Review NaN of 10
, from NORFOLK, Va.
Price Paid:
$50.00
from EBGames Summary:
No matter how you feel about the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, there’s just no denying how popular it is. Once a sport for moonshine runners and rednecks in America’s deep south, the sport has grown exponentially, and is one of today’s most profitable spectator events. Hundreds of thousands of people gather at the track to see their favorite daredevil battle door-to-door at 200 mph, while millions more tune in on their TVs.
Because NASCAR is so popular, it makes perfect sense that game makers try to cash in on the craze. EA Sports has been milking the Bill France cash cow since 1997, and it wasn’t until last year that the sporting giants were joined by Infogrames with the release of NASCAR Heat 2002. A port of the PC game, Heat 2002 was a solid sim, despite its paltry 20-car field and muddied visuals.
Meanwhile, EA revamped its series, and Thunder 2002 proved to be a defining moment in the history of NASCAR console games. It was not only the first console NASCAR game to feature both a full 43-car field and every track on the Winston Cup schedule, it added depth to the sub-genre by implementing a Madden-es que career mode. Thunder 2003 expanded on this, and suffice it to say Infogrames had their hands full with the latest entry of their stock car series.
Under the moniker NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona, the latest racing effort from Infogrames and Monster Games relies mainly on its in-depth career mode to hook wannabe stock car champions. Sure, there are the obligatory features, such as other modes, unlockable secrets and comprehensive stat-tracking, but Dirt to Daytona’s true beauty lies within its career mode.
Dirt to Daytona’s career mode spans 30 seasons and four NASCAR leagues—the Weekly Racing Series, the Featherlite Modifieds, the Craftsman Truck Series and finally the Winston Cup Series. Each division has a distinct feel about it, so it never feels as if you’re racing the same damn car with a different sheet metal cover every year.
You advance to the “next level” by winning championships, and the beauty of it all is the fact that you can still compete in one series once you’ve moved up in the ranks. If you want to keep running Weekly races once you’re in the Truck series, you’re more than welcome to, as long as the races don’t present a time conflict.
In this mode, you play driver, crew chief and car owner. You’re responsible of signing and keeping sponsors (they pay the bills, after all), making sure your cars are in working order (which means buying parts, which aren’t cheap) and keep hold of a winning pit crew (once you reach the Truck and Cup series). The sheer depth and replay value this mode presents is enough to keep you busy with Dirt to Daytona for months.
Career mode starts in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, a small-time league that races on dirt tracks throughout the southern U.S. In this mode, you paint your car, choose your sponsors and go racing. So many stock car drivers get their start racing on dirt tracks and the novelty behind banging fenders on dirt is something true race fans will undoubtedly enjoy. The cars feel a bit touchy at first, but a bit of practice will make navigating the nine dirt-covered ovals a breeze. The AI, however, won’t be so forgiving.
Win the Weekly championship and you’ll move up to the NASCAR Featherlite Modifieds division. The cars are drastically different from your Weekly ride, seeing as how they’re lower to the ground and don’t have fenders. You’ll find yourself running on pavement for the first time, and spinning out other drivers isn’t as easy, so you’ll find yourself having to race a bit cleaner and smarter if you want to walk away with a good finish. This is also where you set foot on a few Winston Cup tracks for the first time; Martinsville Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and New Hampshire International Speedway are all on the Featherlite schedule.
Once you leave the Featherlites in the dust, it’s time to take on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. With heavier, less aerodynamic vehicles, truck racing is as rough and unforgiving as any form of stock car racing. Speeds increase dramatically, and winning gets that much harder. Add in the necessity for pit stops and crew management and you know you’re in the big leagues now. Beating and banging are the name of the game here, and you’ll visit such tracks as Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway and California Speedway.
If you conquer the rough n’ tough truck series, you’ve made it to the big time: the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Though it’s not called “Winston Cup” in Dirt to Daytona, we all know that’s what it is. Starting with the historic Daytona 500,you’ll fight your way through 36 grueling races per season, going from superspeedways like Talladega Superspeedway to fast tracks Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway to short tracks and road courses. The Winston Cup Series is the pinnacle of American motorsports for a reason.
