Forza Motorsport 4

I would like to start this review atypically. From asking to look at the pros and cons of the game at the end of the text. You will surely notice that there are more of the first ones. And no wonder, since the final grade is close to the maximum. Don't let this fool you, because the key to understanding the advantages of pluses is not the revolutionary changes made by the manufacturer. This is mostly the result of various corrections, which prove that the authors do not ignore the comments of fans. Forza Motorsport 4 is arguably the best racing game available on the market at the time of this writing. However, despite this, after many hours of fun, during which I painfully drove on both the Fiat Punto and the shoddy gems taking part in the twenty-four-hour Le Mans races, I feel like I have some hardly definable insufficiency. Either the game is almost two years overdue, or the previous Forza was an accident at work and now we are witnessing the release of a large paid DLC for it. Alternatively, you can talk about the evolution that the series had to go through due to the excessive fascination with the casual market in the previous incarnation.

At the beginning, we are greeted by an introduction narrated by Jeremy Clarkson - a well-known and extremely popular presenter of Top Gear. If you can't handle English, that's okay. Unlike the previous part, the "four" is fully localized (it is mainly the commentator on the menu), and the only exception is Clarkson, which is accompanied by subtitles in Polish.

The menu has been divided into several separate modules. The first and the most important is World Tour, the career mode. When starting it, if you have any states of games with Forza Motorsport 3 , you will receive various bonuses for good morning, in the form of cash or cars in the garage.

The participation in the career mode itself is no different from what we were given in the third Forum . We choose one of the three struggles available in each phase, and the whole thing has the form of a world map with points marked on it, marking specific tracks. In fact, it does not play any meaningful role and probably only unnecessarily extends the time needed to get to know the next competition. The calendar from the previous section seems to be a more interesting solution to me, although it did not have any important function.

There is no need to write about the entire envelope accompanying the struggle. We can buy new parts, tune cars, repaint them, check their performance - all this has already happened and if there are changes now, it's only cosmetic. Although it seems to me that currently the fun of car conversion is more interesting, because all the corrections made by us seem to have a slightly stronger impact on the behavior of the cars on the track. This is mainly due to a slightly more demanding driving model in simulation mode. If by the way we decide to turn off all ABS or traction control assists.

When racing, we better feel the car, its weight distribution. Cars slide into uncontrolled skidding more easily, and feel more intensely horses running under the hood. I have the impression that there has been a return to what the second part of Forza offered, i.e. a more realistic driving model. Of course, there is still no simulation level characteristic of a few PC titles, but a step in the right direction has certainly been made. It just corrected what part three broke.

As a driver, we are progressing to the next levels of experience, but also introduced something called convergence. Specifically speaking, it is similar to individual car brand manufacturers. The more we drive a given brand, the more We have greater discounts on the purchase of new parts. The next levels are gained relatively quickly, which means that after a few, up to a dozen or so races, we get a 100% discount, so all upgrades become completely free. I guess I don't need to write how much it facilitates the game? The more so that the bonuses for victories are very generous and in relation to, for example, Gran Turismo 5 , where you often have to work a lot to earn something better, it is much easier in Forzy Motorsport 4 . However, this does not mean that we can immediately afford to buy rare Ferrari models for a million or more credits. What is it?

Turn 10 is also watching the competition from Electronic Arts. If you have played any Shift , you probably perfectly know the system of icons informing about the correct cornering. A similar patent has appeared in Forzy Motorsport 4 , but it is multi-stage. Strictly speaking, we are judged by small rectangles appearing at the left edge of the screen. On the one hand, they play the role of an informant, on the other - a good drive unlocks various emblems, which we can then view in the menu and assign to our driver profile. In addition to the turn marker, there are also overtaking, speed and drift symbols. There is also the option to turn back time, but fortunately this option can be turned off in the difficulty level menu.

The third module is the widely advertised Autovista. At the moment, there are just over twenty supercars (although there is also a Hummer, for example) that we can carefully examine from each side, learn a few things about them, listen to Jeremy Clarkson, who talks about a given brand in his own style, and even open the hood to see the engine or get behind the wheel and listen to the sound of the bike. Most of the cars are blocked, but - to unlock them - just complete a relatively simple challenge, which consists of overtaking a few slower cars, passing between cones, knocking pins or winning the race. Of course - this is the car we care about. Certainly, automotive enthusiasts will spend at least several dozen minutes in this place, although many things will not be learned. Usually there are generalities of a few sentences.

You can also use Autovista with Kinect, but in my opinion it is unnecessary headache. If you want to look into the engine compartment, it is certainly better to sit comfortably on the sofa and take a good look than to step from foot to foot in front of the TV. In general, all this integration of the game with the motion controller is a stretch, and it really only works for one thing - tracking the movements of the player's head. Headtracking is quite useful and is the only Kinect feature available during racing in career mode or in multiplayer games. Although there are certainly some objections here as well. In most cases, the camera inside the car has been slightly moved back, sometimes its field of view has been changed, so that in some cars the road seems narrower than it really is. In addition, head tracking is delayed, and sometimes problems arise with the proper operation of this option if we have glasses on our nose.

This is no longer the bluff and bland Forza Motorsport 3 , although I would hesitate to compare it with Gran Turismo 5 with its premium cars. However, there is always something for something. The cars were flat, but the roadside vegetation was clearly affected. I'm even inclined to admit that the prettier trees were in the second part of the series, and certainly in the third one. No matter how you judge the graphics, in the Turn 10 versus Polyphony Digital competition, I cannot say a winner.

In addition to using the new Microsoft controller in the aforementioned head tracking and in Autovist, we can also run the game in Kinect control mode. These are rather casual journeys, during which they make the steering wheel with their arms outstretched, and the car itself brakes and accelerates. A completely unnecessary gimmick, which - I think - will only be used by a few. I do not suppose there will be someone who will buy Forza Motorsport 4 just to have fun in this way, most players will probably want to forget about this element after a one-time check. Microsoft is trying to sell as many controllers as possible, so it stuffs the body control functionality everywhere it can. Sometimes, as you can see, it makes no sense at all.

There is nothing to be charmed about. Most of the proposed improvements should already be found in the previous Forum , the "four", despite all my sympathy for the series, is - or should be - Forza 3.5 . Nevertheless, the game is great, it provides many hours of great fun, not only solo, but above all in multiplayer. For those who are bored with the basic modes, there is even a car football pitch modeled on one of the Top Gear programs, where teams of several people compete. Most of what the fans have complained about has been improved for sure, but it's still not enough to talk about a new quality in car games. After many hours spent with the "three", "four" and Gran Turismo 5, I am willing to admit that only now Sony has a worthy competitor to the title of the best racer. But by no means a Polyphony Digital product that is underperforming in terms of quality. Both games have their strengths and weaknesses, in Forzy Motorsport 4 the artificial intelligence controlling virtual drivers is definitely better and more conscious. Turn 10's work also has definitely more polished social features. And yet I admit that after the time spent with the game, when I sat behind a decent steering wheel available at an affordable price and working with both PC and PS3, but not with the Xbox 360, I felt so sad at the thought of Microsoft's policy. The more that from the third part of the game, the game supports sets with a clutch.

"Four" is great, as I mentioned in the introduction, probably the best, but still it lacks something absolutely fresh. This is a revised, patched, expanded with many interesting options of Forza Motorsport 3 . Or at least what it should have been from the beginning. And yet it draws you in like a swamp, and this is probably the best recommendation.

g40st

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