BAJA - Brilliant, Awesome, Jubilant, Awesome - Edge of Control
Each vehicle category has its own feel and is often suited to particular tracks or terrain.
Tuning options will please those who continuously have grease on their hands, but can be avoided almost entirely if you prefer to add the default tweaks ranging from Engine to Suspension to Tyres and the like.
A curious exclusion is the lack of statistics available when you buy a vehicle in any given category, even though each costs a different amount. Sometimes choosing a specific vehicle may assist you but since the cost is generally prohibitive, vehicle purchases are not always accessible. Yes, you can test drive, but not being able to do this within the upcoming event can be awkward.
This came thrills from start to finish, where for example DIRT simply helped insomniacs to discard there sleeping pills in favour of a late night stint.
Mastering the clutch is essential to pass a couple of the Open Class events in certain leagues. Mini Truck and Trophy Truck come to mind here. Tuning the Shifting options as opposed to Upgrades helped enormously here!
This leads to the only 'issue' I have, being that for most league events it is better to leave all upgrades alone (apart from the clutch).
The only exception are longer races which will require the Cooling Upgrades to be purchased, otherwise you'll be spending unnecessary time at the pit stops which have been executed as an enhancement rather than a pain.
Rally events are for this Gamer an absolute pleasure, and almost approaching RBR back in the day!
The free roaming option and Discoveries provides enjoyment when you need relief from the leagues and simply cannot bear to insert any other Xbox game into the console till the achievements are completed. Here without some useful tips provided freely on the web, you may never start another game till you have completed all Discoveries.
Online is fine, but sadly you may see 'No Games Found' more often than not.
If you're an achievement hunter, the 50 points or so to be had online can be achieved all by yourself! Sounds ridiculous but works!
Whilst we're on achievements, some of the wording from THQ led many to believe 'glitches' were the order of the day.
However once you frequent the necessary forums, this becomes clearer till eventually you see the glimmer of light and more importantly hear the sound that you are striving for from the console (MS please change this audio event to something other than a friend logging-in!).
So, from someone with 1000 points, and probably my most fun filled 1000 points to date, this sleeper from THQ is my Game of the Year.
Pity about the pending Activision offering seemingly to be considerably behind this polished effort from THQ, but will review when available.
As for the music, one tune at menu level, but as addictive as the game.
Finally, many slated the graphics, I certainly cannot agree, with some terrain absolutely spectacular, and without the need to blur everything as in some previous competitive offerings from Codemasters.
Thank you THQ.