Just as I knew it would – Forza 2 has a hold on me like only Forza game can. The original Forza Motorsport for Xbox was the first non-arcade racing game I played and right from the get-go I was fully hooked on it. Like most games of it’s genre, you spend your career collecting cars and upgrading with performance and visual mods. But one thing that makes Forza stand above the rest is the diversity it brings to the table. Each event has a set of restrictions which could be as simple as the vehicle’s class, or a limited amount of horse-power and just about everything in between. Because of this, you’re constantly using different cars and making performance modifications.
The Art of Persuasion
As if this game wasn’t already hard to put down, they’ve added “quick status” screens that appear after you’ve completed an event (series of 3 races) which give you every reason to keep on playing.
Forza 2: “You just won a bunch of credits, why not spend them or keep on playing to get yourself to the next level. You’re soooo close!”
Me: “Dude, no, I have to go and feed my kid! (…) Ok, one more event!”
It’s a bad influence, I tell you!
Achievement Whores Have Their Work Cut Out
And if all that isn’t enough to keep you playing for hours on end, the Achievements most likely will be. The majority involve perfecting each of the different event classes which doesn’t sound like a lot of work. But the fact that the last few events within each class require you to be a certain (and very high) level means you can’t just whip through them one at a time. You have to progress through all of the event classes simultaneously. The only exception is Proving Grounds, which is the very first event class. I was able to whip that off before getting myself to level 20.
Why Don’t You Take a Picture? It Lasts Longer!
Following in the footsteps of PGR3 and NFS Carbon, Forza 2 has a photo mode that lets you pause the game and take snaps of your ride as you’re dominating the pack or smashing into a wall. There’s already a photo pool on Flickr that’s pretty active, so be sure to contribute if you’re rocking Forza 2.
Beware the Auction House
As much as you need to keep collecting cars, you also need to be selling off cars you no longer need to keep your bank healthy. Forza 2 has an auction house where you can list your cars and other players can bid over Xbox Live. Pretty great idea, but it could use a few more features. You have the ability to set the “buyout” price, which I thought acted as your minimum price initially. That was until I gave my Lotus Exige (pictured above) away for a measly 52,000 CR while it was worth well over 150,000 CR with the upgrades I had done to it. I would have got 98,000 if I had just sold it outright, which of course I’m wishing I had done. The lesson here, is to set your starting bid to the minimum you’d like to receive for it. In that case, I wouldn’t even set a buyout and just let it go for anything above my minimum.
So Much for the Halo 3 Beta
As the release date approached, I found myself getting less-and-less excited about Forza 2. I’m not sure what contributed to that, but as soon as I had it in my hand, I knew it was over for every other game I’m playing. And that even goes for the Halo 3 Beta, which I haven’t touched in over a week. Yes, Forza 2 is that good. We’ll be playing Halo 3 in a few months anyway and I’m sure it will dominate my Xbox 360 for a while just as Forza 2 is doing now.
Now, if only I had room to get a good setup going for the racing wheel. The local shops have it selling for $99 right now and I want it so bad, but I really don’t have anywhere to set it up. Bah!
5/
5