Forza 3 [Xbox360]

Devloper: Turn10 Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Testsystem: Xbox360 + Official 360 Wheel

About a month ago this years biggest and most anticipated racer arrived in my mailbox. Expectations was skyhigh thanks to all the videos and promises of a sequel to Forza 2 that would improve,refine and expand the details of the Forza series.

Forza Introduction
If you never heard of the Forza game series you should know that its a xbox exclusive racing simulator with a heavy emphasis on simulation. It is not for the arcade racers out there thinking they can go full throttle through every corner, if you do...then well you better get ready for a bumpy ride in the sand or a warm welcome to Mr Concrete Barrier.

However to not scare away casual gamers the developers has added autobrake functions and other tools to help newcomers to the series that might be playing a racing game for the first time or people who are only used to the Need For Speed series but for most of us who love the Forza series we play it with minimum help possible. It is simply more fun to play this way since you also get more XP and cash from races.

Whats new in Forza 3?
Usually when new versions of a racing game comes out it has a few more cars than previous version but Turn10 decided to go the extra mile by adding 4x the amount of cars. Forza 2 sported a hefty amount of 100different cars but in Forza 3 the selection is 400. More does not always mean that its alot better but I personally like the variety between old pickups and brand new 2010 models of famous sportscars


Also new to this version is drag racing. I personally looked forward to it alot but I must say I was abit disappointed on how its presented. You can't do a false start and you only got 1second to find the right RPM on the engine before the green light. I hope there will be some patching made to make drag racing more enjoyable




Breathtaking detail
First thing you notice when you start up the game the first time is the stunning graphics. The visual presentation in this game is just fantastic. All the car models look excellent and the sound is simply perfect. It is very satisfying to exchange the exhaustpipe for instance on a small Golf and hear it roar like mad with the new exhaust, very enjoyable and alot of attention to detail went into the sound.





The biggest new thing to this version compared to Forza2 is the new cockpit view. Turn10 did a massive research and took full 360 degree photos inside over 400 different cars to make each car in the game have a authentic cockpit whether its a 1970 crap Toyota or a 2010 version of a Corvette ZR1. The attention to detail in the cockpits is simply amazing, all of them has working dials which adds to realism and if you play with a wheel you truly feel like you are in the car.

Enough of the features talk. What about the actual racing?

Gameplay
The racing itself is pretty straightforward and nothing new if you have played older Forza games or Gran Turismo games. You start with a poor car and have to win races to earn more cash for better tuningparts or new cars. The AI is still pretty good but there is some need for improvement, I would personally like to see more aggressive behaviour from them when they are overtaken because often they simply dont try to fight back.

The Career Mode in the game is very long spanning over 6 ingame years which takes over 100hours to complete 100% which is both good and bad. Its good because it gives a nice length to the game with varying challenges like drag racing, endurance races and normal racing. The bad is that sometimes you dont get offered to race on different tracks from what you just raced on making it feel abit repetative. Luckily this doesnt happen often enough to be a real pain.

The Online mode is great also with official and unofficial tournaments where you can win ingame cash or even exclusive customized cars. The only problem,as usual with online play is that not everyone likes to lose so expect some harsh words from some people. In all fairness I gotta say that some hate PM's through Xbox Live has been warranted since it has happened a few times that I win a race by shoving the guy ahead of me off the track in the final corner. Its not nice but who says racing has to be pretty?

Conclusion
I would recommend this game to anyone who likes cars and owns a Xbox 360. The game aint the same huge step in content that Forza 2 was for Forza 1 but it is still a extremely enjoyable racer for 1st time Forza players or Forza fanatics.

With 400different cars and 100different tracklayouts you have alot of fun and driving to look forward to!

 

3 year warranty from original purchase date if its Red Ring of Death. If its not a RROD and no other warranty left on it I suggest wrapping it in very hot towels and start it up til it fries to create RROD

 

If you have a 1080p HDTV using HDMI cable,then yes. It does look this fucking awesome.

Its a very impressive game engine with good graphics and the engine does 60frames per second stable so its never any lag or anything while racing,no hickups, just pure fun

 

Xbox360 Exclusive so no,it will never come to PC. There is often alot of Xmas holiday deals on 360's and its a really great machine. You can set it up to stream movies from your computer or if you live in a Netflix eligable country you can stream hundreds if not more movies directly to it unlimited for 12$ a month total.

I personally use my 2 360's (1 PAL,1 NTSC) as media servers/HTPC's so I can download or stream movies and play it straight to the TV or simply just game on it