Winning won’t come easily, or immediately. Starting out, you’ll find yourself with inferior equipment—flimsy chassis and low-horsepower engines. Making do with what you have and finishing races gives you the money needed to buy parts and upgrade your ride, so that one day, you’ll find yourself in the one place almost any racer wants to be; NASCAR Victory Lane.
With four leagues of racing, each of which has a unique feel and level of intensity, Dirt to Daytona will keep you occupied for a long time. Thunder 2003 made great strides in its career mode, but it can’t even come close to the depth and replay value Dirt to Daytona boasts as a result. It’s unfortunate that the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series wasn’t a part of the package here, but with four leagues to race in as it is, you won’t have time to gripe about it.
Aside from the incredibly involving career mode, Dirt to Daytona features your standard Heat features. There’s Quick Race (pick a car, pick a track and go), Championship (race for any one of the four NASCAR titles), Pro Training (think Heat 2002’s Race the Pros mode) and Beat the Heat (mini-games). Beat the Heat is easily the game’s best feature aside from career mode, with over 36 challenges divided amongst the four different series to show you not only the basics of NASCAR racing, but thrusting you in real-life racing situations as well.
Each mode outside of career gives the player points, which he can use toward unlocking different modes of play, such as Mini Cars and the like. The ability to unlock secrets, no matter how miniscule they may be, is an excellent way to boost replay value, and it’s nice to see that Monster Games implemented that logic into Dirt to Daytona.
Aside from that, there’s the ability to play with up to three buddies in split-screen mode. Unlike Heat 2002’s split-screen mode, which was riddled with slowdown, this year’s mode is fast and furious. Racing is always more fun with friends, and Dirt to Daytona doesn’t disappoint in this regard.
You want drivers and tracks? Well, the game features 31 total tracks among the four leagues, though it is worth noting that Dirt to Daytona does not include every track on the Winston Cup circuit. Missing from the lineup? Pocono Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mildly disappointing, especially when you consider that EA’s Thunder has every Winston Cup track in tow.
Drivers are pretty much the same story. The Weekly and Modified series are no big deal; the developers made up some names and voila, there they are. The Truck Series has most of that series’ biggest names—Rick Crawford, Bobby Hamilton, Ted Musgrave—as does the Winston Cup Series. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace, 2002 champ Tony Stewart…they’re here. But why is it that guys like Bill Elliott are missing, yet Dave Blaney and Mike Wallace got the nod? A few fans may feel a bit gypped if they find their favorite driver not in Dirt to Daytona.
Okay, so the features are there, but what about the gameplay? How do things translate once you’re on the race track? Very well, honestly. Utilizing nearly every facet of the DualShock2 controller, this game sports an intuitive, user-friendly control scheme. The tried-and-true X-button-is-gas-steer-with-the-left-analog-stick method is here, but it’s nowhere near as effective or fluid as using the right analog stick to handle accelerating and breaking while steering with the left stick. Dirt to Daytona isn’t the first game to do this—that honor goes to Gran Turismo 2—but it proves to be the best way to remain competitive in this game.
This is also among the most realistic NASCAR games you’ll find in the console world. Black flags are a part of the action, and while you won’t get caught for passing below the yellow line at Daytona or Talladega, you can get caught for other things. Cars (and trucks) exhibit true-to-life physics and the draft has been instituted perfectly. Strategy is so important, and the possibility of overworking your engine, blowing a tire or even losing your power steering adds a dynamic that true race fans are sure to appreciate.
AI cars are some of the smartest I’ve ever seen in a NASCAR game…for the most part. Once you reach the Truck and Winston Cup Series, you’ll find the bottom half of the field littered with no-name hacks created by the developers. These guys are so slow and dumb (which makes me wish Monster Games just went ahead and got the other Cup and Truck drivers), but the front of the field’s another story. Each driver races true to his real-life counterpart, so the drivers you’d expect to be up-front at certain tracks will be. You wanna win Daytona? You have to get past Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip first. Think you’re short track king? Tell that to Gordon and Wallace. Thunder’s AI is decent enough, but Dirt to Daytona’s will really test your driving skills.
