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Forza Motorsport 2

Japanese version well hard too find so play-asia now sending me Ltd Edition Asian copy.
 
Managed to grab a few games on this early, absolutely chuffed. :D

The main questions for me were about the graphics (rumours that they are better in the final version) and about the review that said if you upgrade your car it gets too easy.

Well, the graphics are either the same or very, very slightly anti-aliased. I reckon there's a slight bit of difference with the jaggies, but that's not what I have the biggest issue with. My main problem with the graphics is the way that, if you watch the brakelights as you turn, you see gaping white holes flash on and off the screen - which is unacceptable when this is a next-gen console. If it's just crap graphics and jaggies, fair enough (and sorry but the graphics really are poor compared to Colin McRae Dirt and even PGR3, which is the oldest racing game available on the 360) - but to have flashing white gaps appear is just not on really.

As for the difficulty, it seems like the hardest racing simulator I've played (bear in mind I've only got one of the the driving aids on though). If you set the AI difficulty to hard (there's either two or three settings, normal and hard are there and there might be an easy as well), then they can be quite aggressive. One car shoved me into the grass when I hadn't even touched an opponent car since starting the game. My first two races I finished third, I upgraded via a new ignition/set of ignitions, whatever it is (added 10hp anyway) and I then finished second - but once I'd upgraded again, my car "score" went up and so the opposition changed, and I was back to finishing third. Seems like a very hard game to crack.

Overall, I'm very impressed and I can see myself playing it for a really, really long time. Graphics are really poor, sound is pretty good (especially when an upgrade makes a difference to the noise) but the gameplay is pretty much perfect.
 
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My only question is HOW?!?! How did you get it, without resorting to more dodgy means :lol:

Just rang the gameshop that always releases games a bit earlier but even he said it will be only a couple of days before the june 8 date :( Was hoping he might already have it.
 
With the way Microsoft have treated me (check the Xbox 360 thread for more details) I don't feel sorry for any retailers breaking the release date - but keep checking around, it's not always the same shop that will get it early.
 
Yeah but over here thats the only independent gameshop, we are otherwise left with the dutch equevalant(sp?) of HMV or large scale shops like mediamarkt( tv's,games,music,washingmachines,etc). None of which release anything early :(
 
Jack I heard that the credits you get from each race changes depending on the difficulty/driving aids etc. what region did you start your career in?
 
I started in Europe (as I live in Europe - I have to play all my games with as much realism as possible [/nerd]) - the credits do change depending on the driving aids you switch on/off (as it was in Forza 1). But at the start of your career, you're presented with a set of four presets. Beginner has racing line and all the aids on (normal AI), Amateur has braking line and most of the aids on (normal AI), Pro has no racing/braking line and most of the aids off (normal AI), and Champion obviously has all the aids off (hard AI). But once you've selected you can switch any options you want off/on normal/hard anyway, so... :eh:

I stuck to the Pro settings though, which I was nervous about as it has most aids off (there's three abbreviations, TCM, ABS and something else - it leaves the top one on and the rest off). Except I did put the AI on hard, as I don't feel right winning a game unless I'm being pushed as hard as the CPU can push me (without cheating PES-style).
 
To correct what I wrote earlier in this thread (uh-oh), I've just noticed that when you upgrade and your car score goes up, the opposition don't actually change (they seem to try harder, but it's probably coincidence), and when your car changes class, the other cars don't change class with you.

When you select a race you can press an "opposition" button, and it gives you the list of people you'll be racing (names like C. Shaw or whatever) - they never change, and their cars never change. So if they all have D-class cars and you upgrade your D-class car to a C-class car, you will steamroller them. Which is a bit of a bastard.

You can, of course, choose to perform upgrades that keep your car within a certain class, which means you won't be able to "cheat", as such, but the option is there.

Not too worried though, because some of the later races are extremely hard. So far I've had to resort to nudging cars off the road twice to gain a gold, otherwise it's near impossible, such is the AI.
 
Jack Bauer said:
To correct what I wrote earlier in this thread (uh-oh), I've just noticed that when you upgrade and your car score goes up, the opposition don't actually change (they seem to try harder, but it's probably coincidence), and when your car changes class, the other cars don't change class with you.

When you select a race you can press an "opposition" button, and it gives you the list of people you'll be racing (names like C. Shaw or whatever) - they never change, and their cars never change. So if they all have D-class cars and you upgrade your D-class car to a C-class car, you will steamroller them. Which is a bit of a bastard.

You can, of course, choose to perform upgrades that keep your car within a certain class, which means you won't be able to "cheat", as such, but the option is there.

