18th January 2012
There have been many very good racing simulations released
these past years. EA with Need For Speed Shift, Polyphony Digital with GT5.
These are both very good games in their own right, but there may be a new
champion of racers. This particular candidate would be Microsoft’s and
developer Turn 10’s fourth installment of the popular Forza Motorsport series.
Microsoft says it’s the best of the series, but is it? Read on to see if this
is truly the new racing champion.
In
the past years we’ve seen many iterations of Forza Motorsport, each with all
their pros and cons to them. But I can honestly say I’m having difficulty
finding anything really wrong with this game. It excels in every field it set
out to beat and even puts GT5 in its place.
Graphics
wise Forza Motorsport is a huge jump up from Forza 3. Its new dynamic lighting
model casts light on cars like never before, creating images that are very
often photorealistic. The tracks have also gotten their fair share of updating
as well. This is especially noticeable with the new daylight/dusk feature. This
fully utilized to its max effect and it looks absolutely fantastic. Best yet is the games autovista mode
that allows the player to view select cars in a showroom style manner in HD,
it’s stunning simply put. Best part is, it all runs at a smooth 60 fps.
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| Just look at that detail! |
In
terms of physics, Forza 4 has a new physics engine that has ultra realistic
tire data thanks to its partnership with Pirelli. It also has the same tried
and tested physics engine as Forza 3 had and it works great. It controls great
with a controller or a wheel. There is a couple minor flaws with the physics of
the opposing cars but they are hardly noticeable only pop their heads every
hour or so. You might also notice that rain and weather are not present, This
is so that the developers could focus on the tracks and cars and so that it
could run at that crisp 60 fps.
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| The new Ferrari 458 Italia |
The
season play mode in Forza 3 has been swapped out for a mode called world tour,
much like season play but the ai gets harder the better you perform or vice
versa. It’s a very fun mode and brings you around the world so you can have
some variety. When you enter a world tour you will have 2-4 races to choose
from each having a different class or make requirement. You can also play from the event list and
join any race, however this will not count towards world tour but you CAN
change the difficulty here. Driver levels have remained largely the same other
than the cap being put at 150 (cars to 50 large cash rewards afterwards). This
effectively makes leveling much more worth it, as you will not cap out quite so
fast. Finally car levels have been
replaced with manufacturer affinity levels. This works out fine, offering
discounts on parts to level 4 (100% at level 4, yes it’s free) and large cash
bonuses afterwards.
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| Multiplayer racing is as intense as ever |
Multiplayer
remains largely the same except for the max number of players being increased
to 16 and a new mode called Top Gear soccer. It’s a fun distraction but nothing
groundbreaking. Also there is now car clubs that are the Forza 4 equivalent of
a clan. They even let you share cars between your clan so it’s a fantastic
addition. The auction house and storefronts have remained largely the same,
although you are given the ability to import Forza 3 vinyl groups.
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| Nice car right? |
OVERALL: 9.7/10
Fantastic
Tl:dr it's a fucking up machine
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