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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

If you’re a fan of the Forza series, or of cars and/or car racing in general, chances are that you will love this game.PROS:
- Absolutely stunning graphics
- The Autovista mode is gorgeous, it really does look as good or better than real life at times
- Career mode is more engaging
- Choices for reward cars make the game feel more personal, more choices mean you can either stick to a certain brand/style or hoard everything possible
- Control is excellent and very responsive
- The assists have more choices, allowing you to cater the difficulty level from brand new beginner to hardcore simulation player
- Excellent variety of cars available, all are extremely detailed and a joy to look at
- The Top Gear inclusion is excellent and Jeremy Clark adds a lot of character to the game
- The Music score is good and very fitting for the game’s themeCONS:
- No weather effects or night driving is a real shame
- More new tracks would’ve been great, only a handful of new ones added on
- No Porsches available due to the EA contract, really lame move from EA. The rights are said to expire later this year so hopefully that means Turn 10 can add them as DLC or what-notOverall: This game is not only extremely enjoyable, but a work of art in terms of graphics and sounds. A must-have for car-fanatics and racing fans alike. 9.5/10 HIGHLY recommended.

Patricia

With Forza Motorsport 4, the creators at Turn 10 Studios have come up with a beautifully designed fun to play new game that manages to surpass even the previous versions of Forza Motorsport. Motorsport 4 has a range of impressive features that put almost any other car racing or driving game to shame.1) Car Selection: The range of cars that you can choose to drive on Forza Motorsport 4 is truly amazing. Over 75 different car manufacturers are represented and there are over 500 vehicles that you can choose from. Remarkably, each of these cars seems to perform a little bit differently. You can feel the sportiness of the Ferrari or the relative stability of a Ford. If you have played Forza Motorsport 3 you will receive gift cars according to the level that they achieved in Forza 3. This will make it possible for you to avoid using the relatively dull starter cars that are offered.2) Production Values: The production values for this game are simply astounding. The track locations, including the Bernese Alps and the Amalfi Coast in Italy look beautiful and realistic. The effects (such as the sunset and the smoke) all look great. But Turn 10 Studios not only made improvement in the visuals (which are the most noticeable) but also in the sound track. Every thing ranging from engine noise to the sound of the tires is impressive. Remarkably all of these sounds seem to change as you make adjustments to your car. Damage to the car is more realistic and specific than it was in the predecessor game, Forza 3. Forza 4 shows dents to many different parts of the car (bumpers, sides, etc.) depending on where you hit them.3) Game Play: Game play is fun and easy on Forza Motorsport 4. Players receive credits after each race according to their performance and can use these credits to purchase new vehicles or to enhance the cars they already have accumulated. Players also receive affinity points for specific car manufacturers. Thus after your reach different levels with specific brands you can receive part discounts and other benefits if you continue to drive with the same brand. This makes it pretty important to choose your vehicles carefully. The game has a variety of different levels ranging from easy to professional. As you reach the higher levels it becomes more important to handle turns and other hard points with caution. As you reach the higher levels, you will also be allowed to participate in more different races and compete in different venues. There are also a variety of new Kinect features in this game. Players can steer without a controller by holding out their hands and pretending to have a steering wheel. The device can also monitor your face and shift your view depending where you look. This feature can be tricky to use, however. The online feature of this game allows races of up to 16 people. It is possible to compete with other people from around the world and to form racing clubs with the game keeping track of rankings within the club.On the whole, I would highly recommend this game. If you enjoy driving games this is the best racing simulation experience to date.

Kenneth Kunkle

Love the Forza games so had to pre-order this one for $.99 shipping with guaranteed delivery day of release. The game arrived on my doorstep day of release as promised. As with previous games, the cars are great (love the Bugatti), the graphics keep getting better and the game play is as close to real driving as I’ve seen. I am a little disappointed with the game tokens. I’ve purchased a few of the DLC car packs and have had purchase a few tokens to unlock the cars I just bought. I would be nice to have purchased cars available regardless of whether you have unlocked them through gameplay. The Kinect is a welcome addition to the game but needs a bit of improvement. Checking out the available cars using the Kinect was fun at first but quickly got old. Driving with the Kinect takes a bit of time to get used to. Being able to shift, break, or make other adjustments using only the Kinect would have been nice. Overall, love it!

FarmerTom

If you’re a fan of the Forza series, or of cars and/or car racing in general, chances are that you will love this game.PROS:
- Absolutely stunning graphics
- The Autovista mode is gorgeous, it really does look as good or better than real life at times
- Career mode is more engaging
- Choices for reward cars make the game feel more personal, more choices mean you can either stick to a certain brand/style or hoard everything possible
- Control is excellent and very responsive
- The assists have more choices, allowing you to cater the difficulty level from brand new beginner to hardcore simulation player
- Excellent variety of cars available, all are extremely detailed and a joy to look at
- The Top Gear inclusion is excellent and Jeremy Clark adds a lot of character to the game
- The Music score is good and very fitting for the game’s themeCONS:
- No weather effects or night driving is a real shame
- More new tracks would’ve been great, only a handful of new ones added on
- No Porsches available due to the EA contract, really lame move from EA. The rights are said to expire later this year so hopefully that means Turn 10 can add them as DLC or what-notOverall: This game is not only extremely enjoyable, but a work of art in terms of graphics and sounds. A must-have for car-fanatics and racing fans alike. 9.5/10 HIGHLY recommended.

Prentice Smith

With Forza Motorsport 4, the creators at Turn 10 Studios have come up with a beautifully designed fun to play new game that manages to surpass even the previous versions of Forza Motorsport. Motorsport 4 has a range of impressive features that put almost any other car racing or driving game to shame.1) Car Selection: The range of cars that you can choose to drive on Forza Motorsport 4 is truly amazing. Over 75 different car manufacturers are represented and there are over 500 vehicles that you can choose from. Remarkably, each of these cars seems to perform a little bit differently. You can feel the sportiness of the Ferrari or the relative stability of a Ford. If you have played Forza Motorsport 3 you will receive gift cars according to the level that they achieved in Forza 3. This will make it possible for you to avoid using the relatively dull starter cars that are offered.2) Production Values: The production values for this game are simply astounding. The track locations, including the Bernese Alps and the Amalfi Coast in Italy look beautiful and realistic. The effects (such as the sunset and the smoke) all look great. But Turn 10 Studios not only made improvement in the visuals (which are the most noticeable) but also in the sound track. Every thing ranging from engine noise to the sound of the tires is impressive. Remarkably all of these sounds seem to change as you make adjustments to your car. Damage to the car is more realistic and specific than it was in the predecessor game, Forza 3. Forza 4 shows dents to many different parts of the car (bumpers, sides, etc.) depending on where you hit them.3) Game Play: Game play is fun and easy on Forza Motorsport 4. Players receive credits after each race according to their performance and can use these credits to purchase new vehicles or to enhance the cars they already have accumulated. Players also receive affinity points for specific car manufacturers. Thus after your reach different levels with specific brands you can receive part discounts and other benefits if you continue to drive with the same brand. This makes it pretty important to choose your vehicles carefully. The game has a variety of different levels ranging from easy to professional. As you reach the higher levels it becomes more important to handle turns and other hard points with caution. As you reach the higher levels, you will also be allowed to participate in more different races and compete in different venues. There are also a variety of new Kinect features in this game. Players can steer without a controller by holding out their hands and pretending to have a steering wheel. The device can also monitor your face and shift your view depending where you look. This feature can be tricky to use, however. The online feature of this game allows races of up to 16 people. It is possible to compete with other people from around the world and to form racing clubs with the game keeping track of rankings within the club.On the whole, I would highly recommend this game. If you enjoy driving games this is the best racing simulation experience to date.

Sue

Love the Forza games so had to pre-order this one for $.99 shipping with guaranteed delivery day of release. The game arrived on my doorstep day of release as promised. As with previous games, the cars are great (love the Bugatti), the graphics keep getting better and the game play is as close to real driving as I’ve seen. I am a little disappointed with the game tokens. I’ve purchased a few of the DLC car packs and have had purchase a few tokens to unlock the cars I just bought. I would be nice to have purchased cars available regardless of whether you have unlocked them through gameplay. The Kinect is a welcome addition to the game but needs a bit of improvement. Checking out the available cars using the Kinect was fun at first but quickly got old. Driving with the Kinect takes a bit of time to get used to. Being able to shift, break, or make other adjustments using only the Kinect would have been nice. Overall, love it!

Patricai Underwood

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews
Not judging by thinking that it is just a racing game. Without a doubt, it is not a hard core racing title. Even does not compare to Mario Kart. Undoubtedly it has mode missles and freezing, but not to make or break the race. It is even an achievement to win a race of battle without using an element (which I got with not too much effort).

Only last night, I put in this game, thinking that I just pass through a career and grind to an achievement. However, as soon as I got my first impulse and jump, not feel like grinding at all. I was having so much fun that I kept playing. It is good because the more you play, more unlock.

Many people see this as only a racing title. It is much more than that. If he was racing, he would probably get boring. Yet other modes are much more fun. There is the mode of script, where to go as fast as possible with increases, etc.. It is the mode of failure, where cover statues and crash into stuff. It is the way of jumping, where are doing acrobatics and gain enormous time. There is the way to pose, where they fly in the air and have to match poses.

In general, this is fun. It supports two players in the same room and play online for the racing modes and the battle. Don’t expect a sim of Mario Kart or a detailed racing game. This is just a fun, casual, game that uses his body to the race of races.

A final note about the conrols. For me, for the most part, they work very well. Together I was holding my hands at the beginning and the car would make larger movements. However, if I have my hands slightly more down (about as far as a normal steering wheel) and I have much more control. If I find that I am going out of control, then I stop and look at how I am holding in my hands and I see I’m looking at all goofy (braided weapons, etc..) The more you play, more will see that these controls to work.ashley keelerThis game is too high a price for what you get. There is not much content. It must be a retailer of $24,99, not $49,99. It’s not fun to run. There is also a lack of speed and breaking. This game should have been just a game included with the Kinect.
Anonymous
This was not sure of buying initially. I don’t think that it will be measured Central dance or sports Kinect of fun, as well as the game. I am pleased to say that it makes.

Before you buy it, we know that this is not a serious racing game. They do not expect it to be of the PGR, Forza and need for speed. It is a fantastic racing game and has a fun happy approach ironic to auto racing. When your car has time air beams poses to pull “tricks” that makes your car to spin in different directions. Jump to your avatar and hang in the car as Tony Hawk deal with a skateboard or bike. It is not realistic but it’s fun! There is even a way to trick where you can play in the Middle as a game of skate pipes.

There is also the option of using powerups to stop other players, but you can turn these off when you play in career mode. There is not much of a campaign. Only you are any events please, as you get more “fans” unlock you new cars, tracks and other elements. I should add that the choice of color for your car is very interesting. Any element that has a color to the Kinect camera, they argue. For example, if you wanted that my black car, I can put up with my black shirt sleeve and make the color.

In conclusion, is a great title Kinect. It’s great to have on the parties. It would be better if it had a more thorough campaign but at the same time it makes in its simplicity for large parties.sigh

Don’t judge this one by thinking it is just a racing game. Sure, it is not a hard core racing title. I wouldn’t even compare it to Mario Kart. Sure, it has the mode that has missles and freezing, but it doesn’t make or break the race. There is even an achievement for winning a battle race without using an item (which I got with not too much effort).

Just last night, I put in this game, thinking I would just go through a race and grind out an achievement. However, as soon as I got my first boost and jump, it didn’t feel like grinding at all. I was having so much fun that I kept playing. It is nice because the more you play, the more you unlock.

A lot of people see this as just a racing title. It is much more than that. If it was just racing, it would probably get dull. However, the other modes make it a lot more fun. There is the dash mode, where you go as fast as you can with boosts, etc. There is the crash mode, where you knock out statues and crash into stuff. there is the jump mode, where you are doing stunts and gaining huge air time. There is the pose mode, where you fly in the air and have to match poses.

Overall, this is fun. It supports two players in the same room and has online play for the racing and battle modes. Don’t expect a Mario Kart sim or a detailed racing game. This is just a fun, casual, racing game that uses your body to race.

One last note on the conrols. For me, for the most part, they work just fine. I was holding my hands close together at first and the car would make bigger moves. However, if I hold my hands slightly further apart (about as far apart as a normal steering wheel) then I have much more control. If I find I’m going out of control, then I stop and look at how I’m holding my hands and I see that I’m all goofy looking (arms twisted, etc.) The more you play, the more you’ll see these controls DO work.

Thuong Luu

This game is priced far too high for what you get. There just isn’t that much content. It should be a $24.99 retail, not $49.99. It’s not very fun to steer. There’s also a lack of accelerating and breaking. This game should have just been a bundled game with the Kinect.

James

I wasn’t sure about buying this initially. I didn’t think it would measure up to Dance Central or Kinect Sports in terms of fun as well as gameplay. I’m glad to say it does.

Before you buy this, know that this is not a serious racing game. Don’t expect it to be PGR, Forza, or Need for Speed. It is a fantasy racing game and has a fun blissful tongue-in-cheek approach to auto racing. When your car has airtime you do poses to pull “stunts” that makes your car spin in different directions. Your avatar will jump out and hang on the car like Tony Hawk would handle a skateboard or bike. It’s extremely unrealistic but it’s fun! There’s even a stunt mode where you can play on half pipes like a skateboarding game.

There’s also the option of using powerups to slow other players down, but you can turn these off when you play in race mode. There is not much of a campaign. You just do whatever events you please and as you gain more “fans” you unlock new cars, tracks, and other items. I have to add that choosing color for your car is pretty cool. You hold up whatever item that has a color you want to the Kinect camera. For example, if I wanted my car black, I can hold out the sleeve of my black shirt up and make that the color.

In conclusion, it’s a great Kinect title. It’s great to have especially for parties. It could be better if it had a deeper campaign but at the same time makes up in its simplicity which makes it great for parties.

MoInnkeeper

Don’t judge this one by thinking it is just a racing game. Sure, it is not a hard core racing title. I wouldn’t even compare it to Mario Kart. Sure, it has the mode that has missles and freezing, but it doesn’t make or break the race. There is even an achievement for winning a battle race without using an item (which I got with not too much effort).

Just last night, I put in this game, thinking I would just go through a race and grind out an achievement. However, as soon as I got my first boost and jump, it didn’t feel like grinding at all. I was having so much fun that I kept playing. It is nice because the more you play, the more you unlock.

A lot of people see this as just a racing title. It is much more than that. If it was just racing, it would probably get dull. However, the other modes make it a lot more fun. There is the dash mode, where you go as fast as you can with boosts, etc. There is the crash mode, where you knock out statues and crash into stuff. there is the jump mode, where you are doing stunts and gaining huge air time. There is the pose mode, where you fly in the air and have to match poses.

Overall, this is fun. It supports two players in the same room and has online play for the racing and battle modes. Don’t expect a Mario Kart sim or a detailed racing game. This is just a fun, casual, racing game that uses your body to race.

