One of the greatest Racers of all time, or just another Racing Sim Trying to compete with the glory that is Gran Turismo.
Let’s
face it, Video Games depict reality. In a video game world you can be a secret
agent, a superhero and in this case drive one of the fastest cars in the world
while in the real world you drive a bucket. Racing Simulations have come a long
way since the days of Gran Turismo for the PSone. Now in the year 2008 there’s
plenty to choose from but which game should you buy. Forza Motorsports was
created to challenge Gran Turismo where Gran Turismo is the king at, Racing
Sims. While some claim that it was better others were doubtful. Now with Forza
2 being a Platinum Hit title does it take the crown away from GT or is Forza 2
always going to be as the title suggests it 2nd place.
Forza 2
Platinum Hits title is available at your local games store for $20, This
version of the game includes all downloads that people had to pay for since the
game was released. Such downloads include the September Car Pack , December Car
Pack, March Car Pack, Nissan Tournament Car Pack and the limited Edition Pre-Order
car the Nissan Nismo Fairlady Z Custom Edition on top of 2 Track Packs. A total
of 43 downloadable cars + the cars in the game bring the car count to 350 cars.
Compare that to the 700 cars the GT4 has to offer that is just the tip of the
Ice Berg.
Forza 2
has similar style game play as the First Forza game and Gran Turismo. However
Where Gran Turismo Succeeds Forza fails. The handling of the cars are too stiff
and even at high speeds you still don’t feel the speed that you are suppose to
feel even when driving 100MPH. I know what you are saying “This is a racing Sim
it’s suppose to be stiff until you Tune up your car”. That is not true. Everyone
here has driven a car and knows how a car is supposed to feel. Even as a racing
Sim Forza 2 fails to capture the true motion of how cars are really suppose to
feel. You might have better chances if you have a Racing Wheel and adjust the sensitivity
of it but who really wants to spend over $300 extra just for a racing wheel.
You probably can find one on ebay for $50 if you’re lucky.
When it
comes to real world damage Forza is way behind the times. In a side crash your
rear fenders as well as your rear bumper will probably get damaged. I don’t
think they will actually fall off and if they do the force is not strong enough
to rip the entire bumper off your car. This is all the same when you just hit
the wall and the entire left side of your car is all scratched up even though
you didn’t grind you car though the fence.
Damaging
your car and driving off road takes away points from your credit given to you
to buy cars. The credits taken away all depends on how much damage your car
took in the previous race. These points can be used to purchase cars and
performance parts. You can earn credits by racing or by selling your car to the
computer or online.
When
you first start the game you are given 11000 points to purchase a car. All cars
have classes depending on how much HP they have and depending on the classes
you are entered to specific races. There are also specific races for only a
certain type of car where it doesn’t matter how much HP your car has as long as
it meets the requirements. Events can get you points, extra discounts on
performance parts and cars as well as unlock cars if you meet certain
requirements such as Win first place on all races.
There
are a few difficult settings ranging from Easy where you get help from arrows
the AI slows down and the transmission is automatic to Pro where there are no
arrows, the AI is a bitch and the transmission is Manual. The problem with
Forza 2 is the AI just all base on the computer. The cars follow a certain pattern
and if you try to cut in front of them they will just continue and hit your car
which will cause you to lose some points. The AI does not seem to react to you
trying to get in front of them and for some apparent reason even if the AI is
driving the same car as you they are always faster, So much for an actual
Racing Sim.
Gran
Turismo 4 has the best graphics for a PS2 game. Forza 2 is just a plain
disappointment. The details of the car are there because they have to be there
from real world environment and lighting effects it was all just screwed up. If
anything I would say Forza 2 has a bit better graphics than Gran Turismo 4, and
that’s not saying much seeing as how GT4 is still just a PS2 game.
Real
world artist and musicians have been replaces with elevator music. That’s right
the soundtrack in Forza 2 is limited to just fancy elevator Music. You can
always play your downloaded tracks from the HDD or you can connect your Zune to
the 360 and rock out to all your Fav Tracks if storage is a big issue. Reving
the engine is almost laughable but seeing as how I paid for this game I almost
cried. The engines do not sound as great as they should even if highly
modified. Crashes are limited to just metal scrapping and glass breaking. No
matter what car you drive all the sound effects crash sound effects will sound
the same. The only reason I see why you should drive a different car is
probably the look. I’m guessing the sound engineers where probably on a long
vacation when this game was being developed.
The
only great feature of Forza 2 is the limitless possibilities of tuning your
car. But the question is will you be dragged into the world of Forza 2 or will
you play it just because you had to spend your hard earn cash on this so called
Sim. Online play is limited to 8 players which is not bad and selling your car
online or giving your friend one of your cars to help them out is always a nice
addition. Playing this game was a torture rather than a pleasure. I just hope
they are able to fix all these issues on the next installment of Forza.
The
first Forza game was such a great game but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was
better that GT4. Forza 2 takes everything in Forza and just ups the graphics
and the cars. It all feels the same with no improvement what so ever. Handling
was OK for the first game but it is unacceptable on the second game. Following
installments are supposed to be better not worse. There are many things to do
in the world of Forza the question is will you make it past the first few
levels if you’re not a hardcore racing sim fan? Forza 2 is aimed a hardcore fans but I’m sure
they will also noticed the flaws of the game and it is not aimed at average
joes like myself who play racing sims from time to time. Well I guess I’ll take
the $20 hit and just put this game in my library, never to be seen again and
wait for a price drop for GT5. That’s right I said it a price drop on GT5 which
probably won’t be happening till sometime after 2011, but I could wait.
