[Munkey Boy]

So, what did you make of Forza 2 then? Post your impressions, and please leave a vote in our poll (be aware, it will leave your name next to your score - if you've already voted, you can see who gave what scores by clicking on the numbers to the right of the bars).

A 10 should only be given for a landmark game that sets new rules, a 9 for a truly excellent game without a fundamental flaw, and an average game that does things right but nothing special should get a 5 (not a 7 like some reviews would have you believe).

EDIT: If you've already written a review in the main Forza 2 thread, feel free to post it here for comment too, and please only vote if you've played enough of the game to comment.

Average score: 8.54
Number of votes: 183
% of 10 votes: 11%
% of votes 9 and above: 62%
% of votes 8 and above: 86%

Updated: 29 August 2007

[Jack-Deth]

Whilst the graphics are not as strong as the other parts of the game, as an all round package i feel that Forza 2 is a fantastic, involving game with options to play the game as an arcade racer, or simulator with all the upgrading options as well as more realistic driving experience. I have got up to level 29 on career and 48% on the time trials, which for a racing game for me is unheard of and so I find it addictive and absorbing, I have reduced my gears of war habit considerably!!

Also agree with Pooons comments below about the user interface, it feels a little clunky and the fact that you dont get to choose cars if the one you are already in is eligable seems a perculiar oversight.

[Pooon]

A 9 from me. Its everythng i expected the game to be and am very pleased that Turn10 didn't try to mess with the basics of the game ala PGR3. Where it drops a mark for are the user interface, its still clumsy like it was in the first game, for example if i want to race in the under 450bhp championship and i'm already in a car that can be used in the championship, but not the one i want to use, it doesn't give me the option to change my car without backing out of that menu, whereas if i was in a car that has more than 450bhp it does give me that option. The other minor gripe is with the scoreboards, after a race it always displays 'posting times to scoreboards' so why doesn't it show me the position on the scoreboard that i've just achieved, it did on forza1 and was especially useful when doing online races as it gave you something to talk about back in the lobby. But these are just minor gripes which could be fixed with a patch so the overall game in terms of quality, handling, competition, upgrading, painting, tournaments etc etc is just great


EDIT: one other irritation, Time Trials, why oh why do they allow you to tune the cars used in TT's. If they wanted to find the fastest people on a level playing field this is where is would be done, but now it can be as much as a couple of seconds using a tuned car against a stock setup one

[CeeJay775]

9 from me, after some negative thoughts after playing the demo I found they all flew out of the window once the full game hit my 360. 25hrs and level 27 latter I find its had the most hours off of me in the first week of a game ever, also 25hrs is more than I have played most games at all. So a big fat 9 and a

I'm surprised how similar the ratings are.

Forza's great, i find it more unique then most racing games, likely from the work involved. It handles what it does differently then any other racing game i've played. It goes without saying that it's the best Xbox 360 racing game though it isn't perfect. The flaws it has are outweighed by the sheer scope of the game , so i gave it a 9.

[chrislad]

10 from me as I've never really enjoyed any simulation type car game until now so it's genre defining for me from that PoV.

[DrWorm]

A 9 from me , an outstanding game and the hours I have ploughed into it in 7 days is bordering on obscene.

[TVR_Fan]

I try and do a review sometime, by either audio or text.

[JusR23]

9 For me one of if not THE best driving sim i've ever played. When i played the demo i wasn't impressed but had to say it was only a demo but it never put me off which i'm glad about because this game is bloody addictive and the hours fly by once you're in the zone so to speak.
My only gripes are similar to TVR FAN with not being able to swich an eligible car as easy it is to switch from one that isn't plus the leaderboard part once it updates. Apart from those its been the best £40 i've spent in a long while.
So Forza Motorsport 2 gets the from me

[dodger747]

8 for me, superb driving simulator, but not the best racing game...

[CAS FAN]

A 9 from me, but a very good 9. It's the best game on the 360 IMO and the best racing sim game i've ever played (PC or Console). It doesn't move the genre on really (it's just a better version of the original) but it does what it does very well and as an ex smoker I can say that it's addictive qualities put nicotine to shame .