One last note on the conrols. For me, for the most part, they work just fine. I was holding my hands close together at first and the car would make bigger moves. However, if I hold my hands slightly further apart (about as far apart as a normal steering wheel) then I have much more control. If I find I’m going out of control, then I stop and look at how I’m holding my hands and I see that I’m all goofy looking (arms twisted, etc.) The more you play, the more you’ll see these controls DO work.

J. PERRY

This game is priced far too high for what you get. There just isn’t that much content. It should be a $24.99 retail, not $49.99. It’s not very fun to steer. There’s also a lack of accelerating and breaking. This game should have just been a bundled game with the Kinect.

MKS in San An

I wasn’t sure about buying this initially. I didn’t think it would measure up to Dance Central or Kinect Sports in terms of fun as well as gameplay. I’m glad to say it does.

Before you buy this, know that this is not a serious racing game. Don’t expect it to be PGR, Forza, or Need for Speed. It is a fantasy racing game and has a fun blissful tongue-in-cheek approach to auto racing. When your car has airtime you do poses to pull “stunts” that makes your car spin in different directions. Your avatar will jump out and hang on the car like Tony Hawk would handle a skateboard or bike. It’s extremely unrealistic but it’s fun! There’s even a stunt mode where you can play on half pipes like a skateboarding game.

There’s also the option of using powerups to slow other players down, but you can turn these off when you play in race mode. There is not much of a campaign. You just do whatever events you please and as you gain more “fans” you unlock new cars, tracks, and other items. I have to add that choosing color for your car is pretty cool. You hold up whatever item that has a color you want to the Kinect camera. For example, if I wanted my car black, I can hold out the sleeve of my black shirt up and make that the color.

In conclusion, it’s a great Kinect title. It’s great to have especially for parties. It could be better if it had a deeper campaign but at the same time makes up in its simplicity which makes it great for parties.

GranDe

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

EA is here again to bring another amazing Need for Speed game, or that’s what they try to do here. Need for Speed: The Run at first glance seems to bring NFS fans what they’ve wanted for a while, which is going back to the roots with awesome action-racing and an awesome storyline. And with it being developed by Black Box(Developers of Most Wanted) and using the all new frostbite 2 engine, makes it even more exiting. This game though, fails to do so in many ways and in the end just feels like a pretty mediocre racing game. This is not saying that this game is bad, it’s just that the game could have been way more than it is.Story: The story is pretty bland. The idea is interesting, but the execution is off. So you have to race from California to New York. That’s it. All the awesome conflicts that you think the driver would go through throughout the game are just not there. You think you would get a story like Fast and Furious, but you don’t.Story 4/10Gameplay: The handling of the cars is more or less like the new nfs: Hot Pursuit. But way more bugged. Sometimes you dont even have to break when going 100mph at a u-turn. You just automatically drift through it. The AI aren’t anything special and the awesome destruction events promised by the frostbite 2 engine just don’t seem that exhilarating. Gameplay 6/10Graphics: The graphics of this game don’t compete at all with other racing games like Forza 4. And with games like battlefield 3 using the frostbite 2 engine and having great graphics, you’d probably expect the same from this game.Graphics 7/10Sound: The sounds are okay. They sound like how they’re supposed to sound.Sound 7/10Overall it’s a 5/10. It’s okay for a rent, but if your looking to buy something that will blow you away. Just RUN.

Juan Caamano

This game is good, but there are a lot of people I know will be disappointed with it. All the races seem the same, just on a different stretch of track. Personally, I don’t mind because I can sit and play a game for hours, not caring whether I do good or bad, or what’s even going on in the game. The graphics are very nice, and they used the “Frostbite 2″ engine, for those who don’t know, which was used for Battlefield 3. The actual story behind the game isn’t bad as well.Overall, the game will keep you busy for at least one play through the game, and if you’re interested, for some races online as well.EDIT: It feels like it’s sort of moving away from what NFS used to be. As far as I’ve played the game, I haven’t come across any “lap” type of races, it’s all get from point A to point B in an expensive sports car. I miss the street/drag racing kind of thing.EDIT #2: I’m finding myself to “ragequit” while playing this game quit a bit. It seems like there’s always a car in the same lane that I can’t see just over that hill. It seems like the obstacles in this game are too easy to predict. Once again, I miss the old street/drag racing type of style. This feels a lot more like a simulator than an arcade racer.

JOHNNYSWING

This game is utter trash. It’s NFS all over again. Nothing new… except terrible game play mechanics.Out-of-Bounds
The cars now must stay within the confines of the game’s “invisible out-of-bounds” rules. The animated holographic boundaries previously found in NFS games that were solid walls are now able to be driven through into out-of-bounds territory. Cross the boundary line… even if you are heading back onto the road and you’re automatically reset. And that brings up the next issue.Resets to Checkpoints
You’re allotted only 4 resets per race. After that you start all over again. I don’t know what made it worse… the fact you’re only alloted 4… or that the reset takes you back to your last checkpoint which could be miles back… OR that the checkpoint may place you in an unplaying position (speeding off the track for another immediate reset)… OR the fact that if you get reset before the first checkpoint, the race starts over anyways but with you having spent a reset. I always just restart the event at that point because why deal with 1 less reset? Which sets us up for another issue.Load Times
Every reset brings and insanely long load time. Each EVENT brings and insanely long load time. Each event reset brings insanely long load times. It destroys the pacing of the game to the extent that it no longer fun to play. “Need for Speed”? Maybe they were referring to their own “need for speed” in getting the games loading faster.Duplicating World Scenarios
While the one shining gem of the game is it’s graphics and the world that’s recreated taking inspiration from places in the USA, you’ll find similar situations (track covers, city scapes) will recur if you drive the thing in one go. Streets in Chicago the you drive on while evading the Mob will be the same streets you drive on for the next race leg. Similar road curves (even a shortcut) are also duplicated verbatim from the Chicago area to the “State Forest” stage… just with new textures.Car Selection
The game makes a big deal out of the cars it offers… but then it specifically mentions you’re going to need certain cars in certain scenarios (mountains, street, highways each suggest a different style of car). That’s all fine and dandy… but here’s the snag. YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR CAR! Oh sure, you’ll get to choose one at the start… and a couple times in the middle… but other than that you have to pull into a gas station to switch out cars. Gas Stations are located on VERY FEW event maps. Which means you might get to select a car on one event, but the next even you’re still stuck with it because there is no gas station on that event’s course map and then the car you chose might be all wrong for the event! Too bad… you’re still stuck with it. If you’re going to make car selection an important part of winning the game… ALLOW US TO PICK A CAR AT THE START OF EACH EVENT!No Replay Value
The game also has very little replay value. Previous NFS games I’ve enjoyed exploring the world… or taking out another car and avoiding the cops. This one is just a single path… from San Francisco to New York… and not even all of that. Total playing time for “The Run” itself took around 2 hours (not counting the resets or the load times) and then you’ve seen it all. Oh sure there are challenges to go back and do… but it’s on the same tracks you’ve already raced on. And the game itself is a challenge enough!Terrible AI
The computer cars display insanely impossible acceleration and driver recovery capabilities. Think you’ve just pushed an opponent over the cliff? Guess again. But they can perform the same move and send you flying for… you guessed it… another instant reset. Or think you’ve passed someone at 190mph? Guess what… they’ll go flying by you 2 seconds later without nitrous with you still going 190 but making it look like you were standing still.Do yourself a favor… and “Run” away before it sucks $60 from your pocket.

Johnnie A. Huffman

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews
As someone who has played every single iteration of Need For Speed, as well as every Gran Turismo, Forza, exhaustion, and all the pequeñas-nombre titles between, there is a lot that I can compare this recent title Need For Speed.

I felt something as I played the demo. I felt a return to the simple, racing’s point about to the first NFS, the adrenaline of the tight, picture of narrow margin of Burnout and finishes the last titles of persecution and Most Wanted, the absolute thrill of operation- and often – man in the…

And that is what is the persecution – plain and simple. Boot did not expect physical hardcore of driving. Don’t expect to sweep the competition with vigilant Supercars and not expect to spend hours tweaking the design of vinyl or browse through dozens of aftermarket wheels and wings. What you can expect is some Palms sweaty as it derives the last corner to the finish, a face twisted like Ares in the fence which saw a second too late and a smile from ear to ear that see the car of CP only plowed on towards down the road, rain of shrapnel in the asphalt.

It is not perfect. I admit it. Rubber bands is still quite strong – am zipping at full speed for a staircase as an opponent in the same car cruises in by… In addition, persecutions of the Conference of the parties are still too as a career. I took a wonderful context in my car COP by in front of my suspects, spin the opposite direction and prepared for a frontal clash as the words “Equivocada” suddenly illuminated the screen… What ‘ch’ you mean wrong? I am the law! (Granted, hit me my target somewhere around a buck-fifty and instantly loses the guy…) (So not was really complaining.) Furthermore, it appears that he is supposed to bring down their targets in order. During a Conference of the parties, settlement among the runners of first and second place and not managed to capture up to the first place car. Once they got back to take the second driver, suddenly the first objective of the place was just in front of me. It’s a little more with a screenplay by a Chase plane CP should be.

But then you round a corner in their six exotic figures, see Ol ‘ Smokey sittin’ shoulder and look for the pork while its complete nitrous oxide of pumping engine… A second later being his twisted remains to roll over the road, only to be slammed their opponents of AI that are subsequently his own course, and as the control of his car is returned to you, you simply can’t help laughing.

Me it’s worth 4 stars.

Don’t forget to wear your seatbelts. HAH!Nancye VanbruntThis game includes a feature called the “pass line”. As I have been able to learn, this is a program for game sales stop used. A “pass line” is included in each new purchased game. For the player to buy the used game and wants to play online, they have to buy a $10 (approximate) of EA’s “Online Pass”.

I am a MOM to games. I have two teenage boys that game. The “pass line” is not only a problem for those buying a used game. I bought the need for speed Hot Pursuit new! However one of the three players in my home can only play this game online. It would have to pay an additional $20 (approximately) so that all of us to play.

Not only is there restrictions with the passage of “in line”. There are restrictions with the DLC. DLC is usually linked to the gamertag and the console that you buy. Not so with NFS. DLC is only reproduces in the console that acquired it. By gamertag that the DLC was purchased may not access the DLC in any other console.

It is also the issue of “incompatible versions” during the game online. Most other players online online are going to use version 1.1. Apparently there is a restriction on the updates to version, as you can only update the console that you entered the code for the “pass line”? What happens if a player wants to bring the game to a friends house?

There is no local screen “multiplayer”.

There are no options for more than one saved games by gamertag / ID. Therefore share a Gamertag ID is not an option.

As he said, need for speed Hot Pursuit “is a great game.” However, these restrictions than the useless game in some common scenarios and may very well be games undo.

Multiplayer home is not uncommon. With multiplayer homes comes multiconsolas households. Editors should consider these issues. On the other hand… The best they have. As most of these issues can be fixed by the payment of a fee / buying more DLC.
Happy Golfer
I bought the new version of search, and then, better is not to lose all the time the customization of cars more races much better version. I wish I had waited a discount or coupon little expensive for an XBox game, but it does not tire easily…W. Skelton

As someone who has played every single iteration of Need For Speed, as well as every Gran Turismo, Forza, Burnout, and all the small-name titles in between, there’s an awful lot that I can compare this recent Need For Speed title to.

I felt something as I played the demo. I felt a return to the simple, point-to-point races from the very first NFS, the adrenaline of those tight, narrow-margin photo finishes from Burnout and the last Hot Pursuit titles, and from Most Wanted, the absolute thrill of running from – and often into – The Man…

And that’s what Hot Pursuit is – plain and simple. Don’t boot it up expecting hardcore driving physics. Don’t expect to blow away the competition with highly tuned supercars, and don’t expect to spend hours tweaking the layout of vinyls or leafing through dozens of aftermarket wheels and wings. What you can expect is some sweaty palms as you drift the last corner to the finish, a twisted face as you plow into that guardrail you saw one second too late, and a grin from ear-to-ear as you watch the cop car you just plowed into rolling down the road, raining shrapnel along the asphalt.

It’s not perfect. I’ll concede that. The rubber-banding is still pretty strong – I’m zipping at top speed down a straight as an opponent in the same car cruises on by… In addition, the cop chases are still treated too much like a race. I took a gorgeous shortcut in my cop car, got ahead of my suspects, spun the opposite direction and prepared for a head-on collision as the words “WRONG WAY” suddenly lit up the screen… What’ch’you mean wrong way?! I AM the Law!! (Granted, I hit my target at somewhere around a buck-fifty and INSTANTLY wasted the guy… So I wasn’t really complaining.) Also, it appears that you’re supposed to bring down your targets in order. During one cop event, I wound up between the 1st and 2nd place racers, and could NOT catch up to the first place car. Once I dropped back to take out the 2nd driver, suddenly the first place target was right in front of me. It’s a bit more scripted than a flat-out cop chase should be.

But then you round a corner in your six-figure exotic, see ol’ Smokey sittin’ on the shoulder, and aim for the pig while pumping your engine full of nitrous oxide… A second later you’re watching his twisted wreckage flipping down the road, only to be slammed into by your AI opponents who are subsequently knocked off their own course, and as control of your car is returned to you, you just can’t help from laughing.

That to me is worth 4 stars.

Don’t forget to wear your seatbelts! HAH!

B. Clark

This game includes a feature called the “Online Pass”. As far as I’ve been able to learn, this is a program to curb used game sales. One “Online Pass” is included in every game purchased new. For the player that buys the game used and wants to play online, they have to buy a $10 (approximate) “Online Pass” from EA.

I’m a mom that games. I have two teen boys that game. The “Online Pass” is not just a problem for those buying a game used. I purchased Need for Speed Hot Pursuit NEW! Yet only one out of the three gamers in my household can play this game online. I would have to pay an additional $20 (approximately) in order for all of us to play.

Not only are there restrictions with the “Online Pass”. There are restrictions with the DLC. Normally DLC is tied to the gamertag and the console it’s purchased on. Not so with NFS. DLC can only be played on the console it was purchased on. The gamertag the DLC was purchased through will not be able to access the DLC on any other console.

There is also the issue of “incompatible versions” during online play. Most other online players online will be using version 1.1. Apparently there is a restriction on version updates as well, as you can only update the console that you entered the code for the “Online Pass”??? What if a gamer wants to take the game to a friends house?

There is no local split screen “multiplayer”.

There are no options for more than one saved game per gamertag/ID. So sharing a Gamertag/ID is not an option.

That being said, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit “is” a great game. However these restrictions make the game unplayable in some common situations and very well may be the games undoing.

The multi-gamer household is not uncommon. Along with multi-gamer households comes multi-console households. Publishers should take these issues into consideration. Then again….. Maybe they have. As most of these issues can be fixed by paying a fee/buying more DLC.

Nelson

I have bought the New Version of Pursuit and found it is better then previous not wasting all the time customizing the cars more racing much better version. I wish I’d have waited for a rebate or coupon little pricy for a XBox game but will not tire easily..

