The “Dirt” series ostensibly encompasses the large world of off-road racing in all its forms. This philosophy was whittled down slightly with fewer vehicle types year after year since the franchise’s 2007 debut, and “Dirt 3” is the most focused entry yet. The addition of Gymkhana and the prominence of various rally racing events with trucks, co-pilotless Trailblazer runs in head-to-head finale events, or even in multi-car races makes this the most thrilling collection of “Dirt” racing to date. But there’s a price to be paid for the abundance of rally racing, as the series loses momentum in its career mode.

I love Codemasters’ decision to focus on rally racing and offshoots like Gymkhana, even if it’s at the expense of some of the series vehicles, like semis, and previous events, like Hill Climb. The rally racing, whether it’s with or without a co-pilot (Trailblazer) or even with other cars (RallyCross), is an exhilarating interplay of timing and subtlety between your cars’ acceleration, steering, brakes, and e-brake that makes every turn either a chance to make up lost time or a race-ending disaster. This is where the rewind tokens come in handy.

Gymkhana appears both as a free ride playground (complete with specific, but optional, tasks) and a part of the career via fun events like Sprints (tackling tricks like drift slides under tight gaps in a specific order), freestyle matches where order isn’t important, and freeform contests. Online Multiplayer also includes Gymkhana among the more traditional race types, with capture the flag-esque Transporter events and infected-style Outbreak races. The addition of Gymkhana is great: I particularly like how the free ride area at London’s Battersea Power Station keeps growing as you unlock new sections.

But even with this exciting new content, the game misses an opportunity to improve its career mode structure. Your career managers are nothing more than laborious voiceovers for the simple progression path. Losing the camper hub makes the HUD even more unexciting, and the rudimentary car upgrades have been stripped out. Players’ attachment to their cars is lessened since damage doesn’t have to be repaired between rally stages, and the sponsorships you earn are really nothing more than new liveries. Thus, there’s not a lot of career management going on. What was once an interesting and evolving part of the franchise — that feeling that you were living an actual racing career — has been neutered.

Codemasters has made a good name for itself with this franchise’s heart-pounding racing and arresting graphics that are even more striking with the inclusion of night driving and falling snow. The renewed focus on rally racing and the addition of Gymkhana keeps it in good shape, even as it pares down some of its previously interesting career aspects.

‘DIRT 3′

8.75 (out of 10)

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Codemasters

ESRB rating: T for Teen

New game releases

The following titles were scheduled for release the week of June 5:

• “Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters” (Wii, X360, DS, 3DS, PS3)

• “Operation Flashpoint: Red River” (PS3, X360, PC)

• “Homefront: Fire Sale” (X360)

• “Kevin Van Dam Fishing” (PS3)

• “Red Faction: Armageddon” (X360, PS3, PC)

• “inFamous 2” (PS3)

• “GO Series: Picdun” (DS)

• “Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version” (3DS)

— Gamespot.com

Top 10

ACROSS THE BOARD

The editors of Game Informer Magazine rank the top 10 games for June:

1. “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” (PC)

2. “L.A. Noire” (PS3, X360)

3. “Infamous 2” (PS3)

4. “Dirt 3” (PS3, X360)

5. “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3-D” (3DS)

6. “Portal 2” (PS3, X360, PC)

7. “Mortal Kombat” (PS3, X360)

8. “Outland” (PS3, X360)

9. “Child of Eden” (Xbox 360)

10. “Dungeon Siege III” (PS3, X360, PC)

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Weekly download

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale’

For: X360 (via Xbox Live Arcade), PS3 (via PlayStation Network), PC

From: Bedlam Games/Atari

ESRB Rating: Teen (blood, violence)

Price: $15

“Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale” won’t win any honorable mentions, much less awards, for breaking ground. If you’ve played a dungeon crawler, the vast bulk of what you’ll experience here — the quest structure, the threadbare story, the endless array of grunt enemies and barrels that await your weapon — will look familiar to a distressing degree. “Daggerdale” competently covers the basics, with multiple character classes, collectable loot, a useful array of spells and a character-leveling system that upgrades the usual attributes all present and accounted for. It also, unlike the vastly overrated “Torchlight,” can challenge players by swarming them with enemies who are actually somewhat formidable. On the ingenuity scale, though, “Daggerdale” stands totally pat, happy to embrace the same uninspired environments, gameplay standards and quest design flaws. The inclusion of online co-op (four players) is nice when it works, but the aggravations dampen the occasion. If you absolutely need some dungeon crawling and can forgive the complete lack of inspiration, the offline co-op (two players) is, at least for now, the best way to play.

— Billy O’Keefe, McClatchy-Tribune News Service