Ever since I got my Xbox 360 last Christmas, I've been craving some off-road competition. Whether it be a rally racing game, or motor cross game I just wanted to play some type of racing game with dirt and jumps. While I was still on my PlayStation 2 I really enjoyed the rally racing that the Gran Turismo series offered. As for the PC, well I never really liked any of the racing games for it. Probably because I didn't have a racing wheel or gamepad for my computer (a must have for racing games). Then of course I see Motorstorm for the PlayStation 3 and it looks awesome. I don't have a PS3 nor can I afford one, so it looked like my off-road fix would have to wait. That is, until I discovered a game called Dirt.

Dirt looks to be a Colin Mcrae rally game. In the USA the name of the game is just Dirt. My guess is to make it more appealing to us in this country. The game is not out yet, but is slated for release on June 19th. I found this game really by accident on the Xbox 360's Marketplace. Dirt has a demo that you can download from the Marketplace and try.

First impressions were great! Before I even got into any of the tracks, I was very impressed by the game menu and loading screen. While the track loads the screen displays all your current stats in a nice animation. Pretty cool. As far as the overall graphics, they look very, very nice. The tracks, vehicles, and backgrounds all look very sharp. They also make plenty of use with HDR to give it that extra umph.

Physics-wise the cars handle pretty much like any other off-road racing game. They didn't feel too, too realistic a la Forza 2, nor did they feel like an arcade game. Vehicle damage is also present and well done. Slam your car into a rock and you will see the effect it has on your bumper.

The demo itself comes with three vehicles and three tracks to choose from. You have your typical Subaru rally car that races on a street course, a Mitsubishi rally car that races on an uphill track, and a buggy that races in a circuit type track. Out of all three my favorite car was the buggy, while my favorite track was the uphill climb.

I'll definitely be getting this game when it gets released. I recommend anyone who's interested in this type of game to download the demo and try it out as well. Finally, it looks like my off-road racing fix will be met.