Not too worried though, because some of the later races are extremely hard. So far I've had to resort to nudging cars off the road twice to gain a gold, otherwise it's near impossible, such is the AI.
Click to expand...

jack how is this different from GT, i kind of want to get this game but not sure...
 
To be honest with you it's not that much different, except that the physics are a lot more realistic. You have so much more to fiddle with, and if you know what you're doing you can tune a crap car to beat everybody in the race (offline or online). Plus, the AI is absolutely incredible. Possibly the best I've ever seen in any game, any genre (especially when you notch it up to "hard").

It's very deep, and it's a great game. The realism is unmatchable. Just a shame about the graphics, and it can get boring after a while if it's not your kind of thing. Some of the events are already getting a bit tiresome in truth, but it's all about concentration and getting through to the next race.
 
Some more reviews:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/driving/forzamotorsport2/review.html?sid=6171672&tag=topslot;title;1

9.2

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3159906

8.5

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/792/792572p1.html

8.9

http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1330/Forza-Motorsport-2/p1/

9.3 (posted earlier)



Pretty much all the same comments;
- Graphics and sound arent anything special
- Its easy to out upgrade the comp racers
- great gameplay
- good to great online mode
- great editing
- very long lasting

Personally im not too bothered about the graphics/sound comments. From the videos ive seen im content. One point of concern is how easy it is to upgrade your car beyond the comp racers for an easy win. However you can see the bhp of each racer before a race so its up to you to not go overboard. However, as IGN stated, it would have been nice to see the AI upgrade their cars aswell.

Think this might be a game that finally makes me go online. The editing, selling and racing makes me very interested. And the control you have over race option settings means you can be in decent control to keep cheaters/crashtossers away. Could be fun to create a evo-web livery and race online against you lot ;)
 
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Compared to the demo can anyone notice any differences/improvements? And in normal mode is the damage more realistic, also if anyone has rec'd there copy in uk, who did you order from?
 
No differences from the demo, although the anti-aliasing may be slightly better (and I mean so slight that it could be my imagination). But in the demo, the damage is on "light" - in the full game you can switch full damage on, which is a lot more realistic.
 
Jack can you take out collision on the online mode like in PGR3. can't stand cheaters who just bash you non stop.
 
Rubbing is racing, smashing you into the barriers and parking in-front of you so you can't carry on isn't. You'll always get pricks, in any online game. PGR3 did my head in, in this respect (6/12 months after release, at least).

You can turn collisions on/off in Forza 2 though, thankfully. But it seems to have more serious players than any other game I've played, so it's not really required. You should see some of the car designs, incredible the lengths that people will go to for a computer game.

Career mode is getting irritating, verrry repetitive, I'm spending more time painting the cars than actually racing at the minute, and the graphics (even if you're not a graphics whore, which I'm most definitely not) really grate after a while. You just think, "why is everything else so perfect, did the graphics department have to be given such a low budget" - you put the Colin McRae Dirt demo on and it's literally like looking at a game from a different console. It's not just about looking nice - I mean, I put a logo on the back of my car and it was so low-res that it was literally just a red blur.
 
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Tackled the boredom by saving up for a new car (Toyota, my favourite manufacturer ever since I used a Toyota Celica 4WD in GT3 and couldn't believe how great the handling was compared to all the other cars).

I don't know why the reviews slate the sound because personally I think it's absolutely brilliant. If you alter your engine you really, really hear the difference, and it's so satisfying. When you get a totally new car, it's a totally different noise. And when you crash... You really hear it. If you crash into a concrete wall at a high speed, the crunching and smashing makes your hairs stand on end. Brilliant.

Having a lot more fun on it now that I'm slowly getting into the tuning (pumping the front tires up to have higher PSI than the back tires seems to aid handling, for example) and now that I've got a new car and what seems to be new opponents (the car levels were previously all Ds, now there's two Cs in there, and they are bastards to beat).

Something else I've only just noticed through fiddling is that you can access a driver information screen, and it tells you all about the opposition. You get a skill level (I think it's out of 10, there's a few rated 2 and a few rated 10, most are rated 5-7) - but you also get a description of how they prefer to drive, which is actually true and not just bumph. For example, one of my opponents is known to "overtake at any opportunity", which means he will be so desperate to overtake he will be constantly trying to get into awkward positions, which results in him having to slam on the brakes because he's trying to fit his car in an impossibly small gap on the inside. There's another guy who is described as having "flashes of brilliance" - he will go for ten races or so finishing averagely, then suddenly he will have a blinder of a race and get a podium finish.

