|
Forza Motorsport is Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s Gran Turismo. This latest iteration is the third game in the racing sim series. The series has always been seen as a hardcore racing game but developers Turn 10 have changed the direction of the game to be more open to new or novice players. Forza Motorsport 3 has a long list of cars and tracks to choose from with the focus of the game being to level up your cars and driver rank. I’ll openly admit, I have never really been a fan of these kinds of real racing simulator games and never really gained a liking to the Forza games, but Forza Motorsport 3 really captured me into the game and I love every minute of it.
The biggest and probably the most noticeable feature about Forza 3 is the Career Mode. The new Season Play mode features a calendar and a championship that happens every other Sunday. Meanwhile, the player is given the choice between 3 different events, and the options available are based on your past choices or the car you are currently driving. After the Sunday championship, the season is over and a new one starts, featuring a more advanced championship, and thus a longer calendar. The player is supposed to complete the first 6 seasons. Although the idea is great, it seems to be badly executed. The first season is ridiculously short and the next seasons can be very boring. The championship races - which you cannot skip - get really long too fast, and the events you can race during weekdays also get boring. There is still the option to hire a driver like the previous game, but it is no fun to just watch the A.I. racing in your place.
Fans who loved Forza 2’s Career Mode will be pleased to know that in Forza 3, there is the Event List mode, where you can just choose an event and race - pretty much the exact same thing that was seen in Forza 2’s Career Mode. The Driver Level system is back and the player now gets experience (XP) points after each race. No XP is awarded for those who hire a driver. Speedway, Drag and Closed Courses are new kinds of events the player will experience in Season Play/Event List modes, and they are very fun, but Closed Courses are usually longer than regular races, and because of the lack of more closed tracks, this category gets boring really fast. There are more than twice the number of events from Forza 2 (220 events in Forza 3 against 90 in Forza 2), so you will spend months to complete everything.
Going into the customization the Forza franchise is widely known for, fans will be pleased to also find out that the upgrade system has improved and the player now has access to much more upgrades, like drivetrain swaps and twin turbo conversion. It’s now possible to make your own R-class car, since the U-Class from Forza 2 is no more and the player can now keep upgrading the car until the class R1. Now for the lack of customization in the way you race; it will be extremely noticeable that the options to create your custom race in single-player mode are now all predetermined even with the number of laps. I must say, the decision behind this is insanely absurd and why the freedom the players used to have been yanked is completely strange. This even stretches to the online portion of the game; eliminating the online player's ability to choose which track or how many laps, or even set any requirements of their own. What's worse, they don't even support competition in the F,E,D,C, or B classes. Those used to be some of the most fun classes to compete in but are no longer an option. Lastly, and what's worst of all, the "auto-match" feature they force all players in to, simply doesn't work well. Players who attempt online play should expect a wait of 5-10 minutes (no exaggeration) of sitting alone in a lobby before the game is able to match you with other players. Even then, a group of 3 is rare, just 2 (you and one other) is the norm. Fans will be upset and those who have the game now are already very upset, going as far as saying the multiplayer has been ruined.
|
| No one has posted a comment yet. Be the first one by logging in if need be and submitting your comment to the right. Be aware that we do not tolerate those who post "First" comments. If done enough times, you could be banned from posting comments. |
|
|
|
