About this game: DIRTLINE '98
Game version: 1.0.18
Race the field, fly the doubles, land the flip.
A motocross racing game you play online, in the browser. Ride a 250 four stroke against four rivals on six tracks in a desert canyon, a supercross arena and a mountain ridge. There is no jump button: speed, the shape of the lip and your weight send you into the air, where leaning spins the bike for backflips and frontflips. Land it right and keep your speed, case it and you go down. Race, time trial against your own ghost, and freestyle.
Play nowThe game runs in your browser with JavaScript and WebGL 2 enabled.
What you get
- Real motorcycle physics: two wheels on their own suspension, drive that only grips as hard as the weight on the rear tyre, wheelies and stoppies that come from your weight and the throttle, not from a button
- No jump button: the speed you carry, the shape of the lip and the springs unloading send you into the air, where leaning spins the bike, so a backflip is started, carried and stopped by you
- Four rivals on the same bike and the same rules: they read the track, aim for each jump's safe speed, line up their landings, sometimes misjudge one and sometimes throw a flip of their own
- Six handmade tracks in three places, a desert canyon, a supercross arena under floodlights and a mountain ridge in the haze, each with its own rhythm of tables, doubles, triples, whoops and drops
Your controls
- W↑
- Throttle
- S↓
- Brake
- A←
- Lean back, nose up in the air
- D→
- Lean forward, nose down in the air
- Space
- Hold in the air for a trick
- ShiftE
- Hold to burn the boost (items on)
- R
- Restart the race
- Esc
- Pause
- ControllerThe right trigger is the throttle and the left the brake, the left stick leans the rider, X (or the right shoulder) holds a trick in the air, Menu pauses and View restarts.
- TouchOn a touch screen the left thumb leans the rider back and forward, the right thumb holds the throttle and covers the brake, and the trick button sits above them. Every button can be held together with the others. Hold the phone sideways.
Ways to play
- Race: you against four rivals on any of the six tracks
- Time trial: alone against the clock, chased by a ghost of your best run
- Freestyle: flips, supermans, no handers, wheelies and stoppies for points
- Three rival settings: Rookie, Pro and Expert
- Split screen: two riders at one keyboard, one above the other, with or without rivals
- Online: race two to four friends by link, each on their own computer or phone
- Items or Classic: nitro canisters, a boost filled by tricks, a second chance, sand tyres and five hidden tokens per track that open new liveries, or just the bike
Plays on
- Devices
- Desktop, Tablet, Phone
- Controls
- Keyboard, Touch, Controller
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Genre
- Motocross racing
Music
The tracks you hear in this game, and the people who made them.
Before you play
How do I jump?
There is no jump button. Hit a lip with speed and the bike leaves the ground on its own; the faster you go and the steeper the face, the higher you fly. Every jump has a window of speed that lands on its landing: too slow and you case it, too fast and you overshoot onto the flat.
How do I do a backflip?
Find a big jump, lean back (A or the left arrow) as you leave the lip and keep holding: the bike spins up. Let go just before it comes round and lean forward a touch to stop the spin, so it lands matching the slope. The flip is only paid once you ride away from the landing.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Hold the phone sideways: lean with the left thumb, throttle and brake with the right. It runs in the browser on recent phones and tablets, and on a computer with a keyboard or a gamepad.