I agree with the minor niggles that Pooon raised and it would be good to have some stock only time trials. I guess that all the races in the game have scoreboards and there are some stock only races, but you have the variable of having other cars in them.

Whatever though, this is one of the best video games i've ever played. It's content and depth are staggering and yet it manages to appeal to all abilities. The tuning and painting sections are games in their own right and people can make money by just tuning or painting cars!

[Thekop]

A good solid 9 from me. My views echos CAS FAN's, and with the niggles that was put across by Pooon...

I've only been playing the solo career mode at the moment - reaching level 27 so far - so i can't comment on the Live aspect of the game..

It's not a great leap forward from the original game on the Xbox in my opinion. But it's definitely the best car racing game i've played - period ! .... What's so enjoyable is the feel and the handling of the cars and the customizing, which is a lot of fun. Graphically it's excellent, the engine effects are brilliant. It's a very polished game in my view...

The other niggles for me though, is greedily I would of liked even more cars to choose from. The sound effects ( like the crowds in the game ) do sound a little strange, and dare i say annoying. On a few of the course you hear an annoying honking horn, which is driving me nuts.. But apart from all that, it is my favorite game on the Xbox 360 so far.

[Iron Man]

Pretty good game. Much better than the demo. It doesn't offer anything new to the genre but its not a bad game.

[ukkev2000]

Well it's a 9 from me, lots of driving fun.

It's served up with a well thought out career mode that always has a variety of challenges available, so you're never stuck like the 4x4 group in PGR2. To be honest I haven't found a group that I didn't like, even the big yank cars surprised me by being quite fun once tuned up.

Some of the tracks are gorgeous, I love Maple Valley and the other one with mini green gazebos dotted round the trackside. I'm impressed with Sebring and it's bumpy concrete track, a really interesting tuning challenge that one.

I love the way that, on longer races, I get a nice rhythm going then keep trying to get just that little bit more - the number of times I've spun out on the last corner of a 7 or 8 lap race, just trying to shave a half second of my best lap time, I really need to try a little less hard for the win.

gui gripes+1

I think the clincher for me was hacking the corvette around a fast corner, on the edge of grip, holding the wheel, not daring to put in any turn to take the corner tighter even though the barrier is approaching, getting away with it and flooring the loud pedal to thunder down the straight - felt so involving, so real - I was totally immersed in the game and loving every minute of it.

[D@Z]

I gave it a nine despite some weak points. The graphics on the cars are generally not too good and at times they are appaling. There are a few cars where the panel gap lines are simply a jagged black line painted on the side of the car and they look quite franckly shocking.

The penalty system is still included which I find baffling as its a terrible feature and surely enough people told Turn10 following Forza that they should have got the message.

Lastly the auction house. WHilst an excellent idea it is done very very baddly. I have tried many times and spent probably a couple of hours in there and still never managed to buy anything. Most cars I click on disappear with a message about it not being available any longer but then I see it again in the list straight after. If I see a car I want (which isnt easy as browsing is poor) then I have to be prepaired to sit there for hours repeatedly clicking 'bid' then waiting for the 'outbid' .... rinse and repeat until you bore the other bidders into submission. Not good.

SOunds negative because I have posted my gripes but I do really love the game and I can see it consuming a LOT of my time.

As I say, 9/10 and an awesome game. Just a few niggles that stopped it getting a 10.

[Smurfin]

I gave it a 9, and this is coming from someone who commented in the preview thread that it was just plain dull

This game is awesome, and playing with the wheel takes it to a whole new level. It took me about 2 days to realise you have to plug the wheel into the mains to get force feedback, and all of a sudden the wheel wasn't mushy anymore and playing using the wheel became an absolute dream! Nothing has ever come close imho....

Criticisms? Well, upgrading cars means you can wipe the opposition on any race, as the opposition doesn't ever upgrade their own cars Kinda disappointing, as my Golf Gti sitting at a PI of 948 just kills everything (but then I'm only at level 14 and I'm sure the races will get tougher).

And it's a much better game with all assists off (well except ABS)....