Scott A. Barth

As someone who has played every single iteration of Need For Speed, as well as every Gran Turismo, Forza, Burnout, and all the small-name titles in between, there’s an awful lot that I can compare this recent Need For Speed title to.

I felt something as I played the demo. I felt a return to the simple, point-to-point races from the very first NFS, the adrenaline of those tight, narrow-margin photo finishes from Burnout and the last Hot Pursuit titles, and from Most Wanted, the absolute thrill of running from – and often into – The Man…

And that’s what Hot Pursuit is – plain and simple. Don’t boot it up expecting hardcore driving physics. Don’t expect to blow away the competition with highly tuned supercars, and don’t expect to spend hours tweaking the layout of vinyls or leafing through dozens of aftermarket wheels and wings. What you can expect is some sweaty palms as you drift the last corner to the finish, a twisted face as you plow into that guardrail you saw one second too late, and a grin from ear-to-ear as you watch the cop car you just plowed into rolling down the road, raining shrapnel along the asphalt.

It’s not perfect. I’ll concede that. The rubber-banding is still pretty strong – I’m zipping at top speed down a straight as an opponent in the same car cruises on by… In addition, the cop chases are still treated too much like a race. I took a gorgeous shortcut in my cop car, got ahead of my suspects, spun the opposite direction and prepared for a head-on collision as the words “WRONG WAY” suddenly lit up the screen… What’ch’you mean wrong way?! I AM the Law!! (Granted, I hit my target at somewhere around a buck-fifty and INSTANTLY wasted the guy… So I wasn’t really complaining.) Also, it appears that you’re supposed to bring down your targets in order. During one cop event, I wound up between the 1st and 2nd place racers, and could NOT catch up to the first place car. Once I dropped back to take out the 2nd driver, suddenly the first place target was right in front of me. It’s a bit more scripted than a flat-out cop chase should be.

But then you round a corner in your six-figure exotic, see ol’ Smokey sittin’ on the shoulder, and aim for the pig while pumping your engine full of nitrous oxide… A second later you’re watching his twisted wreckage flipping down the road, only to be slammed into by your AI opponents who are subsequently knocked off their own course, and as control of your car is returned to you, you just can’t help from laughing.

That to me is worth 4 stars.

Don’t forget to wear your seatbelts! HAH!

Jane Trucksis

This game includes a feature called the “Online Pass”. As far as I’ve been able to learn, this is a program to curb used game sales. One “Online Pass” is included in every game purchased new. For the player that buys the game used and wants to play online, they have to buy a $10 (approximate) “Online Pass” from EA.

I’m a mom that games. I have two teen boys that game. The “Online Pass” is not just a problem for those buying a game used. I purchased Need for Speed Hot Pursuit NEW! Yet only one out of the three gamers in my household can play this game online. I would have to pay an additional $20 (approximately) in order for all of us to play.

Not only are there restrictions with the “Online Pass”. There are restrictions with the DLC. Normally DLC is tied to the gamertag and the console it’s purchased on. Not so with NFS. DLC can only be played on the console it was purchased on. The gamertag the DLC was purchased through will not be able to access the DLC on any other console.

There is also the issue of “incompatible versions” during online play. Most other online players online will be using version 1.1. Apparently there is a restriction on version updates as well, as you can only update the console that you entered the code for the “Online Pass”??? What if a gamer wants to take the game to a friends house?

There is no local split screen “multiplayer”.

There are no options for more than one saved game per gamertag/ID. So sharing a Gamertag/ID is not an option.

That being said, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit “is” a great game. However these restrictions make the game unplayable in some common situations and very well may be the games undoing.

The multi-gamer household is not uncommon. Along with multi-gamer households comes multi-console households. Publishers should take these issues into consideration. Then again….. Maybe they have. As most of these issues can be fixed by paying a fee/buying more DLC.

Winnie

I have bought the New Version of Pursuit and found it is better then previous not wasting all the time customizing the cars more racing much better version. I wish I’d have waited for a rebate or coupon little pricy for a XBox game but will not tire easily..

adw

More…

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

First, let’s get this clear…I am not a die hard racing gamer. I don’t have that much time. I wish I did but I don’t. I have long said that the ideal game experience provided for two kinds of gamers. The game should provide that hard-earned sense of accomplishment for those fortunate to have the skills and time to earn their way to the top. More power to them. But hang on. I still spent $60 for this game and I should have a way to get access to all it offers too (or at least most of it). I want a game provides for both.

Sure, there needs to be a way to tell whether someone earned it or just switched it on. But don’t force me to spend hour-after-hour trying to earn level after level. I don’t have that much time to devote to a game. I know that some would say that if I don’t have the time, I shouldn’t buy the game. But I think there are many people like me so it should be a win-win.

This is why I like this game so much. It lets me enjoy the fun of just jumping in some really cool cars and taking laps around really cool tracks. It has assists that allow me to enjoy the limited time I have with the game to the max.

And for those that might not consider this, it puts this game in the reach of my son, who is developmentally disadvantaged. It allows us to enjoy it together.

Let’s see – great car selection, great track, great flexibility in how to configure it to play – all add up to a great game.

Gadget Freak

I’ll start by saying that I have never played this or Forza 2 online. My online experience is limited to Call of Duty. If you’re looking for a review of the controversial multiplayer mode, there are plenty of good ones from other gamers.

That said, in single player mode this game is amazing. Not perfect, but very, very good. I absolutely loved Forza 2, so I was concerned that Turn 10 might alter the new game in ways that would be frustrating. Well, they did…but they made up for it (mostly) with lots of great new features. I am a hard-core driving simulator enthusiast; except on the most frustrating factory stock races, I play everything with the AI difficulty on “hard,” stability control off, and manual transmission mode. Despite this, Turn 10 has provided options to make the game EVEN HARDER or considerably easier. In fact, this is one of the biggest new feature sets, which allows a player with just about any level of experience to set the game up to their liking. While I won’t use things like “autobraking” or the recommended racing line, I don’t have to.

Of course, Forza is all about cars, and Forza 3 delivers tons of them. Counting the DLC, which keeps coming out, there are well over 400. Chances are, unless you are a huge fan of Japanese “kei” cars or obscure pre-war European roadsters from long-disbanded manufacturers, you will find your favorite automobile in this game. (Gran Turismo should cover you in the cases I mentioned).

Forza 3 also improves upon Forza 2 with its selection of tracks. The classics are still here (including my favorite Maple Valley) and with lots of new details thanks to the improved graphics, but new tracks debut as well, including the beautiful and extensive Amalfi Coast and the fictional series of Spanish tracks billed as “Camino Viejo de Montserrat.” Additionally, the gorgeous Fujimi Kaido from Forza 1 makes a reappearance.

Forza 2 had tons of customization, and Forza 3 has even more. While everything is just about the same, there are a few new things you can do such as adding oil coolers. On the other hand, it has also been simplified a bit; you can’t choose what brand of tires you install, for example.

Gameplay is just as good as before, with an improved physics engine that allows rollovers. The graphics are phenomenal, each car is exquisitely detailed, and there is a full cockpit view from which you can drive. If you are an extreme hard-core racer, you can even choose to drive with a button for the clutch. This is beyond me because in real life I use feet to operate the gas, brake, and clutch while my hands can concentrate on steering and shifting. Doing it all with my hands is too confusing.

Now, the negatives. No game is perfect, and Forza 3 has its share of flaws. The first thing that annoyed me was the “race announcer.” He won’t shut up. His bass-rich, nostalgic easy-listening voice can be heard any time you try to enter a car into a race for which it doesn’t qualify (which I often do in order to quickly see which ones I own that DO qualify).

Another big problem is the acquisition of cars. In Forza 2, you got cars for leveling up via XP, and you received a car for each race series you won. In Forza 3, you do get cars for leveling up, but you stop leveling up about 1/4 of the way through the game; meanwhile, winning race series only gives you money…not enough money. I decided that I wanted to own all the cars in the game, since I did pay real money for this opportunity to virtually drive them, and so with 3/4 of the races completed, I tallied up the cars remaining and found I still needed $110,000,000 to buy them all. Considering that a typical, mid-length race at my advanced level of difficulty only nets about $18,000, that was going to take a while. Part of this is due to a single vintage Ferrari priced at $20,000,000. The cars are just too expensive. It’s my own fault for wanting them all, but hey, I should be able to do that.

In their attempt to make the game appeal to a wider range of players, Turn 10 also added some unnecessary drama. There is an entirely repetitive animation at the beginning of each race depicting your car rolling up to the line and revving its engine. While they do stick to realism here (old cars with soft suspension will bounce when they stop at the line), the revving is tacky, and more critically, it removes your opportunity to bring your RPMs to the correct level for a good launch. A successful launch off the line is often the key to getting ahead of rivals who may be hard to pass elsewhere. Forza 3 made this impossible, which is extremely ridiculous considering that an all-new race type is drag racing. The launch is the MOST critical part of a drag race!!

The rewind feature has drawn some criticism from die-hard gamers, but I think it’s good. You really don’t have to use it, but I certainly have. It’s easier than restarting a race (which takes a long while) and in long, tedious races it can save you a ton of headaches. However, it doesn’t always work. Seriously. Sometimes, when you need it most, it just isn’t an option. The most notable time for me was in the third-to-last lap of an endurance race. At the end of the long straight, I got incredibly distracted by something else (perhaps my own thoughts) and failed to brake. Instead of immediately braking and swerving when I realized this, I moved my hand so that I could hit the rewind button. It did nothing, and by the time I figured that out and got back to the brakes, my car had covered the sand beyond the track and smacked the wall, wrecking its front. Fortunately, the engine was OK, and I still won the race, but it’s good to know you can’t always rely on the rewind button.

The addition of lousy in-game music is simply a waste of disc space (which is an issue, since you have to install almost 2GB of data on your hard drive in order to play all of the game).

Overall, Forza 3 makes some great improvements (rollovers, more cars, awesome graphics, new tracks) over its predecessor, but it is not perfect. However, it does allow novice and experienced racers alike to jump in and play, and completing the game will take hundreds of hours, making it just as much of a total immersive long-haul experience as its prior installments.

K. Prasad

This is by far the most technically accurate driving simulator I’ve played. I bought it primarily for the chance to drive the Circuit de la Sarthe and drive the Audi R10 TDI and although I’ve not yet gotten the R10 yet, the Circuit de la Sarthe is pure virtual bliss! The single player experience is one of the best I’ve played of any racing game and the seasons and tracks and available cars make for hours of fun.

The variety of vehicles is varied enough to keep anyone engaged and the ability to nearly infinitely customize not only the mechanics of the cars but the actual set ups as well in terms of suspension tuning, spoilers, tires, etc. In addition, the in-depth ability to customize the looks of the cars is awesome!

But, it’s not all fun and games on the Circuit de la Sarthe… I am EXTREMELY annoyed with the lack of ability to create one car design/paint scheme and apply it to multiple cars. This is disastrous! Why spend all the time to create a great design for a car and only be able to apply it to that specific car???? Ideally, you could create a great paint/graphics scheme and apply to any car… it might need to be tweaked for that car but at least the basics would be there. The second disappointment is the multiplayer experience… you cannot play this with a friend on your own xbox… the only multiplayer is via xbox live which, in my opinion, is great for Halo, GRAW, etc., but mediocre at best for racing games…

If not for the disappointing multiplayer and the car design limitations I would absolutely have rated this a 5.

Can’t wait to get my R10 TDI!!!

Douglas A. Carson

First, let’s get this clear…I am not a die hard racing gamer. I don’t have that much time. I wish I did but I don’t. I have long said that the ideal game experience provided for two kinds of gamers. The game should provide that hard-earned sense of accomplishment for those fortunate to have the skills and time to earn their way to the top. More power to them. But hang on. I still spent $60 for this game and I should have a way to get access to all it offers too (or at least most of it). I want a game provides for both.

Sure, there needs to be a way to tell whether someone earned it or just switched it on. But don’t force me to spend hour-after-hour trying to earn level after level. I don’t have that much time to devote to a game. I know that some would say that if I don’t have the time, I shouldn’t buy the game. But I think there are many people like me so it should be a win-win.

This is why I like this game so much. It lets me enjoy the fun of just jumping in some really cool cars and taking laps around really cool tracks. It has assists that allow me to enjoy the limited time I have with the game to the max.

And for those that might not consider this, it puts this game in the reach of my son, who is developmentally disadvantaged. It allows us to enjoy it together.

Let’s see – great car selection, great track, great flexibility in how to configure it to play – all add up to a great game.

Gadget Man

I’ll start by saying that I have never played this or Forza 2 online. My online experience is limited to Call of Duty. If you’re looking for a review of the controversial multiplayer mode, there are plenty of good ones from other gamers.

That said, in single player mode this game is amazing. Not perfect, but very, very good. I absolutely loved Forza 2, so I was concerned that Turn 10 might alter the new game in ways that would be frustrating. Well, they did…but they made up for it (mostly) with lots of great new features. I am a hard-core driving simulator enthusiast; except on the most frustrating factory stock races, I play everything with the AI difficulty on “hard,” stability control off, and manual transmission mode. Despite this, Turn 10 has provided options to make the game EVEN HARDER or considerably easier. In fact, this is one of the biggest new feature sets, which allows a player with just about any level of experience to set the game up to their liking. While I won’t use things like “autobraking” or the recommended racing line, I don’t have to.

Of course, Forza is all about cars, and Forza 3 delivers tons of them. Counting the DLC, which keeps coming out, there are well over 400. Chances are, unless you are a huge fan of Japanese “kei” cars or obscure pre-war European roadsters from long-disbanded manufacturers, you will find your favorite automobile in this game. (Gran Turismo should cover you in the cases I mentioned).

Forza 3 also improves upon Forza 2 with its selection of tracks. The classics are still here (including my favorite Maple Valley) and with lots of new details thanks to the improved graphics, but new tracks debut as well, including the beautiful and extensive Amalfi Coast and the fictional series of Spanish tracks billed as “Camino Viejo de Montserrat.” Additionally, the gorgeous Fujimi Kaido from Forza 1 makes a reappearance.

Forza 2 had tons of customization, and Forza 3 has even more. While everything is just about the same, there are a few new things you can do such as adding oil coolers. On the other hand, it has also been simplified a bit; you can’t choose what brand of tires you install, for example.

Gameplay is just as good as before, with an improved physics engine that allows rollovers. The graphics are phenomenal, each car is exquisitely detailed, and there is a full cockpit view from which you can drive. If you are an extreme hard-core racer, you can even choose to drive with a button for the clutch. This is beyond me because in real life I use feet to operate the gas, brake, and clutch while my hands can concentrate on steering and shifting. Doing it all with my hands is too confusing.

Now, the negatives. No game is perfect, and Forza 3 has its share of flaws. The first thing that annoyed me was the “race announcer.” He won’t shut up. His bass-rich, nostalgic easy-listening voice can be heard any time you try to enter a car into a race for which it doesn’t qualify (which I often do in order to quickly see which ones I own that DO qualify).

Another big problem is the acquisition of cars. In Forza 2, you got cars for leveling up via XP, and you received a car for each race series you won. In Forza 3, you do get cars for leveling up, but you stop leveling up about 1/4 of the way through the game; meanwhile, winning race series only gives you money…not enough money. I decided that I wanted to own all the cars in the game, since I did pay real money for this opportunity to virtually drive them, and so with 3/4 of the races completed, I tallied up the cars remaining and found I still needed $110,000,000 to buy them all. Considering that a typical, mid-length race at my advanced level of difficulty only nets about $18,000, that was going to take a while. Part of this is due to a single vintage Ferrari priced at $20,000,000. The cars are just too expensive. It’s my own fault for wanting them all, but hey, I should be able to do that.

In their attempt to make the game appeal to a wider range of players, Turn 10 also added some unnecessary drama. There is an entirely repetitive animation at the beginning of each race depicting your car rolling up to the line and revving its engine. While they do stick to realism here (old cars with soft suspension will bounce when they stop at the line), the revving is tacky, and more critically, it removes your opportunity to bring your RPMs to the correct level for a good launch. A successful launch off the line is often the key to getting ahead of rivals who may be hard to pass elsewhere. Forza 3 made this impossible, which is extremely ridiculous considering that an all-new race type is drag racing. The launch is the MOST critical part of a drag race!!

The rewind feature has drawn some criticism from die-hard gamers, but I think it’s good. You really don’t have to use it, but I certainly have. It’s easier than restarting a race (which takes a long while) and in long, tedious races it can save you a ton of headaches. However, it doesn’t always work. Seriously. Sometimes, when you need it most, it just isn’t an option. The most notable time for me was in the third-to-last lap of an endurance race. At the end of the long straight, I got incredibly distracted by something else (perhaps my own thoughts) and failed to brake. Instead of immediately braking and swerving when I realized this, I moved my hand so that I could hit the rewind button. It did nothing, and by the time I figured that out and got back to the brakes, my car had covered the sand beyond the track and smacked the wall, wrecking its front. Fortunately, the engine was OK, and I still won the race, but it’s good to know you can’t always rely on the rewind button.

The addition of lousy in-game music is simply a waste of disc space (which is an issue, since you have to install almost 2GB of data on your hard drive in order to play all of the game).

Overall, Forza 3 makes some great improvements (rollovers, more cars, awesome graphics, new tracks) over its predecessor, but it is not perfect. However, it does allow novice and experienced racers alike to jump in and play, and completing the game will take hundreds of hours, making it just as much of a total immersive long-haul experience as its prior installments.

allergydoc

This is by far the most technically accurate driving simulator I’ve played. I bought it primarily for the chance to drive the Circuit de la Sarthe and drive the Audi R10 TDI and although I’ve not yet gotten the R10 yet, the Circuit de la Sarthe is pure virtual bliss! The single player experience is one of the best I’ve played of any racing game and the seasons and tracks and available cars make for hours of fun.

The variety of vehicles is varied enough to keep anyone engaged and the ability to nearly infinitely customize not only the mechanics of the cars but the actual set ups as well in terms of suspension tuning, spoilers, tires, etc. In addition, the in-depth ability to customize the looks of the cars is awesome!

But, it’s not all fun and games on the Circuit de la Sarthe… I am EXTREMELY annoyed with the lack of ability to create one car design/paint scheme and apply it to multiple cars. This is disastrous! Why spend all the time to create a great design for a car and only be able to apply it to that specific car???? Ideally, you could create a great paint/graphics scheme and apply to any car… it might need to be tweaked for that car but at least the basics would be there. The second disappointment is the multiplayer experience… you cannot play this with a friend on your own xbox… the only multiplayer is via xbox live which, in my opinion, is great for Halo, GRAW, etc., but mediocre at best for racing games…

If not for the disappointing multiplayer and the car design limitations I would absolutely have rated this a 5.

Can’t wait to get my R10 TDI!!!

Cr33ping

It’s often said the the third time’s the charm, and in the case of Forza Motorsport 3, that couldn’t be more true. FM3 manages to improve upon it’s predecessors in almost every imaginable way. If you’ve played Forza Motorsport 2, you’re probably aware that the game wasn’t designed with casual gamers in mind. FM3 changes this, and finally brings the franchise to a level that it has appeal not only as an uber-realistic racing simulator, but also as an entertaining racing game that just about anyone can pick up and enjoy. The addition of autobraking and rewind undoubtedly make things easier on newcomers, while the tweaked physics engine and ramped-up AI will give even the most die-hard Forza fanatics a run for their money. With over 400+ cars and 100+ tracks, one would be hard-pressed to get bored with this game.

Without a doubt, the two most significant improvements are the graphics and the new “Storefront”. Forza Motorsport 3 displays in a native 720p (upscaled to 1080p by the console) running at 60 fps. This translates to a rich, detailed, and smooth-flowing picture that makes you feel like you’re actually racing in Le Mans. To further immerse gamers, Turn 10 added a true in-cockpit view that was rendered to be a perfect likeness of the real life car. The environment and tracks weren’t spared from this graphic overhaul either, and I often found myself going on free rides just to scope out the scenery and enjoy the ride.

Glossy graphics aside, the “meat” of the game is still incredibly satisfying. Those who were avid players of FM2 can testify to the integral part that online activities played. Don’t worry, as Turn 10 was obviously aware this and made sure to spice things up just for you. Painting cars, applying vinyls and decals, and selling customized cars in FM3 couldn’t be easier. In fact, this practice is encouraged with the addition of the new “Storefront”. Players now have the ability to sell not only liveries for cars, but also tuning configurations. Making a name for yourself as an artist in Forza Motorsport 3 is a definite goal for some, but even those who lack the finesse required to create liveries can benefit from the changes.

Overall, this game not only meets all expectations set forth by hardcore FM2, but exceeds them. Those of you who are looking for a fun and relaxed racing game won’t be disappointed though, as Forza Motorsport 3 was also designed with you in mind. I would, without a doubt, recommend the purchase of this game. The only downside is that the game comes with two disks (and a total of 1.9 GB of data) and necessitates the use of a hard drive if you plan on adding the bonus content (100+ cars and 3 environments).

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(UPDATE – November 4, 2009) – Numerous reviews have been posted addressing the shortcomings concerning the online multiplayer mode. They are correct. Turn 10 absolutely perfected the single player aspect of this game with “Season Mode” but, upon playing a few hours in the online multiplayer mode (which, due to all the waiting, is only two or three races) a glaring flaw reveals itself- Turn 10′s “reset” of the new matchmaking system sucks. A lot. Gone are the days of creating your own custom party. Gone are the days of racing sub-A class cars. Gone are the glory days of online multiplayer.

While this may not be a huge deal to me (I mostly play single-player anyways), it’s definitely a problem that NEEDS to be addressed. I’ve also noticed some problems in single player mode..

* Some in-car views aren’t interactive, or don’t render correctly.

* While the sound of cars has been vastly improved, there are still some problems. It seems that the exhaust note is based solely on displacement of the engine. A Camaro shouldn’t sound like a Murcielago.

* Uploading the “Movies” doesn’t work unless they’re shot in low-res. 720p videos just don’t upload.

* The “Performance Index” is broken. A Dodge Ram with a PI of 700 should, logically, perform on par with a Lamborghini Reventon with a PI of 700, right? Well, that’s not how it works. I don’t know how the PI is calculated, but it’s not right.

* The resolution of Photomode leaves alot to be desired. While it’s understandable that there needs to be a limit on file size to relieve strain on Turn 10′s servers, I feel that the quality of the pictures doesn’t do the game justice.

* Everything sold in the Storefront has a price cap of 10,000 credits. While this is just temporary, it’s a huge disincentive at to spend hours upon hours perfecting a quality livery to be sold.

* The AI occasionally does stupid things. Though it’s rare, I’ve seen opponents slam on their brakes for no reason when they’re in the lead, slam into walls, or just stop driving. I don’t know if these are just glitches, or the AI trying to be “more human”. Whatever the cause, it’s not right.

MY ratings so far-

[*****] – Single Player Mode
[****_] – Soundtrack
[*****] – Visuals
[****_] – Multiplayer (Split-screen)
[*____] – Multiplayer (Xbox Live)
[***__] – Fit and finish (Ready to be released?)

richard ayala

I’ll start by saying that I have never played this or Forza 2 online. My online experience is limited to Call of Duty. If you’re looking for a review of the controversial multiplayer mode, there are plenty of good ones from other gamers.

That said, in single player mode this game is amazing. Not perfect, but very, very good. I absolutely loved Forza 2, so I was concerned that Turn 10 might alter the new game in ways that would be frustrating. Well, they did…but they made up for it (mostly) with lots of great new features. I am a hard-core driving simulator enthusiast; except on the most frustrating factory stock races, I play everything with the AI difficulty on “hard,” stability control off, and manual transmission mode. Despite this, Turn 10 has provided options to make the game EVEN HARDER or considerably easier. In fact, this is one of the biggest new feature sets, which allows a player with just about any level of experience to set the game up to their liking. While I won’t use things like “autobraking” or the recommended racing line, I don’t have to.

Of course, Forza is all about cars, and Forza 3 delivers tons of them. Counting the DLC, which keeps coming out, there are well over 400. Chances are, unless you are a huge fan of Japanese “kei” cars or obscure pre-war European roadsters from long-disbanded manufacturers, you will find your favorite automobile in this game. (Gran Turismo should cover you in the cases I mentioned).

Forza 3 also improves upon Forza 2 with its selection of tracks. The classics are still here (including my favorite Maple Valley) and with lots of new details thanks to the improved graphics, but new tracks debut as well, including the beautiful and extensive Amalfi Coast and the fictional series of Spanish tracks billed as “Camino Viejo de Montserrat.” Additionally, the gorgeous Fujimi Kaido from Forza 1 makes a reappearance.

Forza 2 had tons of customization, and Forza 3 has even more. While everything is just about the same, there are a few new things you can do such as adding oil coolers. On the other hand, it has also been simplified a bit; you can’t choose what brand of tires you install, for example.

Gameplay is just as good as before, with an improved physics engine that allows rollovers. The graphics are phenomenal, each car is exquisitely detailed, and there is a full cockpit view from which you can drive. If you are an extreme hard-core racer, you can even choose to drive with a button for the clutch. This is beyond me because in real life I use feet to operate the gas, brake, and clutch while my hands can concentrate on steering and shifting. Doing it all with my hands is too confusing.

Now, the negatives. No game is perfect, and Forza 3 has its share of flaws. The first thing that annoyed me was the “race announcer.” He won’t shut up. His bass-rich, nostalgic easy-listening voice can be heard any time you try to enter a car into a race for which it doesn’t qualify (which I often do in order to quickly see which ones I own that DO qualify).

Another big problem is the acquisition of cars. In Forza 2, you got cars for leveling up via XP, and you received a car for each race series you won. In Forza 3, you do get cars for leveling up, but you stop leveling up about 1/4 of the way through the game; meanwhile, winning race series only gives you money…not enough money. I decided that I wanted to own all the cars in the game, since I did pay real money for this opportunity to virtually drive them, and so with 3/4 of the races completed, I tallied up the cars remaining and found I still needed $110,000,000 to buy them all. Considering that a typical, mid-length race at my advanced level of difficulty only nets about $18,000, that was going to take a while. Part of this is due to a single vintage Ferrari priced at $20,000,000. The cars are just too expensive. It’s my own fault for wanting them all, but hey, I should be able to do that.

In their attempt to make the game appeal to a wider range of players, Turn 10 also added some unnecessary drama. There is an entirely repetitive animation at the beginning of each race depicting your car rolling up to the line and revving its engine. While they do stick to realism here (old cars with soft suspension will bounce when they stop at the line), the revving is tacky, and more critically, it removes your opportunity to bring your RPMs to the correct level for a good launch. A successful launch off the line is often the key to getting ahead of rivals who may be hard to pass elsewhere. Forza 3 made this impossible, which is extremely ridiculous considering that an all-new race type is drag racing. The launch is the MOST critical part of a drag race!!

The rewind feature has drawn some criticism from die-hard gamers, but I think it’s good. You really don’t have to use it, but I certainly have. It’s easier than restarting a race (which takes a long while) and in long, tedious races it can save you a ton of headaches. However, it doesn’t always work. Seriously. Sometimes, when you need it most, it just isn’t an option. The most notable time for me was in the third-to-last lap of an endurance race. At the end of the long straight, I got incredibly distracted by something else (perhaps my own thoughts) and failed to brake. Instead of immediately braking and swerving when I realized this, I moved my hand so that I could hit the rewind button. It did nothing, and by the time I figured that out and got back to the brakes, my car had covered the sand beyond the track and smacked the wall, wrecking its front. Fortunately, the engine was OK, and I still won the race, but it’s good to know you can’t always rely on the rewind button.

The addition of lousy in-game music is simply a waste of disc space (which is an issue, since you have to install almost 2GB of data on your hard drive in order to play all of the game).

Overall, Forza 3 makes some great improvements (rollovers, more cars, awesome graphics, new tracks) over its predecessor, but it is not perfect. However, it does allow novice and experienced racers alike to jump in and play, and completing the game will take hundreds of hours, making it just as much of a total immersive long-haul experience as its prior installments.

Najib El Otmani

This is by far the most technically accurate driving simulator I’ve played. I bought it primarily for the chance to drive the Circuit de la Sarthe and drive the Audi R10 TDI and although I’ve not yet gotten the R10 yet, the Circuit de la Sarthe is pure virtual bliss! The single player experience is one of the best I’ve played of any racing game and the seasons and tracks and available cars make for hours of fun.

The variety of vehicles is varied enough to keep anyone engaged and the ability to nearly infinitely customize not only the mechanics of the cars but the actual set ups as well in terms of suspension tuning, spoilers, tires, etc. In addition, the in-depth ability to customize the looks of the cars is awesome!

But, it’s not all fun and games on the Circuit de la Sarthe… I am EXTREMELY annoyed with the lack of ability to create one car design/paint scheme and apply it to multiple cars. This is disastrous! Why spend all the time to create a great design for a car and only be able to apply it to that specific car???? Ideally, you could create a great paint/graphics scheme and apply to any car… it might need to be tweaked for that car but at least the basics would be there. The second disappointment is the multiplayer experience… you cannot play this with a friend on your own xbox… the only multiplayer is via xbox live which, in my opinion, is great for Halo, GRAW, etc., but mediocre at best for racing games…

If not for the disappointing multiplayer and the car design limitations I would absolutely have rated this a 5.

Can’t wait to get my R10 TDI!!!

violet

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Features include:

•Complete Edition offers Midnight Club: Los Angeles plus all South Central Downloadable Content, including the South Central District which expands the original map by 1/3rd, adding off-road areas, stunt jumps and the South Central rail yards.
•Midnight Club: Los Angeles and the South Central Map Expansion blend seamlessly, featuring new Career Races, Red-light Races and Delivery Missions for a total of over 300 races across the entire city.
•South Central’s 12 new Battle Maps keep the online competition hotter than ever.
•An incredible selection of licensed, fully customizable muscle cars, tuners, exotics and motorcycles gets even bigger with South Central’s classic Lowriders, Police cruisers and the Range Rover SUV offering 60+ race-ready vehicles.
•Studded Soundtrack – Eagles of Death Metal, MGMT, Kid Cudi, Santigold, Busta Rhymes, The Cool Kids, Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West keep the vibe while you race

Complete Edition offers Midnight Club: Los Angeles plus all South Central Downloadable Content, including the South Central District which expands the original map by 1/3rd, adding off-road areas, stunt jumps and the South Central rail yards.
Midnight Club: Los Angeles and the South Central Map Expansion blend seamlessly, featuring new Career Races, Red-light Races and Delivery Missions for a total of over 300 races across the entire city.
South Central’s 12 new Battle Maps keep the online competition hotter than ever.
An incredible selection of licensed, fully customizable muscle cars, tuners, exotics and motorcycles gets even bigger with South Central’s classic Lowriders, Police cruisers and the Range Rover SUV offering 60+ race-ready vehicles.

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

Midnight club LA is the best racing game so far. The graphics are stunning, very detailed to the cracks on the pavement. This version of the game(Complete Edition) comes with more cares and a huge area called “South Central” which adds more people to race and new places to explore. THIS GAME IS HARD! Yes… Im always last with my Lambo, The main reason… you’ve guessed it, CRASHING! I crash into cars a few time but mostly on buildings… So im working on my driving still right now. Well this is the best racing game, loads of fun, and very long game… Played for a month and im only at 30ish Percent complete =D happy racing

Andrew B. Kaufman

hi i bought this game for my 7 yr old son becasue he played it on
his psp, so now he can play it on his xbox.He says he love
it i guess because he know how to play it.But for me I dont like it
maybe because he dont let me play it enough thats how much he likes it.
the game have lots of music, which some racing games dont have so thats a
plus over all ok. I wish they make TAXI for xbox, now that game i like.

trapeze

Out of all the race games I’ve played, this one is the funniest. The customization features are outstanding; although I did have one problem with the game. The game will sometimes will glitch and not load fully; but besides that, it was great.

Carol A. Anderson

Midnight club LA is the best racing game so far. The graphics are stunning, very detailed to the cracks on the pavement. This version of the game(Complete Edition) comes with more cares and a huge area called “South Central” which adds more people to race and new places to explore. THIS GAME IS HARD! Yes… Im always last with my Lambo, The main reason… you’ve guessed it, CRASHING! I crash into cars a few time but mostly on buildings… So im working on my driving still right now. Well this is the best racing game, loads of fun, and very long game… Played for a month and im only at 30ish Percent complete =D happy racing

C. Laws

hi i bought this game for my 7 yr old son becasue he played it on
his psp, so now he can play it on his xbox.He says he love
it i guess because he know how to play it.But for me I dont like it
maybe because he dont let me play it enough thats how much he likes it.
the game have lots of music, which some racing games dont have so thats a
plus over all ok. I wish they make TAXI for xbox, now that game i like.

Daisy80

Out of all the race games I’ve played, this one is the funniest. The customization features are outstanding; although I did have one problem with the game. The game will sometimes will glitch and not load fully; but besides that, it was great.

A. Ivery

Midnight club LA is the best racing game so far. The graphics are stunning, very detailed to the cracks on the pavement. This version of the game(Complete Edition) comes with more cares and a huge area called “South Central” which adds more people to race and new places to explore. THIS GAME IS HARD! Yes… Im always last with my Lambo, The main reason… you’ve guessed it, CRASHING! I crash into cars a few time but mostly on buildings… So im working on my driving still right now. Well this is the best racing game, loads of fun, and very long game… Played for a month and im only at 30ish Percent complete =D happy racing

GloJ

The price was right, brand new game. I couldn’t find this game anywhere. It hasn’t left my console yet! Thanks a bunch!!!

Barbra

I absolutely love the graphics in this game and it is a load of fun to modify your vehicles and customize them. Beware though because you will find a an unforgiving AI programmed into the game. I had read other reviews before buying this game that stated Rockstar released a patch to make the game a little easier early on but I must say I still found some difficulty in it. Once you begin buidling up your rep and earning more money you can buy better cars that handle much better. I have been finding the game more forgiving as I have ranked up but it still tends to punish you harshly for 1 mistake Throw in the fact the computer controlled competition rarely makes a mistake and seems to drive flawlessly …… when they do mess up they miraculously recover !! I do like a challenge and hate when games are too easy but Midnigh Club:LA tends to push you to play to near perfection. Overall it’s a fun game and modifying cars in the shop is one of the “side things” to do that I love. I recommend buying it since it is one of the best racing games out there, just don’t expect an easy time. If you can get through that aspect of the game you won’t be disappointed. One final note, the Cops in this game are among the toughest to outrun in any game I’ve played so be advised: Learning your way around the streets is mandatory !!

Reoma L. Colvin

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

Now let me preface this by saying that I LOVE racing games. And I even don’t mind a sandbox racing game. This one was a mix of both.If you’re into pure racing (Forza Motorsport 3) this game isn’t for you. But if you’re into SOME of the Need For Speed series (with a story line) or even the old school Driver games — this game is for you, but I do have a recommendation. Rent it, or buy it cheap, because if you play for about an hour a day, you will beat the main story within 5 or so days. It’ll probably take you another few days to beat the random other races in the game. All in all you could have all the offline achievements in about 10-20 1-hour gaming sessions.The story was super interesting and felt like a movie (see Inception (Deluxe Blu-ray Box Set with Shooting Script) [Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy]) and was of course way unbelievable, but hey, it’s a game, they don’t all have to be real!Anyways, I did enjoy the game, but I’m also glad I rented it and didn’t buy it.

cat

The new Driver gets back to the heart of what made this series great, it even includes the brutal old parking lot test as an extra challenge. After about ten hours with the game I am impressed by the variety of missions, dares, stunts, and the mixture of action, humor and general polish. The storyline is B-movie laughable but the tone is never too serious and matches the arcade controls and body jumping premise perfectly. The controls have an old school simplified arcade feel (with boost set to forward on the stick FZero style), and other old driving game mechanics come into play like near misses and overtakes. Crashes are forgiving as are missions especially when you couple in the new and well implemented ability to jump characters (cars). The control scheme with B button handbraking and RT/LT gas and brake will feel immediately comfortable but the exaggerated drifting can take some getting used to. I felt compelled to play as the plot played out, but was equally drawn to the side missions and challenges as well. None of which ever prove impossible. San Francisco is a perfect playground for a full on arcade driving smash fest like Driver:SF, the soundtrack is very good, the cars are cool and well represented graphically. Happily this game tunes up many driving game conventions (overhead maps, races, pursuits etc), and brings some new ones to the party (body switching, inventive missions) all of which keep you white knuckling your controller to the finish line or checkpoint or..

GEORGIA GRIFFIN

The car’s handling is great, San Francisco is nearly perfect and the progression system and on-line modes are realy cool. All the licenced cars are awesome from a DeLorean to a Camero. The split screen to play with your friend is a great idea. You really will have fun in this Driver game and it’s much better than any NFS, GTA, or midnight club game I have ever played.

Tom Terriffic

This game is so much fun and pulse pounding that it makes me sweat everytime I get into the action. Let’s just say I haven’t experienced this type of a rush in racing games since Burnout Revenge circa ’06. So it’s been a long time for me, I typically avoid racing games. This game absolutely lives up to its hype. I love everything about it. The story is awesome, however it seems like it gets off track just a little bit with the quirky side missions. Don’t get me wrong they are fun but I cannot seem to tie them into the main story…anyway, that doesn’t take away from any fun the game has to offer. I put about 3 hours into this game thus far and I’m in Chapter 2 right now. So far I am really enjoying myself. NOTE if you are a hardcore racer, then you may think this game is kinda corny. I played NFS Hot Pursuit and I had fun, but this game seems to be more of my speed. I like Driver San Francisco because it’s Story Mode is cool, I think Driving/Racing games are cool as long as they have some decent story that I can follow. All and all, I highly recommend this game if you are a casual racing fan, but If you are hardcore with it, they I recommend you wait until a more hardcore racer comes out. ThanksPs. The cars are licensed so they look great, so far I’ve upgraded with prizes to a Dodge Challenger SRT-8 and boy does it move!!!!

the short chef

I’ll admit right at the top, I have been a fan of the Driver series since the first one. After the disappointing Driv3r, I abandoned the series. I’ve been wanting a Driver game for awhile now that got that feeling of the original back. This game does it. Gameplay:- I played the demo and was a little concerned about the controls. Once I played the actual game, the concerns disappeared. The cars all handle differently, some better than others. Some of the initial cars were pretty stiff in the handling department, but once I got into a Lamborghini, the handling was superb. Flying through the streets of San Francisco felt awesome, especially at 200+ m.p.h.
- This game is pretty laid-back. You can take it at about any pace. Don’t feel like doing story missions? Just drive around the city, play the dares, finish challenges, etc. You can play this game at your own pace.
- The “Shift” mechanic is actually pretty cool. It is worked well into the story too. Some of the funnest moments I had were when I was chasing down some street racers, I would shift into a large semi-truck, park it perpendicular to the freeway, then watch as all the street racers smashed in to it totaling their cars. Graphics:- The graphics were about on par with anything else this generation. The best effects happened when you’re speeding along at 150+ m.p.h. the blur effect really gives this game a sense of speed. I didn’t notice anything really out of the ordinary such as graphical glitches.
- Cutscenes come in two shapes, rendered CG and using the in-game engine. Sometime conversations will happen while you’re driving and you’ll see two characters conversing, one on each upper corner of your screen.
- San Francisco looks great, from right down on the street to when you’re looking over the entire city while in shift.Sound:- Lots of music, but to be honest I never really heard anything that caught my ear. The soundtrack was pretty forgettable.
- Dialogue is cheesy but it works. It gives this game a goofy, but good personality. Other Notes:- This game features a ton of licensed cars, not generic ripoffs like GTA.
- I 100% completed the single player and it was not very difficult, but I thought it struck a fine balance of fun and difficulty.
- I didn’t play the multiplayer so I cannot comment on how that is.
- This game plays like an arcade game, not a simulation. Sim-fans look elsewhere.Summary:- This game won’t appeal to everybody. If you enjoy car chases, fun but not-to-hard challenges, a laid-back gaming experience, this game is for you.
- This game is worthy of the Driver name and made me remember the good times I had with Driver 1 & 2.
- This game is a ton of fun and I really enjoyed it.
- Try out the demo on XBL!

RENE VERGARA

I’m a huge fan of racing games in general and this one is no exception. If you only take the story for what it is, (an attempt to make some sense out of the ludicrous ability that you have, called shift) the driving is an excellent attempt at creating some great car chases with over-exaggerated drifting and enjoyable gameplay. The shifting ability allows you to at any moment change into any car you would like, meaning that if you mess up, the penalty is relatively minor. Some people think that this ability makes the game too easy, which it can, but it also adds an entirely new layer to the gameplay which if used properly makes it a much more enjoyable experience. The driving can take some getting used to but after about 10-15 minutes, people who have never been very good at racing games (my wife included) are able to pick up and drive. My wife especially enjoys it, because if she crashes, she can get right back into the action (using shift) without having to have too much skill in being able to recover her car. There are tons of side missions that range in difficulty from drifting 20 meters, to jumping a car 50 meters, to driving a Lamborghini under 20 Semi trailers in less than 3 minutes to racing a Mclaren F1 vs a Pagoni Zonda down a freeway at 200+mph. These missions add some variety and extend the life beyond the main story missions, which only take about 8-10 hours to complete.The online multiplayer is just as much fun, if not more so than the singleplayer. Most modes involve everyone having the ability to shift and it keeps the game fast-paced and interesting. Tag mode allows for everyone, except the one who is “it” to shift and try and take the tag away from them. This provides for frantic and unpredictable gameplay which keeps you on the edge of your seat. Trailblazer has you fighting to stay in a trail behind a Delorean in order to accumulate points. Whoever accumulates 100 points first wins. This mode is easier for people with less skill to pick up and play as, the car you are following only goes a moderate speed and is easy enough to keep up with. This allows for less skilled players to get into the action a lot better and use shift to keep in the fun. I only described these two modes to keep the review short, but there are several different modes to play, both with shift and without, which offer gameplay styles that should suit almost all individuals. There are also demos for both the singleplayer and the multiplayer if you would like to try before you buy.Overall, I found this game to be both enjoyable for those who enjoy racing games and those who do not and would recommend it to just about anyone.

C. Vargo

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews
No reviews available for this item.

Last year I fell in love with what I believed was the best f1 game ever. This year I find myself unable to touch 2010 because 2011 is just that much better. The cars just feel so much better and the new changes allow me to unleash an aggressive driving style on the track. Curbs are now my best friends as I can trample them without fearing a loss of control. Everything about 2011 is just improved over 2010, especially the graphics. If you like a challenge and a great sense of speed, buy this game NOW!

Mark Ahlers

Excellent Game very fun cooperativ play. If you have a xbox 360 weehl the play is realy cool and the simulate is more real.

M. Douglas

This is the best simulation racing game on out there. It has great graphics plus you can change the settings to help assist on driving while you start your career out but the better you do the top teams will offer you to drive for them. Id you don’t want to do career you can drive any car and create your own grand prix circuit by choosing which racing sites you want for the season. The game is so realistic that you can choose what kind of tires you want, change fatigued engines, tune your car from how you want you suspension change to brake pressure, how much fuel you want in tank, adjust your fuel flow through race for faster speed plus many more options. All the wreck in the game are incredible plus they call for penalty’s on bad driving. The game keeps track of everything you do from how many miles to wrecks and so on. The pit stop are so realistic when you pull it actually show’s all the pit crew changing ever thing and if you have damage on certain parts like wing you will see them change the wing. This game has so much more I could talk about you won’t be dissapointed.

Jordan

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

Well, Sonic Free Riders starts off with this frustratingly long/annoying tutorial, and once you’re past it, and hit a few rounds of “World Grand Prix” you BEGIN to get the movement down. The first day of playing, my body was all over the place, trying to lean left & right way too hard and by habit, turning my body forward instead off to the side (like a skateboarder). The character was drifting way off course and I was just getting angrier”. Well, After a about the 3rd track in, the frustration began to dissipate, as I was able to nail a good deal of the controls, which felt rewarding. Sonic feels more like a non-Kinect launch title – as it has more depth then the other titles. Yes, it’s definitely true that sometimes, the game can be super finicky with your movement, but not enough to ruin the game like I originally thought. Sega crammed a lot of moves in this game, so it’s going to take practice, as this has a bit of a learning curve. I also like that it’s the only debut game (I think) that has menu driven voice commands. Overall, thumbs up – but I would not recommended Sonic Free Riders to the casual gamer (lol – the irony).

B. SMITH

I have seen this game recieve negative reviews overall, and I’m still trying to figure out why. Sonic Free Riders is my favorite game for the Kinect, and I am totally hooked on it. It’s like riding a snowboard, and I think I actually get a better work out from the game than actaully snowboarding. You have to lean left and right as you steer your way around the course, and actually crouch down and then jump when you hit a ramp. And it’s not just leg movements either. There are weapons which require different types of hand moves to be deployed, and even a special ability to let you punch through obstacles in your path. After playing this game for awhile, you are definitely going to be sore from the intense workout you just recived. And even better, it’s a much more enjoyable workout rather than a treadmill or stationary bike, for instance.

Brian

Name: Mike
Age: 21

Sonic Free Riders is the only Kinect game i find myself booting up when I don’t have company over. When I’m entertaining guests it’s always Kinect Sports or Dance Central; but if it’s just myself, this has been my go-to game for single play. Once you get past the long (admittedly annoying) tutorial and begin to learn the ins and outs of the controls the game proves to be very fun. This is not a pickup and play casual game. It takes time and patience to learn the controls and exactly how to move your body. Because of this, Sonic Free Riders is one of my most played Kinect games. It has the hardcore-ish appeal that I need for a single player game, PLUS I get to use my Kinect and get a good workout.

I’d recommend this game for anyone looking for a reason to use their Kinect when they don’t have guests over. It has its flaws here and there, but overall it’s a solid game and i always have a good time with it.

mkeogh

Well, Sonic Free Riders starts off with this frustratingly long/annoying tutorial, and once you’re past it, and hit a few rounds of “World Grand Prix” you BEGIN to get the movement down. The first day of playing, my body was all over the place, trying to lean left & right way too hard and by habit, turning my body forward instead off to the side (like a skateboarder). The character was drifting way off course and I was just getting angrier”. Well, After a about the 3rd track in, the frustration began to dissipate, as I was able to nail a good deal of the controls, which felt rewarding. Sonic feels more like a non-Kinect launch title – as it has more depth then the other titles. Yes, it’s definitely true that sometimes, the game can be super finicky with your movement, but not enough to ruin the game like I originally thought. Sega crammed a lot of moves in this game, so it’s going to take practice, as this has a bit of a learning curve. I also like that it’s the only debut game (I think) that has menu driven voice commands. Overall, thumbs up – but I would not recommended Sonic Free Riders to the casual gamer (lol – the irony).

B. Altuntas

I have seen this game recieve negative reviews overall, and I’m still trying to figure out why. Sonic Free Riders is my favorite game for the Kinect, and I am totally hooked on it. It’s like riding a snowboard, and I think I actually get a better work out from the game than actaully snowboarding. You have to lean left and right as you steer your way around the course, and actually crouch down and then jump when you hit a ramp. And it’s not just leg movements either. There are weapons which require different types of hand moves to be deployed, and even a special ability to let you punch through obstacles in your path. After playing this game for awhile, you are definitely going to be sore from the intense workout you just recived. And even better, it’s a much more enjoyable workout rather than a treadmill or stationary bike, for instance.

discotae

Name: Mike
Age: 21

Sonic Free Riders is the only Kinect game i find myself booting up when I don’t have company over. When I’m entertaining guests it’s always Kinect Sports or Dance Central; but if it’s just myself, this has been my go-to game for single play. Once you get past the long (admittedly annoying) tutorial and begin to learn the ins and outs of the controls the game proves to be very fun. This is not a pickup and play casual game. It takes time and patience to learn the controls and exactly how to move your body. Because of this, Sonic Free Riders is one of my most played Kinect games. It has the hardcore-ish appeal that I need for a single player game, PLUS I get to use my Kinect and get a good workout.

I’d recommend this game for anyone looking for a reason to use their Kinect when they don’t have guests over. It has its flaws here and there, but overall it’s a solid game and i always have a good time with it.

Robert E. Boldman Wolf

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews
I must say, I was excited for the release of this game, but after playing to the commercial version with patch 1 # downloaded from Xbox Live, I am most disappointed. Developers and publishers, Eutechnyx and Activision, in my opinion, have released a beta version. Developers began with the idea of right, but, due to time constraints, budget or to contractual obligations, issues released a game unfinished and not verified. This game, in comparison with other racing (not only NASCAR games) games, is poor and unfinished. In comparison with offers of today’s generation of today, which includes but is not limited: grid, DIRT 2, FORZA 3, GT5, flat out: Ultimate Carnage, PGR4, blur, MotorStorm, HP NFS, Shift 2, etc…, there is no comparison. The immersion, graphics, AI, game, value of repetition, car customization, as well as the playback mode (some of the above have playback mode) too much and on what 2011 NASCAR game can offer.

It is not that the physical drive is bad, or graphics are the rate of court, or the game freezes (does not include the game online), but small things are present in the version today that far from what could have been a great first entry for developers. The AI is checked, currently do not work the small details that make up the racing of NASCAR (accident of AI, flags of caution, pit stops, details of side of the track, damage of car), play video after a race is a joke (it seems cut paper out of cars is placed on the TV screen). It is terrible that the developers release this to the public, when the public can instead purchase racing games cheaper and better now emerging that identifier everything you’ve mentioned 100% better. It is not good enough compare NASCAR game EA NASCAR 09 2011. We have to compare it with other games of races, arcade or simulation. And in comparison, it is poor. Developers missed the mark on this entry. Because of this, I can only hope that maybe someday, CodeMasters (creators of the grid, dirt and F1 2010) make a decent NASCAR game.

I’m not looking for simulation, because iRacing has that field. What I’m looking for is a polished, entertaining, exciting racing game that correctly represents the spectacle of NASCAR racing. NASCAR game 2011 do not offer this experience. As a player, to pay $60 for a product, I hope a finished product. NASCAR game 2011, in its current state, is not a finished product. My only hope is that the developers can support this game with patches, as they claim that they would on their forums. My concern is that patches will no solution currently many of the elements players complain. If so, I will keep my money when released NASCAR the 2012 game. The old saying, “fool me once, blame fool me twice, blame me”.Kandy J. TacckiIt was so horrible. It did not take any skill to win, yellow flags were non-existent and other drivers would you be destroyed for no reason. But the worst is that it took away the way of career where he could start small then go to the number of trucks and so on. That was what I expected more. Hatred on the basis in the Cup sprint in terms of pop in the game. The worst racing game I’ve ever played. I want my money back!
Kristen K. Williams
I’ve played all the Nascar games since that began in the early 1990s. Game iRacing. See Nascar. And I’ve NEVER written a review before… so far. They rely heavily on reviews to buy something and I know that others do the same. It felt bound to the warning… do buy it game to this.? I was stupid and not wait for reviews and bought the day which was released due to the “misleading” hype and buildup.
What I liked:
1) Stand painting has potential but is extremely difficult to find and navigate, and is full of errors and defects.
(2) The competition is very “arcade” and jerky.
(3) Career mode is a joke. As soon as you go to the next track, placed in the grid to qualify. There are no sessions of garage or practice. I guess that you go to the main home screen and select practice and choose a track before entering the career mode.
(4) Yellow flags out 10 seconds after an accident at times or not at all. AI cars crashed really hard (flipped, etc) and they remained on the lead lap.
I could go and…
What I liked:
(1) When I took this game and put my 09 Nascar again….Robert L. Klein

Out of the box, this is the biggest disaster I have ever witnessed. There’s more bad than good about this game. The worst thing I have seen in 20+ years of console and computer gaming.

The good : graphics are nice looking….. that’s really about it.

The bad : Where to begin
In single player after you complete 1 season, you have to start over your “career” if you want to race a 2nd season.
AI is terribly easy to win against even on the hardest settings.
Caution flags do not work for you. If an AI car spins/wrecks you, no caution. If you spin/wreck an AI car the caution is out immediately.
Drafting is a joke. When you get in a draft it’s like hitting the turbo in Mario Kart where you boost about 30 MPH.
Car damage is terribly lacking. You can hit a wall head-on at 150+ MPH and have no damage at all to the car. To this day, I still can’t get a car to breakdown. No matter how hard I try.
If you run out of gas, you get a DNF. No coasting, no tow….GAME OVER
No rear view/virtual mirrors in views outside of the car. Even in car views the mirrors don’t work right. To even see them in the car you turn the drivers head.
Wall glue is worse than NR2003. If you graze the wall you’ll lose 20-30 MPH
If you hit an orange cone at speed you’ll get airborne as if it was a ramp.

Pit road bugs :
If you get wrecked and end up going into pit lane you’ll get a black flag for speed or backing in.
While racing, if you break the timing line while racing(I do it a lot at Richmond) black flag.

Online : Completely unplayable
1 minute wait timer resetting. it’s easier to have a ready button. It can take over 10 minutes in the lobby for a “quick” race to start.
If there’s more than 6 players be prepared to wait well over 5 minutes (I’ve timed it and got tired at 5 minutes) for the race to load.
If you get lucky enough for a race to load, then you have to hope you don’t get any of the numerous starting bugs. Cars missing the bodies, chassis only, starting upside down, flipping… the list goes on.

Paint booth -
Very confusing and terribly buggy as well. Can’t use the Pre-set #’s if you want them to be seen. You have to use text to have #’s shown.
Adding text. you can only add 1 letter at a time.

Tracks – Complete failures
caution lights are on 100% of the time.
Watkins Glen the pit boxes are on the left side. The tracks in the game is pretty much flat. In real life into turn 1 there is a hill, turns have banking.
Some night races are orange. I think only Bristol Night is dark.

Steering wheels – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE
This game has broken/ruined/fried many wheels. 1 guy had 2 get broken thinking his 1st one might have been on it’s way out.

I only scratched the surface with the bugs. Many more out there, too much too type.

They are working of patches, but the list of bugs is too long. The game has loads of potential but out of the box it is NOT worth the buying price. I’ve lost any and all hope on this company. Most if not all of these bugs should have been found in Alpha/Beta testing, if they even did any of that. They have the NASCAR license for 5 years. Hopefully gamers won’t have to wait that long for a good, playable game from a different company. EA’s NASCAR games are much better than this release.

J. Spoor

I bought this as a pre-order because I was so amped up about getting a NASCAR game for my XBox 360. What I saw online was that this was supposed to be a great game, and would be better than ever. WRONG. A lot of people have spoken about the game play, but I will tell you what makes me mad that I paid $60 for this game.

1. The points system is last year’s system. I’m a huge NASCAR fan, and I want the new rules to be included in my NASCAR games. If I just wanted to race, I would stick to Forza. I want NASCAR.

2. Pit Stops – It is great that they used motion capture of Matt Kenseth’s “Killer Bees”, but they didn’t capture any mistakes. Every pit stop is the same every time, and you gain no advantage or disadvantage on pit road. They give you some different options for adjusting your car on pit road, but you don’t get to fix any damage. In fact, they barely give you enough time to take advantage of the few adjustment options they do have. Under caution, the cars on track go much faster than pit road speed, so you end up losing tons of spots on pass through penalties. A huge pet peave of mine is that they still have a catch can man. There are no catch cans in NASCAR anymore!!!

3. Career Mode??? – ONE season does not constitute a career mode. Besides, whose career starts in the Sprint Cup series, anyway? What happened to the Whelen Modifieds, the Truck Series, and Nationwide??? You don’t get any of those options.

4. Sponsorships – In order to get a sponsorship, you have to complete certain achievements. Once you obtain a sponsorship, there is no money involved, and the sponsor doesn’t even get to go on the car. If there is one thing I know, it’s that sponsors want their names to be seen. There are fewer than 20 sponsors you can choose for your car, and you can get them regardless of whether or not you have a sponsorship from them.

5. Car Customization – You can choose 1 car color, and no secondary colors. In order to accomplish any type of this, you have to spend way too much time picking layers and graphics. Then comes actually applying them to the car. The settings for the controls are too sensitive to get them in the right spots. No matter what you make your number, you’re still #53. It took a lot of time to actually get my car to have a number on it on race day. Getting an outline on a number is nearly impossible, but after an hour, I accomplished it correctly.

All in all, I am glad to have a good NASCAR game. Unfortunately, it’s on my PS2 and several years old. This game is the result of NASCAR letting a European company take a 100% American sport and making it into a video game. I don’t think they can put enough patches or changes out to make this game tolerable. I can’t wait until the 5 year contract is up on this developer. NASCAR should be ashamed of this game, and I’m shocked they let their name be on it with such little effort put into making it.

Kelsey

I quickly noticed very strange feedback to my XBox Steering Wheel during racing after any kind of contact to walls or cars. It felt like a gyroscope out of kilter banging around inside my wheel box trying to get out. It was so violent that I exited the race to start over. It turns out that was probably a good idea since after some discussion with others some have had their wheel damaged from the game. If you go to the official game site forum you will find several people whose wheel was broken from using this game. Apparently you can turn off the Force Feed Back to avoid damage but I’m not sure I’m willing to risk it. If you race with a wheel watch out! Update: Since I wrote this I have tried turning off the FFB which does eliminate the violent shaking but you lose much of the “feel” for the car driving. Even with FFB on low the wheel makes a disturbing noise and shaking after any damage.

Honz

Out of the box, this is the biggest disaster I have ever witnessed. There’s more bad than good about this game. The worst thing I have seen in 20+ years of console and computer gaming.

The good : graphics are nice looking….. that’s really about it.

The bad : Where to begin
In single player after you complete 1 season, you have to start over your “career” if you want to race a 2nd season.
AI is terribly easy to win against even on the hardest settings.
Caution flags do not work for you. If an AI car spins/wrecks you, no caution. If you spin/wreck an AI car the caution is out immediately.
Drafting is a joke. When you get in a draft it’s like hitting the turbo in Mario Kart where you boost about 30 MPH.
Car damage is terribly lacking. You can hit a wall head-on at 150+ MPH and have no damage at all to the car. To this day, I still can’t get a car to breakdown. No matter how hard I try.
If you run out of gas, you get a DNF. No coasting, no tow….GAME OVER
No rear view/virtual mirrors in views outside of the car. Even in car views the mirrors don’t work right. To even see them in the car you turn the drivers head.
Wall glue is worse than NR2003. If you graze the wall you’ll lose 20-30 MPH
If you hit an orange cone at speed you’ll get airborne as if it was a ramp.

Pit road bugs :
If you get wrecked and end up going into pit lane you’ll get a black flag for speed or backing in.
While racing, if you break the timing line while racing(I do it a lot at Richmond) black flag.

Online : Completely unplayable
1 minute wait timer resetting. it’s easier to have a ready button. It can take over 10 minutes in the lobby for a “quick” race to start.
If there’s more than 6 players be prepared to wait well over 5 minutes (I’ve timed it and got tired at 5 minutes) for the race to load.
If you get lucky enough for a race to load, then you have to hope you don’t get any of the numerous starting bugs. Cars missing the bodies, chassis only, starting upside down, flipping… the list goes on.

Paint booth -
Very confusing and terribly buggy as well. Can’t use the Pre-set #’s if you want them to be seen. You have to use text to have #’s shown.
Adding text. you can only add 1 letter at a time.

Tracks – Complete failures
caution lights are on 100% of the time.
Watkins Glen the pit boxes are on the left side. The tracks in the game is pretty much flat. In real life into turn 1 there is a hill, turns have banking.
Some night races are orange. I think only Bristol Night is dark.

Steering wheels – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE
This game has broken/ruined/fried many wheels. 1 guy had 2 get broken thinking his 1st one might have been on it’s way out.

I only scratched the surface with the bugs. Many more out there, too much too type.

They are working of patches, but the list of bugs is too long. The game has loads of potential but out of the box it is NOT worth the buying price. I’ve lost any and all hope on this company. Most if not all of these bugs should have been found in Alpha/Beta testing, if they even did any of that. They have the NASCAR license for 5 years. Hopefully gamers won’t have to wait that long for a good, playable game from a different company. EA’s NASCAR games are much better than this release.

M. Seguin

I bought this as a pre-order because I was so amped up about getting a NASCAR game for my XBox 360. What I saw online was that this was supposed to be a great game, and would be better than ever. WRONG. A lot of people have spoken about the game play, but I will tell you what makes me mad that I paid $60 for this game.

1. The points system is last year’s system. I’m a huge NASCAR fan, and I want the new rules to be included in my NASCAR games. If I just wanted to race, I would stick to Forza. I want NASCAR.

2. Pit Stops – It is great that they used motion capture of Matt Kenseth’s “Killer Bees”, but they didn’t capture any mistakes. Every pit stop is the same every time, and you gain no advantage or disadvantage on pit road. They give you some different options for adjusting your car on pit road, but you don’t get to fix any damage. In fact, they barely give you enough time to take advantage of the few adjustment options they do have. Under caution, the cars on track go much faster than pit road speed, so you end up losing tons of spots on pass through penalties. A huge pet peave of mine is that they still have a catch can man. There are no catch cans in NASCAR anymore!!!

3. Career Mode??? – ONE season does not constitute a career mode. Besides, whose career starts in the Sprint Cup series, anyway? What happened to the Whelen Modifieds, the Truck Series, and Nationwide??? You don’t get any of those options.

4. Sponsorships – In order to get a sponsorship, you have to complete certain achievements. Once you obtain a sponsorship, there is no money involved, and the sponsor doesn’t even get to go on the car. If there is one thing I know, it’s that sponsors want their names to be seen. There are fewer than 20 sponsors you can choose for your car, and you can get them regardless of whether or not you have a sponsorship from them.

5. Car Customization – You can choose 1 car color, and no secondary colors. In order to accomplish any type of this, you have to spend way too much time picking layers and graphics. Then comes actually applying them to the car. The settings for the controls are too sensitive to get them in the right spots. No matter what you make your number, you’re still #53. It took a lot of time to actually get my car to have a number on it on race day. Getting an outline on a number is nearly impossible, but after an hour, I accomplished it correctly.

All in all, I am glad to have a good NASCAR game. Unfortunately, it’s on my PS2 and several years old. This game is the result of NASCAR letting a European company take a 100% American sport and making it into a video game. I don’t think they can put enough patches or changes out to make this game tolerable. I can’t wait until the 5 year contract is up on this developer. NASCAR should be ashamed of this game, and I’m shocked they let their name be on it with such little effort put into making it.

Princeton Dave

I quickly noticed very strange feedback to my XBox Steering Wheel during racing after any kind of contact to walls or cars. It felt like a gyroscope out of kilter banging around inside my wheel box trying to get out. It was so violent that I exited the race to start over. It turns out that was probably a good idea since after some discussion with others some have had their wheel damaged from the game. If you go to the official game site forum you will find several people whose wheel was broken from using this game. Apparently you can turn off the Force Feed Back to avoid damage but I’m not sure I’m willing to risk it. If you race with a wheel watch out! Update: Since I wrote this I have tried turning off the FFB which does eliminate the violent shaking but you lose much of the “feel” for the car driving. Even with FFB on low the wheel makes a disturbing noise and shaking after any damage.

Orv

More…

…………………………………………………………………
Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

THE GOOD

Custom Gameplay Camera

In Alive there are two settings for your camera, default, which is a up-close view directly behind your rider, first person view and a custom user setting. The default and first person camera views are similar to those found in Reflex. Default seems a little closer and the first person view feels more stable. The custom camera setting IS AWESOME, giving the player the ability to pan in, out and rotate the around the rider. I love this option and play with the camera skewed to the right and panned out a good distance. The panning out is a GREAT addition/improvement.

Gear Sets

Not only can you unlock an array of detailed gear, but you can also save 3 sets! This makes switching bikes and gear quick and easy. You can even switch while waiting for the next race online.

Online Menu Control and Stats

After a race you have a ton of stats. How many passes, who lead the most, fastest lap times, etc. You can now vote between two tracks after a race and while waiting switch bikes and gear sets. When hosting a private session, you can modify the event session at anytime without having to exit, keeping all your players in the same room.

Loading Room is the Track you are About to Race

I like this for a couple reasons. Having only one loading track every time gets old real quick and its nice to actually have a short amount of time to ride down the track to refresh your memory on the layout.

Tracks and Graphics

With the free download we have 14 nationals, 3 free rides and 4 short tracks. The James Stewart compound is one of the best things ever put into a motocross game… period. There is also a lot of cool outdoor tracks, that almost feel more like Supercross tracks. Most are very creative, detailed and just down right fun to ride. Hopefully THQ will keep pumping them out for the next year to keep it all fresh. I know a lot of people complain that there’s no real race tracks in the game, but this doesn’t bother me too much, as long as they’re fun and complicated enough to keep players searching for new and innovative ways to hit sections and improve lap times and most of the tracks have this.

Bike Physics and Handling

The bike handles better now and is more predictable. Once you upgrade your bike and parts and learn (or unlearn habits of the past) how to brake and lean, you can start to rip around the track.

ONLINE Racing

You can actually ride now without crashing every two seconds. No more flying off your bike when another rider grazes you. There was a few issues on the first day, but overall the online has worked pretty good for me.

THE BAD

NO Career Mode

No, no, no, James Stewart coming on the screen and talking for 20 seconds is NOT a career mode. Its weak and almost pointless, unless your a huge fanboy. There really is no single player offline event-type career mode, basically just a race now type gameplay. Every sports game has a career mode except this one. Reflex had something, but it wasn’t correct either.

In boxing games you progress thru a career mode over virtual years, training, fighting, progressing up an event ladder until you you fight for the heavyweight championship. In hockey games you progress thru a virtual calender, and if you win enough you play for the Stanley Cup. In baseball… Okay, you get the point. WHY, does THQ keep ignoring this IMPORTANT component that makes a sport game a sport game! After all, motocross/supercross is a sport. A motocross game needs a career mode too!

You start off as an amateur, your garage is a mess with only your beat-up pick-up and your old out-dated 125. You click your Virtual Calender on the wall, you notice there is a race this weekend at the local county fair (think outdoor small arena-cross type event), you click race event. You race the event against relatively easy competition and if you win a notice pops up (or animated sequence depending on budget). Bob from Bob’s moto-sports wants you to race for him! He’ll supply you with a new bike and gear and as long as you keep placing 3rd or higher… Then you race some nationals, then pro amateur nationals and if you place high enough you get to start racing with the pros, earning new deals along the way, eventually landing you in Supercross and the finals in Las Vegas!

This could be as simple as a calender on the wall with your garage improving, the more money you make, with little notices popping-up with deals/sponsorships that you can choose to accept or not. You could also add injuries and bike failures so if you case a huge triple you may have to sit out a round or 2, or if you don’t replace your engine your bike fails, but you could still win the championship if you place first in the last 5 rounds. Anyway, I could go into detail here, but I have a business to run.

NO Direction/Help

There is no real direction or help for NEW users. No tips on how to corner or jump expect for a few text tips on loading screens. This is where a career mode could come in handy, as you progress thru you start learning new techniques, etc.

Rider Position and Gestures

The gestures have been covered enough, so no need to beat the already dead horse. The rider position is much more organic this time and reacts more to what the bike is doing. It doesn’t bother me much (since I’m panned out), but I can see why it bothers some people as the rider is sitting straight up with his elbows in instead of leaning forward with is elbows up and out.

Need Editors

It would be great to have TWO editors. A custom season creator (separate from the game’s season) and a custom track builder. The track builder can be as simple as placing pre-render corners, whoops and jump sections in an outdoor or indoor setting. I don’t think it would hurt downloads because the user-made track would always be in the same setting.

The Verdict

Overall, I would give the game a solid B+. Maybe raise my score to a A- once more DLC becomes available. Although the physics, graphics, menus, camera and settings have improved, the lack of a really deep career mode hurts the game big time. Hopefully we will get a ton of DLC that will offset this, only time will tell. The game would easily be the best MX game ever, if it had a real sports-related career mode! Regardless, if your a fan or rider of the sport YOU really need to pick-up the game and try it YOURSELF. I think if you give it an honest try, you’ll like it.

2Cute

I was on the fence about this game, and waited a few days to buy it. Now that I’ve played it, however, I’m very pleased with the purchase and think the game is a big improvement over Reflex. Note: I’ve been playing the game with Jump Assist and Corner Assist off. The controls felt terrible when I tried with them on.

PROS:
____Improved reflex system/controls
Say goodbye to randomly getting knocked off your bike by opponents. You can also say goodbye to inexplicably rocketing 45 degrees to the left when you hit a jump. The controls are less twitchy, and you feel more in control of what you are doing. I think the system takes a little more finesse (which is good), without being on the razor’s edge that was Reflex.

____Audio
The engine noises in Reflex drove me insane, being either A) wide open or B) some 8-bit sounding garbage. Then there was the issue of the engine sound cutting out entirely when you went off a jump or were in whoops. The engine noises are now progressive and can trail off, and are far more realistic. A much needed and well-executed change.

____Customizable races – You can change the difficulty, opponents (MX, MX/ATV, just 250s or 125s and 250s), and # of laps (from 3-30) at the start of each race. Longer races are SO much better in MX, because the track really changes and there is time to commit and recover from mistakes.

____Ride whatever you want.
Rather than needing to place in races to make money to upgrade your bike, you level in this game. Thankfully, you can level up doing whatever you want. Do a 3 lap race, do a 15 lap, or ride Free Ride, it all gets you XP. I was worried about having to level up, but it hasn’t been an issue.

____Terrain deformation
Much improved over Reflex, the changes happen at a slower, more realistic rate and yet ultimately can be more significant. The track -really- changes over the course of a race. You need to take it a little easier before the ruts are really built up, and changing lips and bases of jumps make racing more dynamic.

____Graphics
The lighting is fantastic, notably going in and out of shaded areas. The fabric effects are neat, and the terrain and roost are also improved over Reflex.

CONS:
____Free Ride areas feel fenced in.
In Reflex the Free Ride areas were HUGE and really felt free. You could explore mountaintops and anything you had the skill to ride over. Unfortunately, in Alive the free ride areas feel more like boxes, with less interesting contents. There are intrusive invisible walls, and it feels less like a gentle “don’t go so far from the base” and more like “You will play in this box on these hills.” (They are fun, and it’s nice to get XP in them, but they lack compared to Reflex’s)

____No tutorial; awkward for the first few races.
The game doesn’t do a good job of introducing itself. There is a new seatbump system (push R3 while holding the right stick down to get far more air) which is necessary to clear many gaps, and if you don’t know this, a lot of tracks are very frustrating as you case jumps again and again. Also, after playing a lot of Reflex with upgraded bikes, it took me a few races to adjust to my new, slower machine and the slightly different physics and controls (but it was worth it!!). I’m still not sure where I should be using the clutch outside of starting from a stop.

____2-stroke and 4-stroke are different classes
In Reflex, there were 125(2-stroke) and 250F, then 250(2-stroke) and 450F. Now the progression is 125 2-stroke, 250F, 450F. You can still race whatever bike you want on whatever track, so this is fairly minor.

____No replays at all
The “highlight reel” in Reflex was sort of weird and clunky, but it was better than nothing… which is all there is now.

Karrie Hess

But I played MX Alive. Controls were more accessible, tracks were more fun, multiplayer was more exciting. Everything good about MX Reflex (which was, really, Rider Reflex, and that’s about it for me) but made it better.

Kimberly H.

THE GOOD

Custom Gameplay Camera

In Alive there are two settings for your camera, default, which is a up-close view directly behind your rider, first person view and a custom user setting. The default and first person camera views are similar to those found in Reflex. Default seems a little closer and the first person view feels more stable. The custom camera setting IS AWESOME, giving the player the ability to pan in, out and rotate the around the rider. I love this option and play with the camera skewed to the right and panned out a good distance. The panning out is a GREAT addition/improvement.

Gear Sets

Not only can you unlock an array of detailed gear, but you can also save 3 sets! This makes switching bikes and gear quick and easy. You can even switch while waiting for the next race online.

Online Menu Control and Stats

After a race you have a ton of stats. How many passes, who lead the most, fastest lap times, etc. You can now vote between two tracks after a race and while waiting switch bikes and gear sets. When hosting a private session, you can modify the event session at anytime without having to exit, keeping all your players in the same room.

Loading Room is the Track you are About to Race

I like this for a couple reasons. Having only one loading track every time gets old real quick and its nice to actually have a short amount of time to ride down the track to refresh your memory on the layout.

Tracks and Graphics

With the free download we have 14 nationals, 3 free rides and 4 short tracks. The James Stewart compound is one of the best things ever put into a motocross game… period. There is also a lot of cool outdoor tracks, that almost feel more like Supercross tracks. Most are very creative, detailed and just down right fun to ride. Hopefully THQ will keep pumping them out for the next year to keep it all fresh. I know a lot of people complain that there’s no real race tracks in the game, but this doesn’t bother me too much, as long as they’re fun and complicated enough to keep players searching for new and innovative ways to hit sections and improve lap times and most of the tracks have this.

Bike Physics and Handling

The bike handles better now and is more predictable. Once you upgrade your bike and parts and learn (or unlearn habits of the past) how to brake and lean, you can start to rip around the track.

ONLINE Racing

You can actually ride now without crashing every two seconds. No more flying off your bike when another rider grazes you. There was a few issues on the first day, but overall the online has worked pretty good for me.

THE BAD

NO Career Mode

No, no, no, James Stewart coming on the screen and talking for 20 seconds is NOT a career mode. Its weak and almost pointless, unless your a huge fanboy. There really is no single player offline event-type career mode, basically just a race now type gameplay. Every sports game has a career mode except this one. Reflex had something, but it wasn’t correct either.

In boxing games you progress thru a career mode over virtual years, training, fighting, progressing up an event ladder until you you fight for the heavyweight championship. In hockey games you progress thru a virtual calender, and if you win enough you play for the Stanley Cup. In baseball… Okay, you get the point. WHY, does THQ keep ignoring this IMPORTANT component that makes a sport game a sport game! After all, motocross/supercross is a sport. A motocross game needs a career mode too!

