Forza Motorsport 3 Review
| Game Name: | Forza Motorsport 3 |
| Platforms: | Xbox 360 |
| Publisher(s): | Microsoft |
| Developer(s): | Turn 10 |
| Release Date: | 22 October, 2009 |
| ESRB Rating: | 3+ |
One of the most anticipated games this year is definitely Forza Motorsport 3. Ever since “that” reveal trailer from E3, the internet has been rife with discussion about how close Turn 10 and Microsoft have brought their more-arcadey racing sim towards the mantle of Gran Turismo. Well, now everyone can get their hands on the title and decide for themselves.
Of all the cars available, this one should be avoided
The first – and most obvious – thing to discuss is the graphics. Car games have always had incredible graphics, because they’re rendering inanimate objects that we all recognise but have very little true complexity in their textures. So as such, it’s quite easy to impress and trick the eye with a car game. Forza 2 did this quite well, tricking the user into thinking they’re seeing something amazing until a game with really large polygons came along. Compared to 2, the new installment is stunning. Gone are the awful sunburst flares hitting the cars obtrusively, and in are sleek, clean graphics that really show off what the 360 can do.
That is, of course, until you stop looking at the cars. Ground textures and crowd animations are typically lack-luster. You won’t be pining about the stunning environment graphics, despite Turn 10 pre-release saying they did a lot of work on that stuff. Some tracks look amazing. Turn 10 even conjoured up some fake tracks to add extra environmental effects just to be fancy. These work quite well in a lot of cases, but when you look out over a beautiful expanse of water, the only thing you notice is how wishy-washy the texture is for the “distant mountain” or “big city” is. It looks like an oil painting sometimes. Of course, at 200KPH, it’s hard to notice these things – but crash or slow down and they become apparent.
Another complaint of mine graphically is the damage. When bits fall off it’s always impressive, and the bumps-n-bruises damage modelling is lovely, with a lot of texture warping that can often look scarily authentic, but sometimes (particularly on smaller, lower-spec cars). However, my big gripe is the decolouration and lack of realism when it comes to scrapes on the cars. It happens too easily, and often doesn’t look as realistic as other parts of the damage model. On top of that, lights seem to pop off and break very easily, but I’ve yet to actually see a small animation to show the glass breaking. Or even a sound effect to indicate it’s happening!
Evo's and Impreza's are still fun
Car handling is sublime to say the least. Turn 10 worked hard on giving the physics engine a drive by simulating how the tyre’s touch the road, how they warp on surfaces, etc. This comes across when racing, and really makes a huge shift between Forza 2 and 3. It’s not as easy to over-take anymore without taking heed and paying attention because you can’t just throw your car around the track.
The first few races you’ll complete in a slow everyday kind of car, as expected. Each series of races is conducted by class, which ranks from A to F, F being the lowest grade cars (think Toyota Yaris), and A being the top-notch stuff (Audi R8). It’s not until you reach class D or C that the action really picks up, but anyone half decent will get there in a few hours. Ford Focuses, Subaru Impreza’s and Mitsubishi Lancers all around the place. Great fun. And that’s not even mentioning the always-entertainingly-difficult American muscle cars.
Once you go through various stages and get to A, the difficult cranks up a notch. A-class races are typically done with cars that haven’t been heavily modified just yet. Ferrari’s, Audi R8′s and Porche’s reside here. However, very quickly, and with a bit of upgrading, you can move on to the S-class races. These are the top end cars, where Bugatti Veyrons are usually found alongside proper GT and touring car spec machines. Here the racing is intense, and the laps are done over much, much bigger tracks.
Race cards are presented like Motrostorm, only classier
At the beginning of the game you’ll rarely play through an entire track. Instead, you’ll race on smaller versions of tracks. Most of which will be familiar to anyone who likes racing, or anyone who has played Forza. These tracks are fine, if not a little uninspired, but they’re never long enough races to get you bored. You can also up the difficulty level to give yourself a challenge early on.
