Forza 3 is a game full of promise and promises made. Developer Turn 10 Studios came out during E3 and pretty much said the game would cure herpes and do away with the need for any more racers.
So it's out now and we decided to do a duel review. I marked which of us, between Matt and I, wrote what. You can expect much more on the game when I post Game Lobby on Monday and when the new Generation X podcast goes live.
Read more now to see if you can stop worrying about herpes.
Car Handling
(Matt) Forza Motorsport 3's performance handling is passable at best. Different variations of the cars’ handling and performance will vary depending on the model and power output, yet some cars will perform similar to others nowhere near in the same class.
The GT500 Shelby, for example, will outperform a Ford Escort and both cars handle differently for most of the time, but when it comes to drifting around a large corner, both cars perform and react the same. Keep in mind that the Ford Escort is significantly lighter and is front-wheel drive.
(Louie) This is possibly the weakest link in the game. Need for Speed: Shift does more to keep players interested in the actual race by awarding points for specific in-race actions and it gives you a running tally of your points.
Forza 3 just makes you drive around a track three to five times without any real sense of accomplishment. Shift also managed to make the vehicles feel better and different from each other and did more with the damage physics.
Here is a video, made in-game, of the Forza 3 crash physics. You tell us if this looks "realistic" to you.
Graphics
(Matt) The graphics are an improvement from Forza 2, but it’s not a significant improvement. The use of lighting has improved and the cars look much shinier and glossier.
Driving in the Tokyo Speedway and seeing all the buildings reflections on a vehicles paint job is jaw dropping and realistic. The character animation, though, is less than stellar. They have the Madden and Smackdown syndrome where the characters are repeated over and over. Forza 3's vehicle and track graphics are colorful and detailed, but lack the realism found in other racing games.
(Louie) I agree that the graphics are an improvement from Forza 2, but that shouldn't be the standard. Forza 3 doesn't really push the graphics envelope, in my opinion. I can't shake the opinion that Shift and Gran Turismo Prologue look as good, if not better.
Career Mode
(Matt) The career mode is the best part of the game. It is highly customizable for the tuner enthusiast, yet is easy enough for the casual fan. The career mode starts off with your choice of a vehicle, and even caters to your choice of how you would like to play the game.
Achievements are built perfectly as they are unlocked alongside progression through the career mode. The game has a menu for rewinding any mishaps for the less skilled racer, and it also has customizable difficulty settings for the more hardcore racer. You progress through races in one class and continue onto a final race to win a championship.
All races are rewarded with XP in categories of driver XP and vehicle XP. Credits (cash) is also rewarded for every race completed. The game also has a freeplay mode in which players can just pick any car and race for fun.
(Louie) The career mode is probably the deepest experience of this generation. I started my third season tonight and am nowhere near tired of the progression. It manages to motivate me to rank up because a vehicle has so far been awarded with each level-up, and the ability to quickly tune your vehicle or swap cars makes the whole experience seamless.
The achievement system for the career is really well done. It gives you one achievement for driver level up to level 10. Then it's an achievement for each fifth level. That's a vast improvement from Forza 2
Multiplayer
(Matt) The multiplayer content is subpar at best. All cars from the beginning of the game are unlocked for free use. Depending on the number of people online, a player is a host of a game and can customize the track, and rules of the game.
All players are qued into random races and if joining during a race, players must wait for the contest to be done. Then you’ll wait another 1:30 minutes for the start of the next race. A few races online I noticed a major problem with lag and glitching.
Cars will suddenly be frozen and jump across the screen to bash into another car or will be stuck in mid air due their tires disappearing.
(Louie) This is where Matt and I had different experiences. I smoothly ran through four races with few problems. The only challenge is to get through the first couple turns without being wrecked out by some noob. If you survive that, you have a good chance to do well because most of the people who don’t will drop out of the race, and the points you earn online transfer to your career.
Here is a quick multiplayer video that shows an early wreck. Survive and you will do well.
Community & Customization
(Matt) The community features is where the game completely obliterates the competition and excels in ways never done before. From the get-go players have the ability to customize their vehicles, and share them through Xbox Live.
You can also swap pictures, designs, and videos. There is nothing more thrilling than fully painting and customizing your car and being able to share it with the world. Players are also able to sell their creations to other players through the auction house.
Tuning setups are also purchasable for those who lack the car knowledge it takes to fully tune a car for performance. If you’re looking for anything in particular, the Forza Storefront has a search menu for key terms to make searching as simple as the rest of the game.
Overall
(Louie) Forza 3 is a really good racer. It offers tons of customizing options, solid content creation tools and a fulfilling career that will require you play multiple seasons before topping out at rank and you’ll race with some of the best known cars from throughout history.
The game also caters strongly to the casual fan who wants to race with a great deal of help, but the vehicle handling doesn’t do much to push the genre forward and the driving experience isn’t anything close to the “best driving experience” of this generation.
It’s still a purchase for us, though, if you own an XBOX and like racers. It’s deeper than Need for Speed: Shift and will probably have a longer lifespan and get more developer support.
Final Score: 8.5/10
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written by keysy420 , November 01, 2009
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written by otherZinc, November 01, 2009
Ok, I disagree. Need for Speed shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Forza 3. This game is so spectacular its ridiculous. As far as catering to the casuals, it does! As for catering to the hardcore, it does! As for catering to the average consumer, it does! Forza 3 hits ever gamers needs perfectly.
Play Forza with all assists off, see what happens, its ultra realistic.
Need for Speed looks like crap next to Forza 3, period! For those of you that dont have either game, download the demo for both, play NFS then play Forza 3, you'll think your tv has extra lights of beauty, the difference is astounding. It is highly confusing to me when you guys say NFS compares visualy to Forza 3, I have no idea what your talking about. I had to rent NFS to see if the demo was a lie, it wasn't, I wasted $5 renting NFS.
I have 500 Achievement points for Forza 3, raced over 1,000 miles, a level 36 or so, & my rank is in the top 11% of 496,000 players registered online. I've played the **** out of this game & cant wait for the Bears game to end to play more!
I think you guys podcasts are great & think you guys (loui & diz) are absolutely true gamers, but I think you missed the mark on Forza 3. However, to each his own, different opinions make the world go round, its nice!
Also: race the Fujimi Kaido race track, the full track to see how magnificent Forza 3 looks & plays; amazing!
Forza 3 is my GOTY, with ODST a close second. See you guys next time & I hope I get the next podcast before I go to work tomorrow. Peace! I have so much to say about Forza 3 but I have to make sure the Bears beat the Browns!
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written by Louie Villalobos, November 01, 2009
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written by otherZinc, November 01, 2009
No, didnt focus on the score, however, I thank you for giving us one, my score would be a 9.8. Scores just give us something extra to talk about, nothing wrong with that.
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written by Matt Vongthongkham, November 01, 2009
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