marc hawkins - marchawkins.com

I’ve been fortunate it enough to be on a roll of picking up some awesome 360 games lately. I traded in a ton of stuff (Gamestop was running a 50% bonus on trade-ins last weekend) and picked up Tropica 3, Army of Two: 40th Day, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Forza 3. You already know how much I’m loving Assassin’s Creed 2, but I decided to take a break and jump into the new Forza.

First off, I have no idea why this game is so under-hyped. Every blog and gaming site I see is constantly talking about the next Gran Turismo. I’m sorry, but Forza 3 is 10x more fun than any version of Gran Turismo I’ve every played. The graphics are on par (if not better) than GT. Variety of cars is great, with a ton of DLC to keep things interesting – both car and track packs.

I love the way the new season works. It’s based on a calendar of events that get slightly more difficult as you progress. There also an event listing that makes it very easy to jump into any race you’d like. This color-coded chart shows if your current car is eligible for the race, or if you have a car in your garage that’s eligible. This is one grip I had with Forza 2 – I could never tell which races fit my current car and felt like I was always fiddling around in menus too much.

A system of driver XP and individual car XP unlocks various manufacturer upgrades, new cars and the like. Speaking of manufacturers, there are a ton. Each offers several models, divided into different performance classes. Aside from looking fantastic, each car feels, handles and sounds unique. And then there’s the tracks. Sweet, Jesus, the tracks. Hands down the most gorgeous racing courses I’ve ever experienced. Nothing else needs to be said.

I’ve just scratched the surface of the insane amount of customization. A new “quick upgrade” feature makes it MUCH easier to select new parts for your car. It’s easy too get lost in the hundreds of aftermarket parts and accessories to improve your ride. Quick Upgrade automatically selects the best combination of parts based on the current amount of money in your account. For customizing the look of your car, pretty much the same system is in place from Forza 2 (a good thing), offering you complete creative freedom to literally do anything you want visually.

Lastly, I can’t forget to mention the community features. You can shoot and upload videos, which I haven’t tried out yet, but you can also conduct a photo shoot with any of your cars. Spin ‘em around and take shots, then you can upload them directly to the Forza 3 website. You can link up your gamertag on the site and you’ve got your own little ‘mini-blog’ kind of thing that shows all your photos, any auctions for cars you’re participating in, etc. So, obviously the first car I had to buy and tweak was my pride and joy – a silver, ’98 Honda Civic (technically they only had a ’99 in the game, but they’re virtually identical).

All in all, this is a fantastic racing game. Maybe not as ‘arcade-y’ as some people would like – this definitely isn’t Burnout or Need for Speed – but the visuals, customization options and variety of tracks come together to create a complete package. I don’t foresee the need for another racing game anytime soon. Until Forza 4, that is…