High Expectations
Now here's a game with about the highest expectations of greatness before release ever. With over 5 years of waiting, many of us have been counting the days, rescheduled release dates, and blog postings, just dying to play it. Racing games in general are so highly picked apart and compared to one another, and this one was in no doubt at the top of the list of scrutiny. Forum after forum of Forza fans and GT fans battled it out for years now, and was it really worth it? Is the game good on it's own? Is it fun? Realistic? Demanding hour upon hour of your playing time? Well, after a week I can safely say it's fun. It's very flawed, but it's fun. Is it addictive? Well, for a while I wanted to level up and get new cars, but not to the extent I have in the past with other similar games. In fact, I'm kinda already over it. It becomes very grueling, as the leveling up is the biggest killer. It just takes too long, with very little reward. Not to mention the presentation is pretty dated.
From the opening interface, to the sound design, to the simple fact that it feels like you're really playing bumper cars, it's just not that awesome of a game. It's good, yes, especially when compared to the countless racing games I loved in the past, but it's just not innovative. I find the whole thing to be a victim of too much quantity and not enough quality. How can you have only premium cars with all the details you want? Why? Where's the damage? You seriously have to run into a wall 300 times to have the bumper fall off, and when you hit other cars it gives no consequence for your actions. Why? I know in reality professionals don't hit each other very often, but when they do it ruins their race. Shouldn't that be the same here?
Graphically I just can't believe some of the things they allowed to fly. From the crazy, aliased and flickering shadows, to the dull textures, I found myself looking to see what console I was actually playing on numerous times. Shame on Polyphony for not even getting the lighting right.
But it's still fun overall. I love playing the game with the wheel for sure. The physics are amazing, and it's great to be able to fine tune the cars you're driving. Gamers put a ton of weight on developers these days to create perfection, and it's a hard balance cause it never will be perfect. I judge a game based on how much I want to come back to it, and that's really the only reason I give this one a 3 out of 5. It's just not as "real" as it claims to be....
