to find the fun though. A three lap race, the default option, just isn’t enough while 10% of the race leaves everyone on one stop strategies. 25% will suffice and you’ll probably get the most enjoyment out of the game this way, it’s more rewarding when you have different pit stop strategies to the rest of the field. While this may sound like a minor issue, you’ll have to tweak each individual setting before the game feels right.

The lack of a tutorial or bespoke test day means that you’ll be “quick racing” on multiple settings before you find a concrete setup. Naturally with this being a Wii release, the game has been dumbed down for a casual audience but option tweaking isn’t the most welcoming of starts.

The second mode you’ll haphazardly stumble upon is Challenge Mode. You’ll be forgiven for not noticing it straight away, I’m sure most will want to dive straight into the Career but the Challenge Mode is probably the most appealing for casual F1 fans. Instead of race weekend after race weekend you’ll be given goals and times to beat on various different tracks. Overtaking challenges at Spa to time trial challenges at Monza, you’ll be offered plentiful variation and then some.

The only problem is that in the back of your mind you’ll relegate this title to a dry run for next year’s Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 release. Granted each track is reproduced to a recognisable level but the occasional frame rate hiccups and controller issues don’t promote this to the level it should be at. Which for a racer on the Wii, is easily the best that doesn’t feature karts or Italian plumbers.

So while it might feel like GP2 to what should be next year’s F1 main event, F1 2009 is enjoyable on it’s own merits despite technical issues and having to seek out the fun. If you have the patience to fine tune the options you’ll find a driving experience more than worthy of a spot on the front row of the grid.

As a games critic, journalist or whatever I tend to call myself, it’s my job to tell the truth about games. However sometimes it’s a truth that I don’t want to tell, this is the case with Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. Let’s start with the honesty, shall we? I didn’t finish OP: DR, I tried, I really did, but nevertheless it couldn’t be done. It wasn’t due to a deadline; in fact it wasn’t due to the game itself being bad. Allow me to explain.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a realistic war sim in the first person perspective; the campaign plays out over a war over oil and reflects modern day issues. Playing as the US army as they reach out to lend a hand to their Russian allies, you must defend a fictional island, Skira as it’s contested in a battle between Russia and China for its natural resources. As the story’s roots are set deeply in conflicts of today, the plot can certainly strum your nerves, making sure you realise that something like this could happen anytime in our lives. Bringing out this emotion, draws you into the game, fighting in what is a muddied conflict.

With such a realistic setting and knowing the past of the Operation Flashpoint series, it’s almost obvious that the action in the game will be just as realistic, and it certainly is. This however is my first stumbling block. Being such a realistic game, it’s very easy to die. Enemies are hard to see in the distance and they’re often ridiculously accurate, even on the easiest setting of the game. Helicopter gunships often circle over head literally laying waste to anything that moves and your AI teammates are often less than helpful. One example would be my mission to hold up a barn from an oncoming wave of enemies and rather than my team standing by my side, they preferred to wait outside for me in a hail of bullets while I ran around attempting to heal them all.

Bringing out this emotion, draws you into the game

Using the remarkable radial menu system that shouts orders at my team didn’t help none either. Whether I asked them to follow me, defend the building or even, as a last ditch attempt, suppress the enemy, they still stood around waiting for their guns to fire in the right direction. An awful shame as they can be quite intelligent when things aren’t so hectic.

This leads me to my next frustration. As it tends to be quite easy to expire when on the battlefield, this leads to a fair amount of respawning from your previous checkpoint. However they seem to be spaced so far apart that endless trudging along the fields, re-treading your steps is always needed. In one mission I’d managed to clear the first few objectives with no issues. As I neared the next checkpoint, walking just under a kilometre to it, it had taken me twenty minutes to reach my destination. A firefight ensued and I was sniped from an unseen enemy, one shot, time to respawn. But I respawned at my last checkpoint, which happened to be twenty two minutes earlier. Endless frustration was then my enemy.

Trekking across what is a beautifully rendered scenic view isn’t an issue when done one, even two times, but if, like me you were to die a lot and have to walk this path many times, you would, like me put the controller down and leave it for a while.