As you go through events you accumulate money, or “XP” points. These can be used to buy upgrades or even new cars as you progress. One innovation in this game is the ability to go to an eBay style auction house that’s community-driven. Instead of buying and selling from dealers, you buy and sell from users. This means your car can come pre-upgraded, tuned and kitted out with a paint job, often cheaper then the store-price in the game. It also means that the lower price point can get you a car far superior to your budget. Buying is as easy as placing down your interest. The system will highlight cars you can afford, and when you show interest you’ll bid 10,000XP more then the previous bidder. A timer dictates when the auction will end. This is usually minutes, but for higher-class cars it could be hours. It depends on the seller. There is also a buy out option to buy the car outright rather then bid, which still can end up cheaper then the normal price.
You can also gain extra XP points by turning off driving aids in the game and turning up the difficulty a notch. “Hard” is hard, but any veteran of a racing title will be able to handle it. It really is the only option for proper racing challenges.
Interiors are recreated lovingly, but you can't have a look around properly
Online this game does very well. It’s only let down is in public games when idiots smash and bash their way to glory. And more often then not people are completely unskilled and don’t want to have a real race, rather investing their time in a good looking version of Mario Kart. Playing with friends is something I didn’t get much opportunity to try since I had the game before the general populous joined in. Often you get penalised for being smashed into, rather then the other way around. For example, if a foe smashes into your vehicle and knocks you off into grass, he can plunder along the track gleefully while the grass unnaturally slows your car down as if it was in a gravel pit, ruining your race.
Undoubtedly these are issues all racing sims have. Online communities are difficult to manage, especially early on when everyone and their brother are playing. In a few months these niggles online will be gone back to Halo, so we can enjoy some real racing.
Of course, it’s hard to address this game without making note of it’s competition – and in many ways, the game Forza aims to be. Gran Turismo has been delayed until Spring 2010. At first this seems an unwise idea, but now it makes sense. Coming into Christmas, Forza is drumming up a lot of excitement – rightly so – and is pressing the right buttons between arcade action and sim racing, bringing a whole new audience to the fold. This is an audience GT can capitalise on next year, but address anything that may crop up from Forza as a beta program.
You see, Forza is easier then GT. If you scrub a lap or get over-taken, you can hit the much-touted rewind button. This is great for new players, but veterans like myself will find it annoying that this feature exists because it takes away the heart-pounding fear of ruining your final lap as you barely clinch the lead spot in a race. If you spin out, over-cook it on a corner or simply crash, you can undo the problem. Of course, the game will log your rewinds and not reward you as much, but it still exists and means you can easily fix your mistakes, Prince of Persia style.
Tracks can be beautiful on the surface, but can be slightly uglier in the distance
This is what leads me to believe that Forza will act as a training ground for new recruits. All veterans will play Gran Turismo anyway, but now there’ll be this whole new install base with Christmas vouchers for game stores to snap up and get into a “real driving sim”. And this is what will hurt Forza. It doesn’t quite know what it is. It’s always been a slightly arcadey experience. Any game that features the addition of vynl stickers on your car will be arcadey, but Forza feels like a sim at heart. But now, by being forgiving and using the tag “racing for everyone”, the game could potentially loose its real target. Moving closer to Need for Speed isn’t going to push the game forward with fans, but is likely to, unfortunately for realism fans, sell more units at retail.
With that in mind, this game is the perfect balance for newbies to racing sims, and an ideal re-introduction to the genre for jaded old GT-heads like myself. It’s a great stop-gap until the big brother of GT comes along. Which is why it all plays out perfectly for both Microsoft and Sony, ironically. Both games will sell more then they probably would otherwise – with people eagerly awaiting GT on one hand, and people eagerly wanting a more accessible experience.
Forza doesn’t have the polish on all of it’s facets, but it’s enough to look impressive. But it does play beautifully. It can be too easy at times, and rewind is too much of a get-out-of-jail card, but that doesn’t detract from the basic premise that Turn 10 have churned out a real winner in terms of fun racing experiences and a smooth online experience (I include the auction house there too). Customising your cars, importing custom soundtracks and rewinds shouldn’t scare away potential petrol-heads – the racing in this game is really, really sublime. It’s the bits around it that stop it being perfect.
Then again, other people will completely disagree and love this game for being easier to jump into bed with.
Forza Motorsport 3 is out now exclusively on the Xbox 360.
great review. not sure if i should just wait for gt5
Great review. I like the point at the end about GT, etc.