Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3

Forza Motorsport 3 is a car racing game with authentic cars and tracks. It is one of the best car racing games ever made and one of the biggest. Forza Motorsport 3 was developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is an Xbox 360 exclusive and not available on any other system. Forza Motorsport 3 doesn't feature a story and is only based on Season Play. This is the first Forza Motorsport to feature a calendar system instead of normal tournaments or cups. Forza Motorsport 3 is also the first car game I can remember being 2 discs. Disc 2 of the game is an install disc and features more cars and tracks. There is Xbox Live content available for download to gold members but may cost Microsoft Points. Numerous car packs are also on Xbox Live.

GAMEPLAY

Forza Motorsport 3 now has a calendar in which events are put onto it. You choose from 3 tournaments and the races for that tournament are spread out onto your calendar. Over the coming weeks you will race in those events in numerous races. It could be three, four or even more races and you must finish first overall to receive more cash, better prizes and even trophies. The races you compete in will be varied, some will have very few laps whilst other may feature lots of laps. Before starting a race you must pick the right car to compete in the race. races have restrictions so that you cant use the same car and just whiz through the game. Before a race starts you can alter a few things such as turning assists, changing audio, go in your HUD, tune your car and view the starting grid. Assists is the place where you can turn certain difficulties on or off. You can change the overall difficulty of that race also you can turn autobrake on if you wish which lets the computer brake on bends so you don['t have to, you can turn off damage if you don't want a wrecked car or badly damaged car so your going slow and much more can be altered here.

When in an actual race on Forza Motorsport 3 you will notice that in the top left hand corner of the screen is your position overall and in the top right hand corner it tells you how many laps you have left to do in the race. The aim of each race is to try and pass your opponents without bashing them to hard but if you do it doesn't make too much difference unless you have the damage turned on and you must finish all the laps. On the final lap you must be in first place to win but if you don't manage to win you can restart by pausing the game or you can retry after if you so wish. Laps basically mean how many times you have to go around the current track. There are pit stops on most tracks but you rarely use this until later on because most tracks only have very few laps. If you pause in a race you can do a couple of decent things which include going into photo mode. In photo mode you can take photos of your current race, car, opponents car, the weather or anything else you can see with your eyes.

Music also plays whilst your driving which can also be turned off if its not your cup of tea. Also when in a race and you do something your not proud of like take a wrong turn, then don't worry because a new feature is available for you. Now you can press the back button on your controller to rewind time a little to your last best position before you did the wrong deed. On all the tracks there is some really nice scenery and some fantastic weather effects that can alter races. For an example some races you enter will be cloudy but before you know it a thunder storm has arrived and you will find yourself driving in treacherous conditions. Rain makes roads extra slippery so be cautious. Also on the tracks will be numerous different bends in which some need to be approached with care. Some of which will require you to almost stop because they are extremely tight. The racing is all about winning.

In Forza Motorsport 3 there are lots of different tracks that you will come up against and some of these can prove somewhat difficult. Also the game may try and surprise you with some tracks because sometimes they are reversed. There are well over 400 licensed cars in Forza Motorsport 3 in which you can buy with credits and drive in any game mode. Credits are earned from winning races or selling unused cars. With the downloadable content to the game there are more than 470 licensed cars. All cars when bought can be used in Season Play, multiplayer with friends and online against the worlds best gamers. In the online modes you can create races to compete in or you can try and find races to join and compete in. Here you can invite friends as well as set up private races just for fun. The races are the same as Season Play with the fact its a certain number of laps and a set amount of racers. All of the game modes in Forza Motorsport 3 are fun to play especially with the challenge of friends in multiplayer. Lastly in Forza Motorsport 3 you can now gain a thing called Driver Level. You go up levels every so often when the bar at the end of every race fills up. Gaining levels will give you better rewards for completing races and events. You can also now level up your cars by using them frequently and winning races with them.