I did find that playing cooperatively was a lot more fun, diving into a four player squad and taking on the objectives was more enjoyable. Mainly due to not relying on AI counterparts and dealing with your friends instead. Calling out map points between each other and running tactical manoeuvres is charming and should be used much more. Unfortunately the checkpoint issues are still a problem here, in fact when your whole team die in co-op there is no “return to last checkpoint” simply a “restart mission”

Dragon Rising seems to alienate people who want less of a challenge

There are people that will say, “But it’s authentic” and to those people I will say that they will enjoy the game. However when your AI squad call out directions to enemies it isn’t always helpful, bringing up the map doesn’t stop the enemy from advancing and can lead to sticky situations, as the game doesn’t pause to do so.

The game makes it clear that as you progress through the harder difficulties, it will take away your HUD and the checkpoint system completely, and if that is what you’re looking for that is fine. But Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising seems to alienate people who want less of a challenge, maybe to enjoy the visuals or the story, rather than being mowed down by unseen gunfire. This leads to the game being inaccessible to casual shooter fans with an interest in the war stories. A shame really as playing the campaign feels very much like venturing out into the online world with no experience.

I didn’t stop playing because of the graphics; they have a shine to them that ironically shows the dirty, gritty side of war. I didn’t stop playing because of the audio, which is superb, gun fire often makes you want to duck on your sofa and the percussion of a grenade exploding is immensely satisfying. I stopped playing because it wasn’t all that fun, having to press restart with a sigh and hope to make the next checkpoint. If you have three friends who will play with you and you can work well as a team, Operation Flashpoint is a joy to play; otherwise it’s a shooter that feels too big for its boots.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising displays excellent shooting mechanics, terrific weapons and features that make you feel as if you’re there on the battlefield. Features such as calling in air strikes, placing mines on roads for oncoming vehicles and the array of equipment to be used. However OF: DR feels to niche to enjoy a large audience and too tough to bring in a more casual crowd. The game is a technical marvel, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.

Rally games have always been a niché and their twitchy controls and time trial orientated nature will probably lead them to stay niché. The original DiRT proved this and with a clean European aesthetic with Helvetica plastered all over it that was hardly going to entice your average gamer. That’s why it’s a surprise to see Codemasters opting to ditch that highly stylised look by replacing it with corporate sponsors and grunge littering every frame. Luckily you never came to a Colin McRae game for the visual style and any attention that would be directed at this is drawn away by nearly every other element being highly refined.

The World Tour mode in the original was an overbearing afterthought compiled with a combination of modes and tracks. This time however Codemasters have put a bit more thought into it and despite simply disguising the initial sense of dread, the mode is much improved and the changes worthwhile. This is mainly due to the levelling up system of unlocking new events. Rather than having one goal throughout the entire game you have multiple with specialist events. Made up of X Games, World Tours and the one off Colin McRae Memorial Cup which actually does a rather tasteful job of honouring one of the sports greatest.

Any Reluctance of Applying The Breaks Will End In Scrapmetal

During this Tour Mode you’ll encounter a handful of classes. Trailerblazer events consist of overpowered beasts traversing over deserts with any reluctance of applying the breaks ending in scrapmetal. RAID tournaments will have you getting behind a clumsy and cumbersome Trophy Truck or the bouncy and scared-of-drifting baja buggys. Despite these classes having their own merits they pale in comparison to the franchise’s trademark and honest rally mode. There is no denying that Codemasters have, pardon the pun, mastered this sport. It’s just a shame that only four of the nine locations actually have rally circuits but don’t fret as there are a ton of enjoyable locations in which to venture across.

You’ll race across the dusty vistas of Utah and Morocco to the muddy jungles of Malyasia. The variation is here with dirt, mud and tarmac all beneath your wheels with the glaring omission of any snowy Scandinavian locales. Actually the game avoids the whole adding weather to a sequel to a driving game cliche with the only dynamic element to circuits coming from the time of day. At night the Rallycross circuits in London are transformed with spotlights and projections into filter laden affairs with the flicker of a lens flare popping with every turn.

The twitchy nature of the controls are unresponsive as you slide around these corners but authentically so. It’s just a shame that the AI doesn’t marvel in your perfectly timed drift. These other racers aren’t too cautious of your presence when they slam into the side of you leaving you facing the wrong direction. Luckily some in-house stealing of the GRID Flashback rewind feature, can fix this. Purists will probably opt to avoid what is clearly an attempt to make the game more accessible and this feature is purely here for the casual fans. But it’s inclusion is with the overall aim of converting them into the hardcore. It’s more of gateway for them to play on a higher difficulty as you’ll no longer be punished for making one little mistake because it’s easily undone.

