Ambitious... But rubbish
Turns out it can. I've been playing quite some rally games. Both good and awful ones. From the WRC series, Sega Rally series and the Colin McRae series, this turns out to sit far away from the top. (don't worry WRC, it's not the bottom. although, close to it)
Starting from the good things.
>Visual effects are nice. Not the real graphic itself, but the grainy effects.
>Well, for the first time in gaming history, you could be the real driver itself! You could be Ken Block in his Ford Focus (i could see his face. It's unique) not just be 'You' in Ken's car (I am looking sharply at you, DiRT 2)
>I'm not sure if the handling is realistic (note: I am NOT a rally driver), it's not so easy to handle but have some great feeling to it. Good point then.
Bad Points.
>It's too licensed. Okay, while the track, and rallies are varied, the cars are not.
There is a lot of car... liveries. but in fact, there's only 18 cars. and eighteen is noting compared to Forza 3's (original, without DLC) 400+ cars.
>The graphic is a tad bit different from it's predecessors.
>While technical damage can be extreme (though i haven't seen wheels came off), visual damages can be tedious.
>Ugly cockpit view.
>Just ONE Co-Driver.
The game is not missing just one two or a few things. It missed a lot. It's like a sushi without soy sauce, salmon and seaweed. What do you get then? A ball of rice!