Now in its ninth year, the Colin McRae series has always been a truly groundbreaking joy to both look at and play. This hasn't changed with the release of Codemasters' latest entry into the series, the next-gen Colin McRae DiRT, strap on your six-point racing harness and get ready to get DiRTy!

From the moment you load up the game, you will immediately be struck by how awesome it looks. The intro FMV sequence looks so real that you'll be shielding your face to avoid the mud splatter from the Mitsubishi Evo IX as it blasts around a hairpin corner - and that's not all, because even the menu sequences look amazing. I'd place a wager now that the menus featured in the game are the best that you'll have seen on your console so far. They're perfectly animated and feature the slick, sleek transitions and effects you'd expect to see in an Apple advert. It's immediately evident that Codemasters have spent a significant amount of time polishing up DiRT ready for its next-gen debut, and the result is an ultra shiny, ultra-smooth game that is one of the finest looking 360 releases to date.

DiRT's main game mode is the returning Career, where you take control of a new driver and compete in various rallies in order to unlock other events, and in turn win money to purchase new cars. Then there's the Championship mode, where you take control of the same driver and race through different rallies around the world, while Rally World mode sees you racing in events you've completed in Career mode, plus you can attempt a Time Attack on previous high scores. Each of these modes will see you racing against WRC champions such as Colin McRae himself and whilst previous incarnations of the Colin McRae series saw you racing around only in highly-tuned rally cars such as the Subaru Impreza or the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, DiRT has you ripping up courses in some of the most desirable and successful rally cars of the past and present.

Everything that you could have hoped for is here - the Toyota Celica GT-Four, the Lancia Delta and even the Ford Escort MKII, along with a whole host of other absolute classics. In fact, the diversity of vehicles in the game is excellent; DiRT features some vehicles you wouldn't normally expect from a rallying title, including lorry big-rigs, insane 4x4's, a whole host of buggies and some crazy trucks. Some of these weren't really my cup of tea though; in fact, I found myself getting frustrated by the fact that I had to race the trucks around. Don't get me wrong - I love some diversity in a game - but there's nothing more tedious than having to race a giant truck around a map full of hills with bumps everywhere. These trucks don't exactly travel fast; forget 0-60mph, because you'll be lucky if you ever get there!

One area where DiRT excels is in its absolutely jaw-dropping graphics. Tracks and cars look good enough to touch; it's almost like you're actually standing on the sidelines watching one of these cars fly past at crazy speeds. Switch to the in-car view and you're in for a real treat too; each car is perfectly detailed and modelled, the needles on dash instruments are animated and your co-driver moves around. Power slide around a bend at speed and the camera shakes as if your head is actually being forced from side to side by the intense forces of gravity acting upon it. Each environment is ultra-realistic too; grass, trees, rocks, walls and buildings, everything in DiRT looks amazing. Grass and trees sway in the wind, and should you happen to over steer around the next bend and find yourself in the green stuff, you'll see bits of leaves and grass flying around behind you as you wheel spin them into oblivion. Hit a nice big rock hard enough and you'll see it break into pieces and scatter about you - that is if your car survives!

The damage modelling in DiRT is better than ever before and there are many different ways in which cars become damaged. If you scrape up against a wall lightly, the area of impact shows dents and scratches. Hit a surface harder and the dents become deeper, while pieces of the bodywork start to fall away. Each area is fully deformable and will break off if it sustains damage too many times. These parts aren't purely cosmetic either; if you break off bits of the bodywork, the car's aerodynamics change drastically, causing a noticeable difference in handling and poorer acceleration.

The only aspect of the visuals I didn't like - and this is purely subjective - is the overuse of lighting effects such as High Dynamic Range (HDR). Whilst this effect looks pretty awesome when used in moderation, it begins to look terrible when used extensively, and this is a problem that I feel DiRT suffers from. A lot of the levels feature so much HDR lighting that parts of the level become far too shiny and bright. A perfect example of this is on the dirt tracks such as those in Australia; some areas of the road look awesome, but others are insanely bright. This issue isn't a major problem though and it pales in comparison to the rest of the environmental design.

However, as beautiful as it is, the game suffers from some serious slowdown when you have more than one vehicle on the screen. In some races you're pitted against a number of computer-controlled players, and right from the get go, Codemasters' Neon game engine just drops its usual smooth FPS and becomes a jittery mess. Thankfully it's not too much of a problem, because once you blast past your opponents the game recovers and returns to its silky smoothness. Still, it is disappointing that graphics slowdown has reared its ugly head.

The physics engine is immaculately detailed and you can actually feel it through your controller; racing between a gravel surface and a muddy surface is a beauty in itself. You feel the immensely rough road surface when you drive over gravel by the amount of vibration coming through the controller, then as you speed onto mud the controller vibrates just a tiny amount. You'll also notice the difference in the amount of traction your car has over the different surfaces; on mud you can quite easily swing the back end of your car out, whilst on gravel you're more likely to lose stability and end up pulling a 360 degree turn into the nearest tree.

