Forza 4 Review (X360) PG1

Turn 10 set the bar pretty amazingly high with Forza 3 back in 2009, but have surpassed it pretty easily with Forza Motorsport 4. Forza 4 has far better graphics, a better career mode, an improved handling model that really changes the feel of the game, more cars on track, well implemented optional Kinect modes, more cars, more tracks, and refinements to pretty much everything. Forza 4 is simply an amazing racing game overall that is highly recommended.Game Details Kinect Sensor Optional Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: Turn 10 ESRB Rating: “E" for Everyone Genre: Racing Pros: Fantastic graphics and sound; career mode; new race variations; Autovista; amazing gameplay; tons of content; livery editor; car clubs; head tracking Cons: No night or weather effects

With so much new stuff to talk about, this review is only going to cover the new features and improvements introduced for Forza 4. For a more general overview of what to expect, check out our Forza 3 review.

Career

So what new stuff? How about an improved career mode. A complaint about Forza, and most racing games, really, is that the career mode is too dry and bland. In Forza 4 you play through multiple seasons with an increasing number of races in each season. Each stop of the season uses a specific track, and then gives you three choices of events to run on that track. And if you don't like the options they give you at first, you can pick a different car and get some new events to run. As you complete races, you earn credits and XP which raise your driver level. A nice touch this time around is that you have a choice of reward cars for each driver level you reach. Instead of being gifted a set car at each level, you have a choice of between 2-10 or so, which lets you build your garage with cars you actually want to use. Also new is that instead of each car having its own affinity level, you now earn manufacturer affinity that rewards you with credits and discounts on parts (free upgrades past level 4, heck yeah!) for that manufacturer.

If you have a Forza 3 save, you'll be rewarded with credits and gift cars depending on what level you were in Forza 3. This is a nice way to get some credits and decent cars to start with before you really even start playing. An interesting thing about Forza 4 is that you don't really end up spending all that much cash. You are rewarded with new cars pretty regularly, and since car upgrades are free after manufacturer affinity level 4, you never really have to spend any money on upgrades either. You certainly won't be able to earn every car in the game you want for free, and will spend credits eventually, but for much of the career you just build up a nice fat stack of cash to spend later.

Tracks

Dotting the landscape of your season are new tracks to visit, along with most of the old favorites from Forza 3, as well as new race types. New tracks include the Top Gear Test Track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Hockenheimring, and a fantasy track in the Burmese Alps. These join the returning tracks to give you a grand total of 26 tracks, each with multiple variations and even different times of day. There is no night racing or weather, which is disappointing since the competition does offer it, but we aren't that bothered by it. Personally, I don't really like racing at night or in the slop.

Race Types

New race types are also featured in Forza 4. In addition to standard races (now with up to 12 cars on track!), there are bowling challenges (where you knock down pins laid out on the track for points), autocross (weave through cones set up on the track as fast as possible without hitting any), multi-class events (like Le Mans where you have faster and slower cars all out on the track at the same time), and fascinating overtake challenges where you and an opponent race on a track filled with slower moving A.I. civilian cars that act as moving chicanes.

Better A.I.

It is also noteworthy that the way the career races are set up makes for much more competitive races than past games. In many races, the A.I. cars are mostly equal to the car you enter with, which means you actually have to drive well to win rather than just overwhelm opponents with a car that completely outclasses them. You still sort of can do that - an "A" class Ferrari is much different beast from an "A" class Mitsubishi, but both can enter "A" class races all the same - but if you stick with cars more appropriate to each event, the competition is much better. The A.I. actually puts up a fight this time around and drives really well. I haven't just easily won every event I've played, unlike in Forza 2 and 3, and have had to settle for a second or third place finish now and then. The A.I. still has a habit of spectacular failure where they overdrive corners and wreck if you pressure them late in races, but it isn't as bad as it was in Forza 3.

Some significant changes have also been made to the gameplay in Forza 4 as well. First, the cockpit view is better than ever. It is a little further back (one of my complaints with F3's cockpit view was that it was too far forward) and is much more realistic. It also isn't a perfectly smooth ride in the cockpit view, either, and your mirrors vibrate a bit from the rumble of the engine and the whole thing just looks and feels more realistic than ever. It isn't all crazy NFS Shift-make-you-motion-sick while in cockpit view. It is just nice and subtle.

The handling has changed a bit as well. Throttle management is more important than ever. You won't really notice it with the FWD cars you start the career with, but the first time you get in a RWD car and the back end steps out on you when you hit the gas too hard, you'll definitely take notice. You have to feather the throttle and really be smooth with your braking and acceleration. And it is pretty easy to be overwhelmed the first time you get in an actual "good" car. The finesse required to drive well at 150+ MPH is very different compared to driving around at 120. This isn't necessarily anything new to racing sims, but is much more pronounced here than it has been in past games. The nice thing is that the game does a good job of really letting you know (controller vibration, sound, visuals) when the car is breaking loose so you can correct it in time so you aren't just spinning out constantly. Once you get used to the handling, though, you won't want to play a racing game any other way.