You start off as an amateur, your garage is a mess with only your beat-up pick-up and your old out-dated 125. You click your Virtual Calender on the wall, you notice there is a race this weekend at the local county fair (think outdoor small arena-cross type event), you click race event. You race the event against relatively easy competition and if you win a notice pops up (or animated sequence depending on budget). Bob from Bob’s moto-sports wants you to race for him! He’ll supply you with a new bike and gear and as long as you keep placing 3rd or higher… Then you race some nationals, then pro amateur nationals and if you place high enough you get to start racing with the pros, earning new deals along the way, eventually landing you in Supercross and the finals in Las Vegas!

This could be as simple as a calender on the wall with your garage improving, the more money you make, with little notices popping-up with deals/sponsorships that you can choose to accept or not. You could also add injuries and bike failures so if you case a huge triple you may have to sit out a round or 2, or if you don’t replace your engine your bike fails, but you could still win the championship if you place first in the last 5 rounds. Anyway, I could go into detail here, but I have a business to run.

NO Direction/Help

There is no real direction or help for NEW users. No tips on how to corner or jump expect for a few text tips on loading screens. This is where a career mode could come in handy, as you progress thru you start learning new techniques, etc.

Rider Position and Gestures

The gestures have been covered enough, so no need to beat the already dead horse. The rider position is much more organic this time and reacts more to what the bike is doing. It doesn’t bother me much (since I’m panned out), but I can see why it bothers some people as the rider is sitting straight up with his elbows in instead of leaning forward with is elbows up and out.

Need Editors

It would be great to have TWO editors. A custom season creator (separate from the game’s season) and a custom track builder. The track builder can be as simple as placing pre-render corners, whoops and jump sections in an outdoor or indoor setting. I don’t think it would hurt downloads because the user-made track would always be in the same setting.

The Verdict

Overall, I would give the game a solid B+. Maybe raise my score to a A- once more DLC becomes available. Although the physics, graphics, menus, camera and settings have improved, the lack of a really deep career mode hurts the game big time. Hopefully we will get a ton of DLC that will offset this, only time will tell. The game would easily be the best MX game ever, if it had a real sports-related career mode! Regardless, if your a fan or rider of the sport YOU really need to pick-up the game and try it YOURSELF. I think if you give it an honest try, you’ll like it.

Catherine Lin

I was on the fence about this game, and waited a few days to buy it. Now that I’ve played it, however, I’m very pleased with the purchase and think the game is a big improvement over Reflex. Note: I’ve been playing the game with Jump Assist and Corner Assist off. The controls felt terrible when I tried with them on.

PROS:
____Improved reflex system/controls
Say goodbye to randomly getting knocked off your bike by opponents. You can also say goodbye to inexplicably rocketing 45 degrees to the left when you hit a jump. The controls are less twitchy, and you feel more in control of what you are doing. I think the system takes a little more finesse (which is good), without being on the razor’s edge that was Reflex.

____Audio
The engine noises in Reflex drove me insane, being either A) wide open or B) some 8-bit sounding garbage. Then there was the issue of the engine sound cutting out entirely when you went off a jump or were in whoops. The engine noises are now progressive and can trail off, and are far more realistic. A much needed and well-executed change.

____Customizable races – You can change the difficulty, opponents (MX, MX/ATV, just 250s or 125s and 250s), and # of laps (from 3-30) at the start of each race. Longer races are SO much better in MX, because the track really changes and there is time to commit and recover from mistakes.

____Ride whatever you want.
Rather than needing to place in races to make money to upgrade your bike, you level in this game. Thankfully, you can level up doing whatever you want. Do a 3 lap race, do a 15 lap, or ride Free Ride, it all gets you XP. I was worried about having to level up, but it hasn’t been an issue.

____Terrain deformation
Much improved over Reflex, the changes happen at a slower, more realistic rate and yet ultimately can be more significant. The track -really- changes over the course of a race. You need to take it a little easier before the ruts are really built up, and changing lips and bases of jumps make racing more dynamic.

____Graphics
The lighting is fantastic, notably going in and out of shaded areas. The fabric effects are neat, and the terrain and roost are also improved over Reflex.

CONS:
____Free Ride areas feel fenced in.
In Reflex the Free Ride areas were HUGE and really felt free. You could explore mountaintops and anything you had the skill to ride over. Unfortunately, in Alive the free ride areas feel more like boxes, with less interesting contents. There are intrusive invisible walls, and it feels less like a gentle “don’t go so far from the base” and more like “You will play in this box on these hills.” (They are fun, and it’s nice to get XP in them, but they lack compared to Reflex’s)

____No tutorial; awkward for the first few races.
The game doesn’t do a good job of introducing itself. There is a new seatbump system (push R3 while holding the right stick down to get far more air) which is necessary to clear many gaps, and if you don’t know this, a lot of tracks are very frustrating as you case jumps again and again. Also, after playing a lot of Reflex with upgraded bikes, it took me a few races to adjust to my new, slower machine and the slightly different physics and controls (but it was worth it!!). I’m still not sure where I should be using the clutch outside of starting from a stop.

____2-stroke and 4-stroke are different classes
In Reflex, there were 125(2-stroke) and 250F, then 250(2-stroke) and 450F. Now the progression is 125 2-stroke, 250F, 450F. You can still race whatever bike you want on whatever track, so this is fairly minor.

____No replays at all
The “highlight reel” in Reflex was sort of weird and clunky, but it was better than nothing… which is all there is now.

Mary Elizabeth

But I played MX Alive. Controls were more accessible, tracks were more fun, multiplayer was more exciting. Everything good about MX Reflex (which was, really, Rider Reflex, and that’s about it for me) but made it better.

Kenneth Kunkle

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Xbox 360 Racing Games – Reviews

I got this from Gamefly on Saturday, and I’ve been playing it all weekend. This is definately the most beautiful racing game I’ve ever seen, and really shows what the 360 is capable of.

The racing is solid, the sounds are great, and the cockpit view is as immersive as it gets. I’m a big Forza fan, and the differences in the driving is clear after your first powerslide, but Gotham does a good job of accenting some of your favorite things about cars and driving without going over the top, and leaving you with a believable and visually appealing experience. The driving in Forza is still more rewarding, as far as the cars go. But the BIKES!! I ride an SV 650 myself, and I’ve been waiting for a serious motorcycle racing game. The motoGP series is decent, but its lacking a lot in excitement. Gotham integrates the motorcycles into the races almost perfectly. Their performance is balanced, and shows strengths and weaknesses everywhere they should, except for the crashing. The bikes are more resistant to impact then they would be in reality, to prevent the cars from just ramming them off the roads…and the weather system was really a suprise. I wasn’t very enthusiastic to hear that all of the hype behind it, but it really adds some serious depth to the came.

I could go on and on about how [...] COOL this game is, but if you don’t at least rent it, you won’t be able to appreciate it.

Joe the Nurse

I was a huge fan of PGR2, everything about it was perfect. I skipped 3 and went straight to 4. They’ve changed almost everything, there are no longer any multipliers for tying kudos moves together, the soundtrack is awful, and the story is a little frustrating since you get stuck with the same car for every race in a championship. Another complaint is that because there is dynamic weather, they like to make it rain in almost every race which is annoying and unrealistic. Still a decent game though

JujubeMBA

I waited months for this game, and it was time wasted.
Nowhere does this game compare to PGR2 or PGR3.
PGR2 was groundbreaking and was quite the competion when Gran Turismo was at the top of the charts. PGR3 looked great and had all the fancy cars, but it lacked the attention to detail that the previous game had. This was probably due to the fact that Microsoft was pushing to get the game released simulataneously with the Xbox 360 launch. The game suffered because of it. Nonetheless, it was a much better game than this one.

Many of the gaming world was hoping that PGR4 would be the next-gen level of racing.
There are too many things to cover for this short review, but I will mention a few that really made it a downer for me.

First of all, the biggest problem of the game is that they have completely destroyed “Career Mode”. It plays more like an arcade racer, and you don’t have any opportunities to retry tracks that you have not done well on. If you got 4th place…well “sorry” next event. It loses the excitement about the game and you wind up playing Arcade mode instead.

Another problem with the game is the way they have packaged the car buying process. Instead of going to the dealers, looking at cars, driving them, etc. You buy what I like to think of as “Hot Wheels” car packs where you dump all your Kudos into a bunch of cars that you may not really want.

Also, the addition of motorcycles really doesn’t do anything for the game. It adds a useless gimmick that doesn’t really improve the gameplay. It kind of feels like an after thought that ultimately makes the rest of the game suffer as well.

The design of the game is “ok”. Definitely not the best I’ve seen. The cars don’t look as good as “Forza Motorsport 2″. Forza looks and handles great, but it lacks the “fun” that Gotham once had. The only thing that does look very nice is the city renderings. They do have a very photo realistic feel to them.

So, unless you want to drive slowly in Tokyo to look at the neon signs. I would stay away from this racer.

smakelik

I got this from Gamefly on Saturday, and I’ve been playing it all weekend. This is definately the most beautiful racing game I’ve ever seen, and really shows what the 360 is capable of.

The racing is solid, the sounds are great, and the cockpit view is as immersive as it gets. I’m a big Forza fan, and the differences in the driving is clear after your first powerslide, but Gotham does a good job of accenting some of your favorite things about cars and driving without going over the top, and leaving you with a believable and visually appealing experience. The driving in Forza is still more rewarding, as far as the cars go. But the BIKES!! I ride an SV 650 myself, and I’ve been waiting for a serious motorcycle racing game. The motoGP series is decent, but its lacking a lot in excitement. Gotham integrates the motorcycles into the races almost perfectly. Their performance is balanced, and shows strengths and weaknesses everywhere they should, except for the crashing. The bikes are more resistant to impact then they would be in reality, to prevent the cars from just ramming them off the roads…and the weather system was really a suprise. I wasn’t very enthusiastic to hear that all of the hype behind it, but it really adds some serious depth to the came.

I could go on and on about how [...] COOL this game is, but if you don’t at least rent it, you won’t be able to appreciate it.

Francis L. Moore

I was a huge fan of PGR2, everything about it was perfect. I skipped 3 and went straight to 4. They’ve changed almost everything, there are no longer any multipliers for tying kudos moves together, the soundtrack is awful, and the story is a little frustrating since you get stuck with the same car for every race in a championship. Another complaint is that because there is dynamic weather, they like to make it rain in almost every race which is annoying and unrealistic. Still a decent game though

M. Carson

I waited months for this game, and it was time wasted.
Nowhere does this game compare to PGR2 or PGR3.
PGR2 was groundbreaking and was quite the competion when Gran Turismo was at the top of the charts. PGR3 looked great and had all the fancy cars, but it lacked the attention to detail that the previous game had. This was probably due to the fact that Microsoft was pushing to get the game released simulataneously with the Xbox 360 launch. The game suffered because of it. Nonetheless, it was a much better game than this one.

Many of the gaming world was hoping that PGR4 would be the next-gen level of racing.
There are too many things to cover for this short review, but I will mention a few that really made it a downer for me.

First of all, the biggest problem of the game is that they have completely destroyed “Career Mode”. It plays more like an arcade racer, and you don’t have any opportunities to retry tracks that you have not done well on. If you got 4th place…well “sorry” next event. It loses the excitement about the game and you wind up playing Arcade mode instead.

Another problem with the game is the way they have packaged the car buying process. Instead of going to the dealers, looking at cars, driving them, etc. You buy what I like to think of as “Hot Wheels” car packs where you dump all your Kudos into a bunch of cars that you may not really want.

Also, the addition of motorcycles really doesn’t do anything for the game. It adds a useless gimmick that doesn’t really improve the gameplay. It kind of feels like an after thought that ultimately makes the rest of the game suffer as well.

The design of the game is “ok”. Definitely not the best I’ve seen. The cars don’t look as good as “Forza Motorsport 2″. Forza looks and handles great, but it lacks the “fun” that Gotham once had. The only thing that does look very nice is the city renderings. They do have a very photo realistic feel to them.

So, unless you want to drive slowly in Tokyo to look at the neon signs. I would stay away from this racer.

Patricai Underwood

I got this from Gamefly on Saturday, and I’ve been playing it all weekend. This is definately the most beautiful racing game I’ve ever seen, and really shows what the 360 is capable of.

The racing is solid, the sounds are great, and the cockpit view is as immersive as it gets. I’m a big Forza fan, and the differences in the driving is clear after your first powerslide, but Gotham does a good job of accenting some of your favorite things about cars and driving without going over the top, and leaving you with a believable and visually appealing experience. The driving in Forza is still more rewarding, as far as the cars go. But the BIKES!! I ride an SV 650 myself, and I’ve been waiting for a serious motorcycle racing game. The motoGP series is decent, but its lacking a lot in excitement. Gotham integrates the motorcycles into the races almost perfectly. Their performance is balanced, and shows strengths and weaknesses everywhere they should, except for the crashing. The bikes are more resistant to impact then they would be in reality, to prevent the cars from just ramming them off the roads…and the weather system was really a suprise. I wasn’t very enthusiastic to hear that all of the hype behind it, but it really adds some serious depth to the came.

I could go on and on about how [...] COOL this game is, but if you don’t at least rent it, you won’t be able to appreciate it.

T Rose

pgr 4 is a game i rented to see how i liked it and was addicted after the first race. i love this game and will never give it up, unless they come out with a new one of course, online play is easy to do, the game is so realistic, the driving in the game is so realistic. the only minor draw back is extra content ie cars and extra tracks have to be purchased through microsoft, however the game has more than enough cars and tracks for you to race on. the graphics are killer, to top it all off you can ride a bike aswell, some of the fastest street bikes on earth. great game!! i am hard to pleaase when it comes to games, if they suck i get rid of them fast.

Danielle R. Burgess

When I bought this game I had no previous experience with the PGR series, in fact the only other “racing” games I had played were Need for Speed games, which is more or less what I was expecting out of PGR4 when it game arrived. It did not take long, however, for me to realize that this game is so much different than NFS that they might as well not even be in the same type of game category. Where in NFS you don’t really need to be good to win the races, just make your car so fast that borders on being just plain stupid, and you can slam into the wall a dozen times and still win the race 30 seconds ahead of the number two car. In PGR4, however, they take driving dead seriously, even if you are in first place, if you hit the wall more than twice you might was well restart the race because you aren’t going to win. The level of frustration this causes me is almost unbearable at times, and yet once I start playing it’s hard to stop, even after restarting the same race for the twentieth time. I suppose maybe I am just not cut out to play driving/racing games, but this is all the more reason why I can recommend it, as I am able to have fun playing this game even while getting passed within a mere seconds by all of my opponents after slamming into a wall going 200+ miles an hour for the hundredth time. Another feature this game has that NFS does not have is the ability to start off driving the fastest cars in the game in the single player mode as soon as you start playing, though I wouldn’t recommend it. The weather feature is also a nifty little game mechanic that brings further realism to the game-play, and is usually pretty fun… except for the ice, the ice sucks.

JZ

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