fabro_s
How many cars and tracks will forza have?
----> Track List (OXM Demo)
----> Car List
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Just got the demo...
From what I have played so far, about two and a half hours, I can tell you that this game is one of the better racing games I have played for my Xbox!
The gameplay is pretty basic in the demo, just pick a car, tune it if possible (not sure if this affects anything -- performance wise) and race around the Laguna Sequa (SP?) trying to improve your times. There is a slight learning curve, however, it is easily overcome with about 30 minutes of playtime (I have never played a sim before). After that, the game really comes into it's own, and it becomes very fun to try and improve your times. More experienced players are given the option to turn of driving aids, such as ABS, which makes for a more challenging play. Aside from that slight learning curve, the game is very easy to pick and play, although, some more casual gamers may be turned off by it being a racing sim.
All of the cars handle nicely, except that stupid NSX (actually I just suck and racing games
), and they each have their own unique feel. This helps differentiate each one and make it a bit more challenging to master each car (which I have in no way done), plus it's just plain cool to check out how each one handles differently from the others. The joysticks work pretty good for controlling the cars, although they can seem a bit touchy at first and still have to try my MC2 on it... can't imagine what that new fangled Logitech wheel they have for the PS2 would be like
The triggers really help with their pressure sensitivity, as it's easy to regulate the pressure on the throttle and brakes, this really seems to help when you have the driving aids turned off. Other than the touchy joysticks and getting used to the pressure sensitive triggers with the aids turned off, the controls are very solid and should be easy enough for anyone to master... with practice!
Vissually, Forza is pretty "good", which really isn't all that great, considering it's one of Xbox's flagship titles for 05! I mean, the textures, lighting, special effects, damage modeling and car details all seem pretty "good", but the frame rate of the cars and their reflections are pretty bad. It looks like the reflections are moving at about 15 FPS or slower
The two best visual aspects of the demo are the colours (I know, I know, it doesn't look as "realistic" as GT4, but I like the brighter and slightly more vivid colours!) and the damage modeling, which does a fairly good job of showing paint chipping, smearing; bumpers dangling and windows breaking. Each car seems to have been created with a fair amount of care, and they all seem to resemble their real life counter parts, however, I have found that when the suns hits some of the cars at odd angles it gives them and unrealistic looking shine.
The physics, although I am no car expert, convincingly convey the way a car moves during sharp turns at high speeds and how when they break and accelerate their body weight shifts. Another good example of the physics at work, is when coming to a complete stop on a hill the car will roll down backwards, as if it's weight and center of gravity has been changed by the incline in the slope. Other than those aforementioned things, I do not feel fit to comment on things I do not really understand, such as how the physics cause the car to over-steer / under-steer etc.
The A.I, for the most part, is okay and displays some intelligence when tying to over take you or when blocking your path, but other than that it seems they are just driving on a rail and will do anything to stay on it. I have tried driving in reverse along the track and from what I have seen the A.I. will do a pretty good job at avoiding you, however, their have been some odd instances when the A.I. just seemed to drive straight into me on purpose, which is kind of odd
Other than the couple of problems found in the demos' A.I, which will most likely be fixed by release, it really isn't all that bad!
In summation, the OXM demo of Forza MotorSport demonstrates that Forza is a good console racing sim, although I don't think it will be better than GT3: A spec of GT4: The real driving simulator, and that with improvements could become one of the Xbox's best racing games and one of the best on any console... save maybe GT3 and GT4.
Demo Rating: 8.7/10
Holt
. I think that considering it runs at 60 fps, it's fantastic. If anything, I'm more a PC person then consoles anyway.