GRAPHICS

Forza Motorsport 3 is one stunning racing game with some beautiful graphical features. All of the cars are superbly detailed and look like real authentic cars. Also the tracks in the game are real tracks and have been designed to look exactly like they do in real life and to be perfectly honest they all look fantastic. Something Forza Motorsport 3 has is stunning scenery which you can admire whilst driving around tracks at super fast speed in some beautifully designed cars. Also in photo mode you can witness the full effect of the superb graphics by walking around in first person mode with a camera in hand. You can walk right up to cars or other features and take in the beauty that is Forza Motorsport 3. Overall the stunning graphics are certainly a plus point for this game and you wont be at all disappointed.

SOUND EFFECTS

The sound effects to this game aren't far short of being in the same class as the graphics. However one of the worst thing I disliked about the game was the atrocious menu music because its just far too simple and boring. The in game radio that seems to be built in every car is different and the music for that is actually really good and is definitely my kind of music. One thing that really impressed me was the sound effects the cars make such as engines or when you collide with other cars. They truly sound perfect and certainly make the games sound effects overall something special. I was also impressed with the other sound effects that are inn the game.

DIFFICULTY

The difficulty to Forza Motorsport 3 is an interesting subject but that's mainly because the difficulty can be altered before every race to suit your needs. With all assists turned on I find the game far too easy and not at all challenging and this is only recommended if you're new to racing games. Having all the assists turned on makes the game quite tricky because that means no automatic or assisted braking and certainly no guidance line which usually shows you the best route to take and how much to slow down on bends. I tend to have the difficulty on normal because I like having the guidance line there and I would recommend this difficulty more so than the others. Online gameplay difficulty varies on who you are up against and what skill level they are. Overall the difficulty of the game is great because you can choose what assists to have on or off.

LONGEVITY

Forza Motorsport 3 has only one proper single player game mode which is Season Play. Season Play is a place where you play many years in the game and try to finish first in every race. You can play a total of 6 years in season play and by the very end of season 6 you would of completed a total of 55 events, you should of achieved maximum driver level, earned all your gift cars and spent over a whopping 60 hours racing. So I believe the game in terms of length is really good and that's not including online play which could possibly add another 20 hours of gameplay. So overall a superb game with plenty of gaming to be had.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Forza Motorsport 3 features a staggering total of 50 achievements which need to be acquired. The mixture of achievements in this game is really good and involve reaching certain driver levels, certain car levels, owning a car from every manufacturer and selling a car to someone online. There are a lot of achievements that involve a lot of hard work but within time you will achieve most of these as you progress through the game. I'm a big fan of the achievements to Forza Motorsport 3.

FINAL THOUGHT

My final thoughts on the game are good. It has everything to be considered the best car racing game out there. Okay there isn't an awful lot of variety in the game modes but that doesn't alter the fact Forza Motorsport 3 is jam packed full with over 400 unique and authentic cars as well as lots of authenticated tracks. The game is very much like the Gran Turismo series but I have to say Forza Motorsport games have taken the gaming world by storm and has pipped Gran Turismo to many awards. This is of course the third game in the series with the first being on the original Xbox and the second being on the Xbox 360. However there is now a Forza Motorsport 4 available in shops.

I would recommend the game not only because its one of the most realistic cars games around but because it can offer a lot to fans of car racing at its peak. If you like car games then Forza Motorsport 3 is right up your street and I can promise it wont disappoint. Its fast, authentic and beautiful. Its something different from games such as Need For Speed and Burnout. Forza Motorsport 3 is one of the biggest racing games and I would recommend it to just about everyone because its got a difficulty to suit you as it can be changed anytime. The manual to the game is fairly good and lists most information that you need. Also the game has an age rating of 3+.

I bought my Forza Motorsport 3 from one of my friends who was going to take it back to Game because he had completed it. It cost me only £8 which is fantastic for a game caliber. The game is in most game shops and its also available on Amazon and other online shopping sites. Amazon currently have the game on there for around £6 for a used copy and £12 for a new copy and in my opinion its worth both prices.

Forza Motorsport 3 is a game I admire and love. I would give Forza Motorsport 3 a very solid 9/10!

Review also posted on dooyoo under the username: simon020187!