While Dirt to Daytona certainly gets a lot of things right, there are few things that keep this game from being the true gem it could’ve been. Most of these flaws are in the game’s presentation, which may not seem like a big deal at first glance. But with the game industry—and NASCAR itself—becoming more presentation-based, a game that lacks in this regard may be overlooked.
Some portions of the game—like Beat the Heat challenges and different areas of career mode—feature informative videos from NBC’s Allen Bestwick. The video quality is inexplicably grainy and for some reason Bestwick’s voice sounds muffled. This game’s on a DVD; what gives here? Bestwick’s muffled nasal passages also introduce you to each Truck and Cup race (and a select few Modified events), and the quality is among the worst I’ve ever heard.
Engine sounds, crew chatter and all the expected sound effects are here, but are far from spectacular. There’s also no commentary, though Thunder 2003 seems to get along fine without it, so maybe it’s not that big a deal. Don’t expect too much in Dirt to Daytona from a sound standpoint.
Visually, Dirt to Daytona is a disappointment. The PlayStation2 and GameCube are powerful consoles, yet this game is riddled with jaggies and pop-in and all the other graphical problems that the current generation of consoles shouldn’t have. Lighting effects and smoke look nice, but car models really aren’t anything special.
Well, let me clarify that. Winston Cup car models aren’t anything special—Sierra and EA do them so much better. Weekly, Modified and truck models are exceptional, especially when you consider that they’re the only ones of their kind in the console world.
Damage modeling, while improved from Heat 2002, still isn’t up to par. Scratches and dents are more evident this year, but it still takes a hell of a lot of abuse for your car to show signs of battle. And unlike Thunder, I have yet to see parts fly off the car.
Even worse are the pit crew member models. While Tiburon and EA used motion-capture animation to handle the formation and movement of Thunder 2003’s pit crew, Dirt to Daytona looks as if Monster Games recycled some old PSOne textures and models. The pit crew in this game looks horrible, especially in motion.
Animation is fluid—no slowdown—and the track surfaces look really nice, but the lack of visual flair, coupled with the overabundance of jaggies on the track, make Dirt to Daytona look like a launch title moreso than a late 2002 release.
The lack of presentation and virtual flair does hurt Dirt to Daytona, particularly concerning the casual racing fan or gamer, but those willing to look past the bland surface will find an exhilarating, challenging and engaging racing game. With a career mode that no other game can compete with, as well as Beat the Heat mode and a few other tidbits to keep gamers coming back, NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona is definitely a must-have for any PS2 or GameCube-owning race fan.
THE JEFF CUNNINGHAM BREAKDOWN (ON A SCALE OF 10):
PRESENTATION: 6.5
The backdrop of Career mode and the menu selection screens are nice, but grainy videos and muddled voiceovers really hurt this game, especially when compared to the flashier Thunder 2003.
GRAPHICS: 7.0
Dirt to Daytona doesn’t look bad, but its tracks are plagued with jaggies and unspectacular crash effects. Car models and animation are pretty good, though.
SOUND: 4.5
Muddied voices, unspectacular sound effects and boring music do not a good-sounding game make.
GAMEPLAY: 9.5
This is hands-down the best-playing NASCAR game in the console world right now. Tight controls, tough AI…just good racing all around.
LASTING APPEAL: 10.0
Dirt to Daytona, with its 30-season, four-league career mode and Beat the Heat mode, will offer months of NASCAR goodness. Options, settings, tracks, drivers…the list goes on and on. Strap in—you’re gonna be in the car a while.
OVERALL: 8.0
What it lacks in visual flair, NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona makes up for in sheer gameplay and staying power. If you love NASCAR, or racing in general, this game should have a spot on your shelf.
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