Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)

Another fantasy game about going from zero to 60.
1/29/2008 12:00 AM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3

British car maker William Rootes once noted that "no other man-made device since the shields and lances of the ancient knights fulfills a man's ego like an automobile." This concept is what drives Forza Motorsport 2 ever onward, pushing you to literally drive in circles on your way to cars that are better, faster and even more customized to suit your style. Rootes' remark is a canny insight into why these sorts of car games play almost like RPGs. Or, if you will, "carPGs." In a typical RPG, your knight strives to get better armor and swords. In a carPG like Forza, your avatar is a car, and you're racing for new and improved cars. It's just as much a game about leveling up as World of Warcraft. You're always chasing the next ding.

Not just a Sunday drive

You start out selecting your first car, a rite of passage most of us recall as fondly as a first kiss. It'll be something pedestrian, like a Ford Focus or a Honda Civic. And then you're in at the ground level, doing the basic races in the Proving Grounds. The graphics push comfortably against the envelope of photorealism, dappled with great features like dynamic tire marks, visible damage and accumulated dirt and exhaust during a long race. The sound design is full of personality, with distinct engine noises like a voice for every car, including the inflection of clutches and intercoolers and whatnot.

A unique feature to the Forza games is the context-sensitive racing line superimposed over the road, indicating whether you'll lose grip at your current speed. This will tell you by its shade of red whether and how much you need to brake or downshift before a turn. You're essentially surfing a color-coded gravity indicator. Other serious racing games require that you learn a track before playing competitively, but Forza's line lets you learn on the fly, substituting nicely for the feedback you'd get driving in the real world. New in Forza 2 is an option to only show this line when you need to brake, so it's not a constant ribbon underneath your car.

As you drive in races, you earn money based on how you place. A penalty for damage encourages less of the "racing is rubbing" ethic you can exploit in other games. There's an option for damage to impact performance, which is an even greater disincentive for roughhousing. After the race, your cash winnings also apply as experience points, and as you level up, you'll unlock tougher races. Meanwhile, you're spending your cash improving your favorite cars and buying new ones. You'll be driving upscale fantasy cars in no time. Forza 2 isn't stingy.

The overarching point of the game is to collect cars. Placing first in a series of races will earn you a new car, but there are plenty to buy, as well. To encourage a little variety in your driving, many of the races have restrictions, some of them very specific. For instance, there are races limited to certain horsepower or manufacturers. There are grudge matches between traditional rivalries like Imprezas vs. Evos, Porches vs. Ferraris, or Vipers vs. Corvettes. There are even factory-spec races that ensure a level playing field. This variety means that finishing Forza 2 will require skill instead of overwhelming horsepower.