How cool is that?!
 
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Yeah read about that in the pitpassreport. De Rossi is the best and very skillfull, there's one thats really agresive aswell. Think its a cool addition and, after youve been playing the game for awhile, i can imagine you'll end up using different racing tactics against the different opposition (as you would in the footie games). Cant wait till next week, kinda glad i dont already have it as im too busy to play.....or i would then be playing and not having enough time for my work ;)

@ Jack, can you see the added power before buying a part/upgrade? Think ill need it so i wont be buying too much and getting a too powerfull car. Want to keep it competitive as im looking forward to having to using the tactics what i mentioned above, seeing as most racing games dont have that.
 
Yep, when you select an upgrade it will show you the "rating" difference (e.g. if your car's "speed" stat is rated as 4.7, it will show you the increase if you select a speed-boosting part - sometimes the increase is fractional, so the number will light up green, meaning an increase, but stay the same), and it also shows you the actual difference as well if you toggle through the menus (e.g. +10hp).
 
love this game :D still with my Golf II gti, put in a engine swap, now it is a 4wd with around 220 hp. goes like hell. added one of the two available custom front skirts, painted it silver, added 2 logos of the wheel manufacturer i use (RAYS) and put some more under-the-bonnet parts in.

mean car. awesome game. :D
 
forza 2 is superb!

i started with the mkii gti aswell, but now my main weapon of choice is my very own blue R32, with everything maxed out. b-e-a-utiful!!
 
switched over to a porsche cayman...put on a nice paintjob...is there any other way to get the pics from the box than xbox live? afraid of my console getting banned...
 
Good game, thought my 360 was dead this has made it be used again(play the ps3 religiously)

Things I like:

customization and explaination of upgrading engine etc. Very nicely implemeneted for those of us "not in the know"

physics are top notch.

things i don't like;


almost just a minor upgrade to FM1 track graphics. Some people complain about MLB 07 the show being just a monor upgrade but in that game you can TELL it isn't in this one IT IS sadly enough...

Other than that? alotta fun played 4 hrs str8 last night
 
I thought i read that all the images get published online, im guessing the forza site as it has a "my pictures" tab ont eh site. Just log in with your messenger/live account i think.

EDIT

Just tried it and its your live account details. Its bloody awesome, browsing through all the cars that you can bid on and checking out their designs and stuff. Anybody else had a look yet? Its really cool and makes the game (even though i havent got it yet) have a very big community / living feel to it.
 
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tiktiktiktik said:
I thought i read that all the images get published online, im guessing the forza site as it has a "my pictures" tab ont eh site. Just log in with your messenger/live account i think.

EDIT

Just tried it and its your live account details. Its bloody awesome, browsing through all the cars that you can bid on and checking out their designs and stuff. Anybody else had a look yet? Its really cool and makes the game (even though i havent got it yet) have a very big community / living feel to it.
Click to expand...

yeah i checked out the auction house but the credit stuff is high I just got the game and between fully maxin out my car I have no credits like what they want for their cars. i guess it's my fault cuz i'm still getting used to "getting" credits for myself. once i do i'll be getting some cars though...
 
@ Alberto, and jack:

Do you need live gold to use the action house and photo features? Or is it only for the online racing?

Seeing as ill be having 2,5 months holiday i think ill be spending a lot of time in the game and probably will be wanting to play some online as the game is mostly focussed towards more serious gamers and hopefully have less tossers messing about.
 
Yep, you need Live gold for those features (well the auction house I'm 100% sure on, photo side I'm 80% sure).

The difficulty is getting on my tit now - if you have the AI on medium, then once you get used to the game you can win relatively easily, but if you put it on hard, your car can be 150 levels (!) above the competition and they will still wipe the floor with you. They get everything unrealistically perfect, in my view, but I don't like the idea of the CPU "not trying" against me so I keep it on hard and resort to buying a ton of upgrades, which then makes it too easy... And by the way, when they bash you, you're the one who gets a lap-time penalty. Bastards.

Still having immense fun on it, don't get me wrong, I just have to have a moan - it's in my blood. Every time you buy a new car it's so satisfying to "feel" the difference.
 
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usually, i max out the handling and tyres on cars that i think i'm gonna like, then upgrade the turbo and that's usually enough to win comfortably...

i have everything turned off, apart from manual gears and the ai difficulty is one down from maximum hardness.

favourite races so far are the mr2 races (think it's the second one in on semi-pro), with the free white mr2, with red stripe - i think the sense of speed on this set of races is brilliant - easily my favourite set...
 
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