[rio1981]

Originally Posted by CAS FAN

It's content and depth are staggering and yet it manages to appeal to all abilities.

I think this is the biggest thumbs-up for me - as long as you persevere for long enough this is a game for all types of racers, so many different cars, assists to turn on and off, tracks to master.

I've played this game a lot over the last week but have only really still scratched the surface which shows a game with incredible depth.

It's by no means perfect but considering this was a game I wasn't going to buy, I am quite glad that I am so easily led by public opinion on such things!

9/10

[slackbladder]

I'm pretty disappointed with Forza 2. I played the first Forza for ages and whilst some of the negative things of the first game have been put right there's still plenty of room for improvement in Forza 2.
My main gripes are -
Not enough circuits. I get bored as hell driving the same tracks all the time. Sure there's variations of Suzuka and Silverstone etc, but in total there's only 8 real circuits and 5 fantasy ones. Including variations and reversed tracks it comes to about 25 but really the core number is woefully low. Not only that but the environments are utterly static bar the animated spectators. No flags or banners blowing in the wind. No planes in the sky. Nothing. They even look exactly the same as they did in Forza 1; same time of day, same lighting. Frankly I expect more from next-gen games.
You can not customise the controller. There are options and I'm sure for many the options covers their needs but what's so difficult in letting gamers set the controller layout the way they want? It's so simple to do but obviously they couldn't be bothered.
Graphics are average. Okay, looks aren't everything but surely they could've done better? Too often it looks like you're driving some kind of cartoon car. Watch in the replays and you can usually see a black outline around cars, particularly race cars which also tend to suffer from pixelated decals. Add the jaggies and average reflections and it's poor. Of course some will say as the physics engine and fps have been upgraded the graphics have been sacrificed. I don't agree at all. I think Turn 10 just didn't have the time to do a good job. The game looks rushed. It's as if they took Forza 1, made it hi-def and nothing more.
Mistakes with cars. I can think of at least two cars in the game which have problems. The first is the McLaren Mercedes SLR which has a rear wing that in reality pops up as an air brake. But not in Forza. And the Pagani Zonda is plain wrong. Okay it's the sub 400BHP version but really, if that's an S Class what's the Pagani F? (U999 I guess even though it has a similar performance to the Enzo). Why not have the 7.3 version? And it just doesn't look right. It's too short and the cockpit is too high. It looks ugly.
The GUI is plain and clunky. Changing parts is slow and laborious. Though the car sorting option is welcome (as it was in Forza 1) the way the GUI works is uninspired and has no grace or aesthetics. It's very workmanlike.
There's a blatant bias towards US cars. Not the number of them, but their performance. Why is it in the majority of races I've had there's a US car in pole? I've even had races where a Panoz Esperante GTLM has beat a Ferrari F430! Add to that the tendency to have races where there is only one S class car which is far superior to the rest of the field leading to a boring one vs one race (that tends to be a US car too like the Saleen S7 in the 600BHP race).
My last gripe is the AI. Generally it's fine. It can be accommodating and does put up a challenge. What I don't like is the fact that they're still robots. They never lose grip, they never out break themselves...even in a 1000BHP Supra around Laguna Seca, perfect handling. Ludicrous. If this game was really a sim then it'd be losing grip, wheel spinning, getting its line wrong etc like a real driver. Ultimately the AI are still bots and it makes racing in the offline career tedious. The good racing comes online, thank God.
Now the things I do like.
The sound. Cars do sound pretty good and authentic. When you add parts like the exhaust there is a nice change in the sound. I like the Gallardo in particular.
The frame rate. Hooray for 60fps! It's smooth and only once have I noticed any slow down (during a race that seemed to have loaded badly). It makes for a better racing experience and is very welcome.
The controls. I find they are perfect for this game. The throttle response on the triggers is great(if a little over-sensitive) and it's easy to hold your speed and feather the throttle through corners. It also makes racing with no ABS a doddle. Just lower brake strength and I find it's easy to control braking. Much better than in Forza 1.
The physics. I had my reservations about the physics engine and I still do (there is still too much mid-corner oversteer on most FR layout cars - honestly if you drove some of these cars in real life you'd be dead very quickly) but on the whole it works very nicely. I'm not convinced it's like reality but it's a close approximation which is all a simulator needs to be. When set up nicely cars do feel very good. I feel the race cars, particularly the P1 Class drive too easily but overall it has it done quite nicely.
Car customisation. I've seen some of the works of art done by people and it truly is impressive with what can be done. Unfortunately I'm no way artistic enough to do anything close to some of the great things I've seen, but at least it's there and at least it's easy to dabble in. Of course it doesn't make the game a better racer but it gives you something else to do with your cars when you need a break.
Well, that's about it. Maybe I'm nit-picky, maybe I was expecting more. But I do feel disappointed. It's still a good game and I'll play it for months to come. But I gave it a 7 because there are just too many flaws and just too similar to the first Forza.

[Anotherlimey]

I think your positives out wiegh your negative points, Hence the reason its a great game

[Troma67]

I've played a lot of driving games and this has got be up there with the best.
9/10

[Spooksta]

9.7/10 from me as the developers have put alot of thought and effort into this. Not just making it but polishing it

[BD Ashby]

Im not in to racing games but i realy love this. The only reason i got it was because of all the fuss made about it and ive not stopped playing the game in the four days since i had it.

Even my mates at work cant beleve how much i go on about the game im that addicted loving every second im on it.


Im going with 9

[funcky]

I was hoping to get Dirt since its a franchise I know and love, but no online mode forced me to look at Forza. Well I'm glad it did, its a great game and surprised me when I eventually decided to pick it up.

The good stuff

-physics are fantastic, the handling and the controls feel great
-online racing
-the many many leaderboards
-watch replays of some of the best times for each track
-download ghost data to race against
-auctions to sell and buy cars
-custom paintjobs
-nice choice of tracks
-the game is linked to forzamotorsport.net where u can upload photos, checkout leaderboards and do the auctions from the site

The not so good stuff

-the load times are a bit crap
-the fantastic soundtrack is only for the menus
-the replay cameras are crap
-annoying loading when skipping thru the cars in spec mode or replays
-AI is a bit crap, come on where is my next gen AI
-limited track selection, man I hope the Monaco GP gets made for download
-the career mode is tedious
-time trial mode is very limited and is alot easier than it should be

But despite a few flaws I still give it a 9 thanks to so many cool features and the driving aspects of the game being so damn good.

[wormvortex]

I give it a 7. The bad things are:

Auction house is terribly designed in the way you bid and the time remaining on bids.
The AI is at times terrible
Not enough track variations
The need for practically a different car for every set of races making levelling a car up and getting used to the feel of a car obsolete.

[chaddy]

Off topic, but seeing as he's banned we will never know his true feelings for the game !
For a game he slated like mad calling it an xbox v1 game, not next gen & GT5 will pee all over it he still payed his money to go out and buy it !
GOD BLESS MONKEYSPOON

[wormvortex]

who's banned?

[chaddy]

Originally Posted by wormvortex1337

who's banned?

MONKEYSPOON

[wormvortex]

oh why was he banned and sorry for going off topic

[chaddy]

Used to call himself "a true gamer" yet was constantly creating topics that would cause a ps3 vs 360 argument.
Had a hatred for forza 2 and condmemed it as soon as he played the demo.
In the end i think he got banned for creating a new username just to slag off forza 2.
Don't know if its a full ban or just a can't post for a certain time ban ?
But if you click his name on my post you can see he payed his good hard earned money for it !

[Kahled]

I am actually going to give this a 10.

It may not be genre defining, it may not be the pinacle of graphics capability, it may even really be classed as Forza+++

But there are just so many things that work so well together to put this leaps and bounds ahead of any other race game on a console for me. The fantastic livery editor which has consumed easily 30+ hours already, the great racing game, the sublimely smooth 60fps, the auction house, the amazing variety of options for online play (see how un-cocky a lot of Americans get when confronted with races with no assists *rotf*).

It's taken what was already a classic game into the current generation and added so many sweet touches that for me it simply has to be a ten out of ten game.