Yeah, so it’s a landscape cover this time. Deal with it, this picture was too perfect.
Like I said, I was finally able to play more Forza last night, so let me semi-collect my scattered thoughts on the game and storm them to you. Yes, I just verbed “storm” in a really incorrect and stupid way. Deal with it. That seems to be the theme with this issue.
REWARD’D! Car: The RPG -
Although I don’t quite remember if I played Gran Turismo or Final Fantasy VII – my first non-Pokémon RPG – first, but I can’t deny that it’s the same driving principal that makes me love both series’. Stats, upgrades, and seeing that the more time I invest in the game, the more I get back. Sure the first Gran Turismo only had credits to go off of, but you could use those credits to upgrade car parts, and buy new cars which would in turn, allow you to access to more races. Anyway, Forza 3 hikes this concept to the most addicting level. Not only is there an overall driving level that rewards you with a new car that you keep every time you go up a level (not just at landmarks), there is also a 5 level progression for each car. It’s a very smart system. Each car has five levels that rewards the player with a 10% discount on car parts, but after the 5 levels, there are no more rewards. It really encourages the player to try out a bunch of different cars. The system is one of the many addicting things that has made my finger as sore as is it.
OPTION’D! Seriously, the customization is insane -
It looks like Turn 10 Studios have come up with the exemplary way to make a game accessible to everybody. If you’d like, you can let the smooth voice of the British announcer direct you to the easiest options and have your hand held the entire way through. Or, you can instantly explore the one billion options for tuning, upgrading, auctioning and buying a car. Why not try a mix of the two? Get a feel for the system and then start to slowly look into the deeper options, you can do that. Or maybe you’d rather have more races to choose from, and the season progression doesn’t really interest you, or perhaps you’d just like more credits? Just go to the massive-fucking event list available from the start and choose from many, many more events.
Four of four billion choices.
Hey, maybe you want to race one event over and over until you have enough money to buy a smoking hot Dodge Viper? No problem, almost every single car is unlocked from the start. And if you choose to turn off the sixty billion “assist” options, the game rewards you with an increasingly large extra percentage of credits for every race. It’s beautiful balanced, accessible to newcomers and incredibly deep for veterans. It’s what every developer claims to do, but what is actually accomplished in Forza 3. Oh right, and there are 10 different car classes based on performance. No big deal.
ZOOM! It feels fucking amazing to drive these mother-fucking badass cars -
No foolin’. Every car feels different, and although the early races are fun, when you’re in the cockpit view of the aforementioned slamming hot Viper, blasting your way around turns and just slipping by a souped up BMW, there’s no way you’ll have a dry crotch. It sounds great, and the rumble is perfect. The music is AWFUL, though, so I just stream my own music from the mini-dashboard menu since that’s allowed.
Anyway, that’s it. Work time. Suck it.
Yup! Forza 3 is available to the public, and I’m sure that thousands and thousands of people have already played more than I have. But although my finger is STILL sore, I’m going to suck it up and play some more tonight. I don’t care if I don’t get home from work until near midnight, and I don’t care if my finger actually DOES get a real crack in it the shape of a Dodge Viper. It’s time to tear this week apart! There was actually some news this week, so Riddles should finally be able to give you all a Hey! Look! Listen! with real content for the first time in a while. Until then, go out and play Forza 3 along with me, or look forward to my gushing about it.
I forget whether or not I told you guys, but I was lucky enough to buy a copy of Forza 3 early. Almost a week early, and I have definitely been playing the crap out of it. As indicated by the near-perfect IM capture below, my right index finger is actually very sore, and I’ve had to take a three day break from gaming in general. Seriously, it’s like the first time I played guitar. I’m going to grow Forza calluses, and I’m okay with it. The point is that I’ve beat the very short first season (I think there are six that get significantly longer), but I’ve spent hours tooling around in the massive event list, test driving, customization, car list, auction house, the list goes on. This is one of those games that offers so much that you won’t need to stop playing until the next one comes out (or maybe until Gran Turismo 5). But to be honest, as a life-long Gran Turismo fan, the series really WILL have to step up its game to compete with what is offered here. The progression is just so addicting and open-ended that it’s hard to imagine how to improve the formula. Anyway, I need breakfast/lunch/water, so more gushing will have to come later. Until then, you can all just imagine Riddles crying in a corner somewhere cuddling with his creepy Big Sister blow-up doll that I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
In return for the jabs Riddles took at my “lightweight” status, karma has made his PS3 double broken.