“We’re an endangered species, you and I, we lovers of speed, we devotees of power, performance and noise. Go away, we are told, and take your carbon fibre and your fire-spitting V12s with you. There’s hardly a place out here for us anymore.” – Jeremy Clarkson
Welcome to the fourth instalment of Turn 10’s racing series, Forza.
After its first instalment back in 2005, the series that once was a lightweight has now become a class leading heavyweight ready to roll with the punches.
Forza 4 has adopted an “if it aint broke don’t fix it” attitude and built on the strong foundation of its predecessor. Developer Turn 10 Studios pulled out all the stops in Forza 4 and injected some much needed world-class innovation to a very saturated genre.
Behind the wheel
The first thing you will notice is the graphics; they simply leave you breathless. The colours are rich and the black levels are superb.
Turn 10 has achieved this by using image-based lighting that correctly reflects the ambient light from the environment onto the car, giving the car unprecedented realism. By successfully achieving photo realistic gameplay, this could easily be the best looking racing game of all time.
Partnering up with Pirelli and using their very accurate data analytics which measures car grip levels, weight transfers and all facets of tyre performance; makes for very realistic handling and performance characteristics on all cars.
When it comes down to sound, Forza 3 never had any problems but noticeable improvements have been made. Turn10 had been seen sound testing with the all-electric sports car company Tesla to record very accurate tyre screeching and wind noise whilst eliminating both engine and exhaust noise.
The roster of cars is impressive with over 500 meticulously modelled cars from 80 manufacturers from around the globe.
All the tracks from Forza 3 are back with only 5 new additions; but don’t despair as plenty of DLC’s are to come featuring even more cars and race tracks.
Whether you’re a novice to car racing or a hard-core race junkie with 102.7 Octane running through your veins, you’re catered for. With vast options of driving aids and Opponent AI levels there are no longer excuses for your significant other to not join in the fun.
Gameplay progression
The launch screen is split into 5 categories: Play Career; Community; Autovista; Free Play as well as Marketplace.
Navigating through the menus is simple and fluid. Career menus are much the same as Forza 3 with options of World Tour Mode or simply choosing your event based on the popular Grid layout.
A welcome addition is the levelling up criteria, as now it’s also car manufacturer based and not just the car itself. Keep in mind that after every driver level reached a car is awarded, but the choice is yours – you get to choose amongst a few similar spec’d cars.
As a realistic simulator it’s refreshing to see that Forza hasn’t lost its charm and vigour, keeping the game fun and entertaining with the integration many of Top Gear’s antics such as “Car bowling” in which you find yourself racking up points by ploughing through bowling pins, or drag racing down a 1 mile arrow straight.
Forza really creates a meaningful connection to every car you drive – for example, I will never look at the Nissan Micra the same way again because I know what will happen when I unleash its ferocious 59kw.
Additional Features
Autovista is a new mode featured in Forza 4; a mode in which you can have your way with the world’s greatest supercars in a very intimate setting.
In what seems to be an airport hangar, is parked a timeless beauty for your enjoyment. Open her doors, lift her bonnet, climb into her cockpit and start her up. Not only can you fiddle around to your heart’s content but there’s also information narrating all the key details of the car to you.
One Notably funny aspect is having Jeremy Clarkson narrate his controversial opinions as well. This mode is executed to a level of perfection and one can really be lost in Autovista mode for hours.
Kinect integration is fantastic – in theory of course; but in practice though, it’s a little less inspiring.
For hardcore racers such as myself, racing controller-free just doesn’t cut it and is reminiscent of Joy Ride for Kinect.
As for head tracking, I feel this is not a necessity for advanced racers as they need to keep their head fixed for maximum concentration, and not looking slightly in either direction away from your TV.
As for the integration with Autovista, Kinect does seem logical, but then again the controller works just fine.
Multiplayer
Forza’s multiplayer mode has also been vastly improved. We now see additions such as “Rivals”; a mode in which you set out to beat a rival’s ghost car and vice versa.
There are multi-class races in which there are more than one class of car racing separate races on one track at the same time; this adds a whole new dynamic to racing.
Being part of a car club and challenging other car clubs to race days is pure bliss.
So after my test drive with Forza 4 do I think this game is worthy of being crowned king in the racing genre? Absolutely yes!
Forza 4 review (Xbox 360) << Comments and views
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