Racing | The VidZone Network Blog

July 13, 2009

E309: Forza Motorsport III impressions

In a nutshell:
Take one of the most exciting sim-style racers, fix what few problems it had, and add in even more goodies.

What I played:
A short two-lap race around a mountain track in a Lotus Evora. I also played it in the super-deluxe cockpit with triple-screen panorama, new Fanatec Porsche force feedback wheel, 5.1 audio, and motion base. The motion base is custom and does not utilize the already consumer-adopted D-Box motion code. It is uncertain if it will be an option in the final game, but it obviously received a lot of interest and attention.

Like:
Graphics overhaul: FM2 was very disappointing to me because it looks like an up-res’d Xbox 1 game. It ran smooth, but the textures and lighting were a bit muddy. Now everything is absolutely crisp and easily rivals the high bar Sony has set with its photo-realistic Gran Turismo series.

Aggression: Despite being a sim, the other AI racers don’t necessarily act like gentlemen all the time. They’re just as hungry to win as you and aren’t afraid of a little bump ‘n grind.

Unlimited rewind: At any point in the game, you’re able to hold down the Back button to rewind your race up to five seconds at a time. And unlike Grid with its tokens system, you’re allowed to use this feature as many times as you want. Considering that some later races last upwards of six minutes, this allows you to strive for a perfect run without throwing away half of your play time. However, I think this “instant gratification” system could hinder the less-dedicated drivers’ abilities to learn the track.

Dislike:
Loading: Again, this is an early build, and maybe there were some additional complications introduced by running on a triple-console/triple-screen, motion-base setup, but I was twiddling my thumbs for what felt like a quarter to half the time I actually spent on the racetrack. The results were well worth it, though, and the new rewind feature will drastically cut down on any need to completely reload the current race.

Carl @ 8:03 pm
Filed under: Games — Tags: , , , , , ,

E309: Split/Second impressions


In a nutshell:
It’s Burnout where you can blow up the environment.

What I played:
Three laps around an airport.

Like:
Action indicators: The game tells you when a rival car is near a triggerable trap and informs you what button to press to activate it. The window in which you can activate the trap is generally of a fair length, so you won’t ever feel cheated.

Traps: What the team says is true, there will be plenty of traps to activate throughout the duration of the race, keeping the playing experience fresh. Also, as the race goes on, larger traps will become available for activation.

Tight, arcade control: Just like Burnout, it feels like you more or less have full control over your careening two-ton machine. This is especially important for maneuvering your way through the tracks as the debris piles up.

Frame-rate: Even at this early stage, everything moves along at a brisk rate and all the post-processing blur effects were turned on.

Dislike:
Not much really: Hopefully the amount of traps available per trap aren’t so limited that each progressive playthrough results in the same sequence of events.

Carl @ 7:33 pm
Filed under: Games, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , ,