Forza Motorsport 2 Review
By Jon Liu
General Gameplay
Forza Motorsport 2 is the answer for simulation-racing lovers who have been itching to get their hands on a sim racer for the Xbox 360 console. Until now the Xbox 360 has really only sported arcade-style racers. Forza 2 offers 300 different cars, most of which can be upgraded, tuned and even painted!
I’ll tell you right now, nearly half of the fun that I got from this game was from painting my cars. Forza Motorsport for the original Xbox touted 200 different layers that you could place on your car to give it your own unique look. For Forza 2, Turn 10 realized the addiction of personalizing your cars and offered the option of putting up to a
couple thousand layers on a car! You likely will never need or even come close to using that many, but if you want to paint the Mona Lisa on your car down to the very last detail, you will be able to do so. After you’ve customized your cars you can put them up for auction at the online auction house for anyone to bid on and purchase your homemade creations!
The racing aspect of Forza 2 will not initially feel much different than many racing simulation racing games. Give it time and you will start to appreciate the subtle and not-so-subtle difference between this and a lot of other sim racing games. Forza 2 is one of the few games that actually has realistic damage implemented. Of those few games, Forza 2 is one of only a couple that really implement damage which effects your driving. On top of that, what really sets Forza 2 apart is the “Real-time Telemetry” feature. During any given race you can push up on the D-Pad to bring up a HUD that you can cycle through to tell you real-time statistics on your car, like how much grip each individual tire is getting, how much weight distribution, or how much damage your car has taken.
Forza is also really the first game made to utilize the Wireless Racing Wheel for the Xbox 360. I’ve tried Project Gotham Racing 3, Test Drive Unlimited, and Need For Speed Carbon with the racing wheel and none of them felt quite right. This is the first game that truly implements it correctly and is worth using the racing wheel! In most of the other games mentioned, the racing wheel felt like a hindrance to the actual game, but once you learn and adjust to using the wheel in Forza 2, it will seem like driving your own car... only faster!
Tech Specs
Forza 2 is a pretty great looking game. I can’t go so far as to say it’s an
incredible looking game, but it definitely is good. One of the things I noticed right away is that the environment is pretty bland most of the time. In all honesty, however, when people actually race it’s hardly in conditions or environments that are visually diverse. Most of the time it’s in bland, remote areas. So this game does a good job in that regard, but at the same time the racing environment remains pretty simple.
Where Forza 2 strikes me as visually stunning is in the car models. Turn 10 spent a tremendous amount of time on the car models and it truly shows. Each car stands out as unique-- just like they would in the real world. Subtle differences in the details and curves on each car make watching your replays a real visual treat. After playing many hours of the game I also noticed that the longer you race, the dirtier your car gets. This is especially true around the wheel wells, where dirt and brake dust accumulate. That’s a very nice, subtle, addition to the game.
All individual beauty aside, I think overall what is most impressive about Forza 2 is the framerate, which runs at a solid 60fps. Not many games really push the envelope in terms of framerate. In my opinion, part of the "High definition experience" is enhanced by a solid framerate. This helps the fluidness of motion when playing a game and in racing where motion is where it is at, framerate is key. I’ve heard people complain about the game not giving you a great sense of speed, but I think quite the opposite. Some say that it doesn't look or feel like you are going 180MPH. It's hard to recreate it in my opinion and without any fake additions like blurring lights, blurring of the environment makes it even harder. The reason for either side of the argument could possibly be the framerate, though. The fluid motion may give a false sense of slowness, but I think since you're sitting in your living room or game room as opposed to in the actual cockpit of the car, it's hard to get a good sense of speed anyway. Another thing that might help with the sense of speed is the racing wheel. To recreate some of the motion of the car and such, the racing wheel's force feedback may help heighten that need for speed.
Audio-wise, this game is not really too different from other racing games. The cars sound relatively aggressive and the tires squealing sounds pretty good, but overall, you’re not going to get much variance out of the sound department. As you are racing and looking around your car, however, you will notice the different sounds generated from the hood (engine sounds) and the muffler (exhaust sounds). These do sound different from car to car and vary even more once you have tuned or upgraded your car.
If I had to gripe about the audio, I would whole heartedly gripe about the music in Forza 2. The music is simply atrocious. Fortunately, there’s no music during racing, but the menu music definitely got on my nerves. Fortunately, there is an option to turn down the music.
The game does make good use of the surround capabilities allowing you to pinpoint other racer’s location without having to look around you to see where they are at.
Game Rage
Forza 2 was meant for the simulation racer in mind. There’s no two ways around it. Even though the game has an “Arcade” mode, it still requires some simulation skill to actually run the courses. The beauty of this fact is that as you race certain tracks and different vehicles, you will get a sense for when you have to slow down, and speed up for optimal speed. With full simulation set to "on" you will also have to track your tire and gas usage along with any damage you sustain from any overly aggressive computer or Live opponents. If you are looking for a Burnout replacement, do not buy Forza 2.
ADD Level
I’ve spent countless (and when I say countless I truly mean countless) hours playing Forza 2. With the amount of customization for each individual car along with the amount of racing to finish the game, Forza 2 will keep you interested for hours upon hours upon hours! And that’s only the single player! With the addition of multiplayer online, the fun never really stops. Online career or simple online racing allows you to choose whether or not you earn cash to help purchase those expensive cars in your personal career. Also, different options allow you to race specific classes, different tracks or in some cases, a nearly different game mode all together! We here at PreGameLobby have busted a gut laughing so hard by playing a made-up game mode called Little Buddy Blocker (
See this link for more details). Whether it's simple racing, preset game modes, or simply crashing into each other for kicks and giggles, you will have your hands full.
Multiplayer
Forza 2 supports 8 players racing online. The online is an absolute blast and very well implemented. When you get the right group of players (PreGameLobby members for example) it is one of the best multiplayer experiences you can have. On the flip-side, if you race with people who aren’t apt to following rules and purposefully bump you off the road (like that Aetherhole guy!), then it can also be the most enraging experience you can have online. Either way, Turn 10 did a good job at making this multiplayer experience as fun as possible. With the incredible amount of options, you can make awesome game modes that will give you hours of fun (Little Buddy Blocker anyone?).
Conclusion
Racing Sim fans can rejoice! We finally have a racing game worthy enough to play! The overall gameplay will likely astound most fans and even convert non-fans as well. With the amount of customization, races, and online racing, this game will keep you busy for weeks! Visually, you might find better looking games, but Forza 2 definitely has more than a few moments of wow.