The Flashback Feature Has An Overall Aim of Converting The Casual

Anyone who loved the clean European look of the original DiRT will be disappointed with the bristling corporate logos plastered over every inch of the locales. Again probably a move to capture that mainstream market in making the game more accessible. Names like Ken Block and Dave Mirra litter the time boards while embarrassing mid-race smack talk and friendly banter become instant mute fodder. Maybe this move for the game was inevitable but that doesn’t soften the blow of what is no longer that niché rally game. Luckily the vibe isn’t the main reason for picking up DiRT as previously mentioned but one of the reason to pick up the new version of DiRT 2 is the much improved online.

The previously reported slow online issues thankfully haven’t transferred over to the full release. The multiplayer here is a tense affair with eyes darting between the track and the constantly updating time board in the upper right hand corner. Then again that’s nothing new as the original had the same experience. What DiRT 2 brings to the table is same-track racing which unfortunately comes at a cost. You’ll constantly find other drivers online who aren’t indulging in gentlemanly conduct and won’t mind slamming into you with disregard for their own vehicle. While you are both sent spinning you’ll beg for the flashback feature, that for technical and obvious reasons, has been omitted. Nevertheless the rally racing is still as pure and enjoyable as ever and a streamlined lobby system only sweetens the deal.

DiRT 2 is a joyous rally experience. The unique controls have been finely tuned to hit that illusive ‘easy to learn and look flash but difficult to master’ curve. It’s just a delight to play while being complete and utter eye candy. Sure the new vibe seems forced, sure it seems fake and probably not the right direction for the series but if it allows Codemasters to carry on what they are doing then I’ll turn the other cheek. After all the gameplay which is surprisingly improved is still intact. DiRT 2 is a game that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any one looking to pick up a racer this year and with the intense competition yet to come, that’s saying something.

One of the best rally games of the last five years was Colin McRae DiRT. Powered by the graphically capable EGO engine, DiRT combined loose driving with a plethora of classes and vehicles. It did however feel like it had an identity crisis coupled with a lack of substantial multiplayer. DiRT 2 looks to fix all these problems while adding a whole lot more. We had a chance to play the recently released demo for the Xbox 360.

The Good

Seamless Interface: As soon as you boot up DiRT 2 you’ll be treated to a walk-through of a messy trailer. This serves as your hub world or menu with each option being located around the room. Move over to the desk to pick a race, you’ll then move outside and pick a car. As soon as you confirm your vehicle a picture of it will be ‘taken’ and put onto the desk and you’ll eventually zoom into a picture of the track. All of these are seamless transitions between the menus, loading screens and gameplay. Codies have done a real slick job with the presentation and more importantly they’ve done a really good job of disguising the loading screens.

Unrealistic Visuals: The EGO engine is terrific, GRID proved to us that it is arguably, capable of the best looking graphics on any system. Here they’ve tweaked a few filters and made a few more things pop. Realism? No, but when the eye candy is this good who cares?

Levelling Up: Sure a lot of shooters do the levelling up thing ever since Modern Warfare was released into the wild but racing games… The original DiRT was basically a pyramid of events and despite doing a good job of showing the massive nature of the task ahead of you, it seemed more like an afterthought. DiRT 2 addresses that with experience for every race you take part in. Naturally this will be altered depending on where you position come the chequered flag and what difficulty you race on.

Flashback System: Granted, it’s a straight rip from GRID but it was such a helpful feature that even Forza 3 is implementing one. Although in rallying sometimes you need that danger that one mistake and the race is over, sometimes in gaming you need a little forgiveness. For those that missed out on GRID, the flashback system is essentially let’s you rewind time after a mistake or terminal crash a la Prince of Persia.

The Bad

Contrived Extreme Vibe: The original DiRT was basically just a rally game, it wasn’t trying to do be anything it wasn’t. Granted Dave Mirra, Ken Block and Travis Pastrana are now rally drivers but that doesn’t mean you have to create an obnoxious, fake and forced extreme vibe for the entire game. The Colin McRae series has always stood for pure rallying but by trying to appeal to mainstream they might have disappointed the veterans of the series. Luckily the gameplay is still solid.

Multiplayer Waiting: Maybe a moot point here seeing as it’s only a demo but I found myself waiting a long time before jumping into the action. Every game I joined was already in progress despite most of the room also being forced to wait in the lobby. It begs the question, why not start a new lobby with all the waiting players? Despite this, actual head to head racing online was something missing from DiRT, so we should be thankful they’ve included it this time.