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Forza 2 Tips and Tricks

Forza 2 is a huge game that can be a bit overwhelming so hopefully this article can answer some of your questions. Now, normally, you would find articles like this at the About.com Video Game Strategies site from Guide Jason Rybka, but I have spent a lot of time with Forza 2 over the past couple of weeks and wanted to share my thoughts and experiences after a few dozen hours and more than 3,000 miles on the track.

Tip #1: Check Your Ego At The Door

One of the best things about Forza 2 is that there are a ton of options to adjust the difficulty to ensure that anyone of any skill level can enjoy the game. Some people want a hardcore simulation, while others want things a little bit easier (although, admittedly, still more difficult than most racers), and Forza 2 lets you adjust to your liking. I see a lot of people turning off the assists before they are really ready to move on, though, seemingly to impress folks on the internet with their supposed driving skill and undoubtedly to stroke their own ego, but then they crash a lot and struggle and get frustrated. Take your time. If you need to drive with the driving line or braking line turned on, do it. And antilock brakes and traction control can mean the difference between fun and frustration. You aren’t any more or less of a gamer if you need a little help

Tip #2: Don’t Sell Your Crappy Prize Cars In The Auction House

It isn’t nearly as bad now as it was when the game launched, but I still see it a lot. People try to sell their unwanted prize cars that they have won in career mode in the auction house. The reason why is because you only get 100 credits if you try to sell it normally. Please, don’t do this. It floods the auction house with cruddy cars that everyone else already has. You might think you are clever if you can trick a noob into buying your prize car, but in reality you are just a jerk. If you want to get all of the achievements you need to keep those cars anyway.

Tip #3: Custom Paintjobs Aren’t As Difficult As They Seem

We have all seen the crazy paintjobs people are putting on their cars, and I know that most people are pretty intimidated by the whole process, but it really isn’t that hard. It does take a long time to really make something good, though, so you have to be patient and really take your time. Your effort will certainly be rewarded at auction. For a really great tutorial, check out the Custom Decal Tutorial from Neubourn on the ForzaMotorsport.net forums. It is very thorough and well put together and will teach you everything you need to know.

Tip #4: Understand Why Your Car Handles The Way It Does

Each drivetrain setup will handle differently from the others. An all-wheel-drive car will usually have amazing traction and is hard to spin out. A front-wheel-drive car is also extremely stable and easy to drive. Where people struggle is with the rear-wheel-drive cars, which is particularly frustrating for many because that is what all of the really great cars in the game are. The problem comes from a lot of different factors such as weight distribution, brake balance, body roll, etc. which all combine to cause the rear of your car to try to “catch up” to the front of your car and spin you out. Tuning a few different areas will help this (more on that below), but changing your driving style will make the biggest difference. The simplest thing to do is to just slow down. On any given corner, your car will reach a certain speed where it will try to spin out. Keep it at that speed or just below and you’ll be fine. You might think you are going slower this way, but I can guarantee you that you’ll end up with better lap times. All of the tire spinning and fishtailing you used to do was just scrubbing speed and seconds away from your times. By driving smoothly and adjusting to how your car performs and not overdriving your car, you will go faster.

Tip #5: Buy The Right Upgrades

A lot of people just want to slap on every horsepower upgrade they can afford right off the bat when they get a new car, but this is a horribly bad idea and a large part of why they struggle with the handling of their cars. Buying suspension, brakes, transmission, and weight reduction upgrades will benefit you far more than just slapping on an extra 300 horsepower. You of course will want to add more power if you can afford it, but races are won and lost in the corners, and even if your opponents are faster on a straightaway, I promise you’ll be much faster through the corners and produce better lap times overall. You’ll be able to brake later and get on the gas earlier and go through the corner faster than they can. On some tracks, horsepower will win you races, but on most of them handling is far more important.

Tip #6: Learn How To Tune Your Car

For casual players, the default setups on the cars in Forza 2 will likely be good enough. But for players that want to squeeze just a bit more performance and better handling out of their car, effective tuning can make a world of difference. I’m not going to run down exactly what you need to do, but I will offer this advice. Each different aspect of your car that you can tune has detailed instructions on what it does and what a change in either direction will do right there in the game. Read them before you make any changes so you understand how and why things are changing. For more detailed tuning tips, there is a great tuning guide at the Turn 10 Studios Developer Blog that should help you out.

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