Forza Motorsport 2 Review

Review by IanBear

Motoring On...

Well, finally, after 2 years since Forza 1, and after at least 6 months of delays, Forza 2 has finally arrived on these shores. After a marginally disappointing demo and a lot of hype surrounding the game after the first title was so great, can Forza 2 even hope to deliver some racing sequel goodness? The answer, thankfully, is yes, with Forza 2 being the standout-driving simulator on any platform, since, well, Forza 1 really!

The Real Driving Simulator

Whilst Forza 1 won much critical acclaim for basically stealing the basic premise of Gran Turismo, and then making it better by adding in options that SCEJ were too lazy to implement, like drivers inside the cars, a racing/braking line indicator, online multiplayer and proper customisation options, that included painting and upgrading vehicles, the additions to Forza 2 are more subtle. The tuning options have been increased further, much as a result of Forza 2's much heralded new physics engine, which refreshes an incredible 360 times per second, which allows for some incredible, F1 style telemetry being available to the real Motorsport geeks out there who just have to tune their cars for every race. Also, the paint shop has been given a complete overhaul, and the things that are achievable have so far been incredible. Thanks to an infinite amount of vinyl layers being allowed onto a car, people have been making incredible designs featuring anything from the Death Star to Mario to, ahem, less 'savoury' designs. You can then go online and sell these cars for huge mark-ups (hopefully) in the auction house, another great addition. If you are particularly proud of a design, you can also upload photos to the Forza website, and then email them to your friends, which is another cool option. The racing line indicator has been streamlined, and it now incurs a penalty to have it turned on the whole way; instead, just the braking distance and line is now displayed by default.

In terms of graphics, there has been, on the face of it, a smaller improvement. Forza looks barely better than PGR3, a launch title, and has nothing on DiRT, but unlike that game, the game runs at a silky smooth 60fps pretty much all the time. Coupled with the new physics engine, however, and vehicles, which really do look amazing, and some really nice lighting effects, one can perhaps forgive the somewhat bland and lifeless tracks somewhat.

On your marks!

Once you actually get going with Forza (this might actually take you a while, since the auction house and paint shop are addictive enough to never actually see you race at all!) you'll find that despite the simulation nature of the game, it is incredibly addictive. The career mode is basically the same as in the last game, even down to some events making reappearance. Don't let this put you off, however, thanks to the better customisation and tuning options, improved AI and some new tracks, the game never manages to feel too similar to the first game, at least not in a bad way. The career is also huge, and will take even the most skilled drivers 50 hours to complete, minimum. The only downside to this is that the number of tracks feels limited, even when compared to the first v ersion, as there are no point-to-point or drag races, whilst the fictional tracks also return when new ones could have been invented. Turn 10 has promised new tracks, but I expect that they will just make new events, rather than changing the tracks for existing ones. Whilst this does let you really get used to a track, eventually you really do yearn for more, and hopefully new content will be available very soon, rather than months ahead of us.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is pretty limited compared to PGR3, with only straight races being available. However, there are some great points. Firstly, you can do ranked career matches to win money with friends (yay!), and second, you can turn collisions off and still do ranked career matches. This is good, because as with many racing games, some crashes are always more to do with lag than deliberate bad driving. However, it is telling that Turn 10 included only one multiplayer achievement in the game; whilst the online career is much improved over the first game, it is still lacking and needs further improvements.

Conclusion

Ok, full marks may sound generous. there are less tracks than the previous game, with point-to-point racing and drag racing gone totally; the Live play is a little suspect, and the graphics aren't the hottest thing in town. But the attention to detail is incredible, the auction house and paint room simply amazing, and the career so long it could take years to complete. The gameplay is so detailed and complete, but yet accessible to anyone that this really is an amazing game that everyone should buy and love. It is also incredibly good value for money, and the promise of downloadable tracks should sort out any issues with the lack of tracks. Buy Forza, and you will slowly be hooked into the most addictive racing experience available on any console, ever.