Smack-talk: Anyone who played Midnight Club LA will know that the worst thing about what was otherwise a solid game was the embarrassing smack talk that would go on mid-race. Well they’ve included it here and it seems like a real bi-product of this forced vibe they have going on. Hopefully you’ll be able to turn them off because I won’t be able to listen to rally drivers badly attempting to convey angry or cocky during a race. Pretend banter and smack-talk during the races will soon have you longing for the Colin McRae of old.

The demo for DiRT 2 is out now on the Playstation Network and Xbox Marketplace while the full game comes out on the 8th of September 2009 and the 11th of September 2009 in America and UK, respectively.

Now that Codemasters have nabbed the F1 license from the claws of Sony we will start to see F1 visit every platform imaginable. F1 2009 is the Wii and PSP version of the game while F1 2010 will be the 360 and PS3 versions.

According to the latest issue of Edge the game will feature…

Five control methods are offered, including support for Logitech’s wheel, and Codemasters is further investigating the possibility of bundling the game with a wheel of it’s own.

Whether this will be a housing like the Wii Wheel (Moodily pictured above) or a full standalone wheel with pedal setup. We are contacting Codemasters for comment.

As much as it’s frowned upon I’m going to draw a direct comparison for Overlord 2. Normally I wouldn’t be so up front with a review but Overlord 2 is essentially an eviller but slightly less charming version of Nintendo’s unappreciated Pikmin. And while at the second time of asking it does a much better job of it, Overlord is still far from a nostalgic reincarnation.

Overlord 2 entails the chronicles of another Overlord although this time as the previous rendition’s son, The Overlad. Your role and objectives are just as clear as they were last time around, command a crew of minions to do your evil bidding while you occasionally sit back and watch the carnage ensue. Then through out the game different Minions with unique powers or abilities will jump along for the ride. While strategy with these various classes occasionally comes into it, for the most part you’ll just want to overwhelm your foes before they get a chance to return the favour.

The various minions are colourful and plentiful. Watching them run amok while they generally act a nuisance is endlessly enjoyable and at times laugh out loud funny. Commanding them to cause such destruction is as easy as flicking the right analog stick or holding a trigger. The squeals and chatter coming from your minions can be hit and miss but the other characters in the game are definitely of the latter.

Humour in games is always a fine line to walk and Overlord 2’s valiant attempts, more often than not, fall flat on their face. Watching an exaggerated and annoying clown of a character meet his comically untimely death isn’t funny. Actually on the contrary, it’s more of a relief. Well that is until the next one makes an appearance.

It’s because of this lack of smart humour that you’ll feel slightly alienated. Luckily playing with the sound off while simply enjoying the bright and vibrant visuals easily suffice any scripting issues. That’s why it’s such a shame that you’ll find yourself hating the camera all too often as it never seems to be in the right place.

Still it’s all forgiveable because the core gameplay is generally solid. It might take a little longer than you would expect when waiting for your minions to chip away at an opponents health and sometimes you’ll find your self stuck on some awkward piece level design or point you are meant to trigger, but for the most part it’s solid.

That’s really all you can say for Overlord 2, it’s solid. Being compared to Pikmin isn’t always going to do a game favours but Overlord 2 can definitely stand on it’s own two feet. It’s just it’s not the same charming, strategic and humorous affair it really should be. It’s easily an improvement on it’s predecessor but it just goes to show that there is still a lot of work left to do on this relatively untapped genre.

Nothing major here really except for a very important date for your diaries. Codemasters simply announced release dates for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, PSP and Nintendo DS versions of Colin McRae DiRT 2. 11th September for UK while America get it slightly earlier on the 8th.

Yep, for anyone still wondering what Fuel is like you finally have your chance to jump in and play some off-road racing. A free demo is set for release later today at 2pm for PC, Xbox Live and PSN. It includes the following…

The FUEL demo enables players to take on the Ocean Rush career event, where 7 racers pick their own paths through treacherous landscapes and short-cuts are key to taking the chequered flag. Gamers can also take on Blitz – a wild, high-pressure challenge where players must race against the clock to reach the next checkpoint before time runs out. Gamers who download the console versions can also play online for a limited period of 2 weeks from release, experiencing up to 16 player free ride in a limited area of the Tsunami Reef zone or challenging up to 6 other players in the Ocean Rush career race.

Free online is great but just giving you free ride probably isn’t due to the barren environments the game comes with.