As Forza's successor I must say that they nailed it with Forza 2. And
ensuring a place next to the great racing-games. With the more GTA-like
approach they know to stay true to the actual dynamics of driving. If
you're a "driving freak" or the casual "let's drive a lap-type of guy".
No doubt that Forza 2 is a nice addition to your collection.
The first thing that really caught my attention are the dynamics, the
handling and reactions of the cars. It pulls you straight in the
drivers' seat, making you the next Schumacher. Also the fact that the
difference between all the cars is very noticeable all adds to that
experience. Even the 'less' experienced driver it's possible to catch
the feeling as it suppose to be. This because the different assists
that are included. From TCS, ABS to the lines on the road telling you
the perfect path and where to break. It all makes sure that really
EVERY player can make play the game at the fullest. But that's not all.
The different assists are also linked to the difficulty level. Meaning
that turning off assists will increase the difficulty and of course you
can also adjust the AI's difficulty. Another thing that the assists are
linked to is the money (credits) you earn. The more assists are turned
on, the more credits you'll receive and vice versa of course. As far as
the AI goes I can say it's one of the best I've encountered in
racing-games. Acting exactly how you expect it to, a joy to race them
and it contributes greatly to the general feeling. You can just feel
it's in sync with the rest of the game. The interface itself is pretty
easy to use tough that it can be pretty frustrating sometimes. I rather
had an easier way to switch cars but further on 'the what', 'where' and
'how' are pretty obvious menu-wise.
The other thing that really surprised me is the amount of licensed
cars. There are just too many of them. And I'm sure that Forza 2 must
be THE race-game with the most choice of cars. It's just mind-blowing
but nice at the same time. Also the fact that all the differences
between the cars is so noticeable makes it that much better. I guess
they'd spent a huge amount of time just inserting variables on how all
the cars would reacting on all the different situation they possibly
could think of. Without a doubt one of the stronger aspects in the
game. All this is being backed up by awesome looking graphics.
Especially the cars got the attention. Being perfectly detailed it's
nothing more but a joy to just look at them, let alone drive in them.
Also the damage of the cars is very realistic and a great feature which
they worked out really good. But not only the cars are detailed and
nice to see. Also the surroundings and tracks are great. With enough
details and stuff going on to loose concentration while driving.
Though even if the tracks are looking great there's one point where I'm
not all too convinced about. And that is the amount of tracks that the
game contains. Even if there are licensed tracks I quickly got the
feeling that there where not enough of them. Which made it pretty
repetitive early on in the game.
Further on I also must say that they've could put a little more effort
in the music of the game. This has the same problem as the tracks and
gets repetitive pretty fast. Cause of the short list of numbers they've
put in there. But you can always listen to your own tracks while you
can't drive your own.
Finally the achievements, which are a joy to the achievement-freak like
me. You can easily reach the full 1000/1000 just be ready to play the
game for about 40 to 60 hours. But none of them are unreasonable and
insane to get. Also that almost all of them are offline achievements is
really nice.
Which brings me to the conclusion. Where I can say nothing more than;
GET THE GAME! It's a perfect game to play all trough or even pick up
once in a while to get that cup. Of course also worth to rent or loan.
But because you don't need outstanding driving-skills to play. So if
you're searching for a nice race-game to play, then stop searching.
This is the one...