I've already mentioned the damage you can inflict upon your car, but I haven't mentioned the damage you can do to its vital internal components. DiRT separates the car into nine distinct areas - engine, suspension, turbo, cooling, exhaust, bodywork, wheels, drive shaft and the gearbox. Each component plays a vital role in speed and handling; damage one badly enough and you'll quickly find yourself battling to retain control of your vehicle. Damage certain parts severely enough and you'll find yourself out of the race. Even more impressive is the way the cars degenerate should you damage one component. For example, if you damage your cooling system, the direct result is that the engine will begin to fail over time, causing slower acceleration and lower top speeds. It'll then get to the point where your car will stall when you hit objects. Other components demonstrate the highly detailed physics too. For example, if you damage your gearbox then you'll notice that the gear shifts aren't nearly as smooth as before, you'll feel a lot of vibration through the pad whenever you try to shift and in some cases your car will lose a lot of speed when you do shift. It's all very impressive and makes driving your rally car feel more realistic and convincing than ever before - as well as providing a strong incentive to concentrate and avoid colliding with trackside objects.

The AI is well scripted, although thankfully and realistically non-aggressive. The computer cars are aware of where you are, but unlike a lot of other games they won't blindly smack into you even though you've been next to them for the last three laps. I quite like this, as it shows that the AI has an awareness of where their competitors are, rather than the blind ignorance and stupidity you often experience in racing games. The main problem I have with the computer AI is that it's too soft; if you get in a competitor's path, it'll just slow down and thus cause a chain reaction if there are any other AI cars behind. It would have been nice to see the computer try and get around you when you get in its way. I've also seen the computer get stuck a few times as well - not a common occurrence, but it shows that there are a few bugs still in the AI.

Despite having an impressive 1-100 players able to play together online, the implementation of the way Xbox Live is used has proven to be quite controversial amongst the fans of DiRT. Unlike most other racing games (in fact, probably all racing games), you do not see the other players you're up against in DiRT online. Instead, you find yourself alone on a course, with the only noticeable way to tell you're actually playing online being the marker at the side of the screen that shows your position relative to the other people you're up against. It's quite a poorly implemented system, but despite this, it has a major benefit that I'm sure anyone who's played a racing game online has come up against; you don't have clueless players smashing into the side of you when you're mid power slide! Whether it's done by accident or on purpose, it aggravates the best of us. Thankfully it can't happen on DiRT, and when the tracks are as tight and twisty as some of the ones featured here, that can only be a good thing. It would have been preferable to include 'ghost' cars that you can driver straight through, rather than no cars at all, but given the slowdown in single player when multiple vehicles are onscreen I can understand why the developers took this route, despite the lonely online experience that has resulted.

Coming back to the presentation side of things, the sound and music are excellent. The menu music is so good that I actually wanted to download it and play it on my computer! Quite a strong endorsement for it quality, I'm sure you'll agree. Where DiRT excels though is in its sound effects; car engines sound perfectly meaty and throaty enough to be good replications of real rally cars. Let them idle and they purr like an oversized cat; put the pedal to the metal and they whine like your nephews/nieces when you don't let them have a go on your 360! I especially like the way the sounds reverberate through the speakers when you drive through tunnels or villages, perfectly realistic and excellent for getting immersed into the game's atmosphere. Every effect sounds perfect, from the smash of breaking glass to the crunch when your car bounces as it lands from a jump - it's all here and it's all great, so crank up the volume for maximum effect!

There's one aspect of the sound that you won't want to crank up though, otherwise you'll end up feeling decidedly cranky! For some reason, Codemasters have incorporated the lamest sounding voiceover guys for the speech in the game. Finish a race and you'll hear all sorts of punk speak like "Totally stoked," and "Dude". "What's the problem?" I hear you cry. Well, it's just plain daft; it's like your granddad saying "Fo shizzle!" It's just something you wouldn't expect from a rally game and as a result it's totally out of place.

Colin McRae DiRT is an excellent game. As an avid fan of the series, I was thoroughly impressed from start to finish, although there are some minor issues that keep it from achieving perfection. It's wonderfully well presented and designed throughout, from the slick menus to the jaw-dropping spectacle of the visuals. The lonely feeling of playing on Xbox Live is a blow however, something that ghost competitors could easily have rectified. Still, the gameplay is pitched perfectly, making it accessible for newcomers as well as deep for veterans of the series - get yourself a wireless steering wheel as well, and I'm positive you'll be having fun for hours on end. So get yourself a copy and I'll see you online. Well, okay, I won't see you, but you get what I mean!

Reviewed by Harmz Singh for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).