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Overview: Graphics -- pretty close to perfect. Gameplay -- it has strengths and weaknesses. Fun factor -- low. I'll start w/ the bad, since I think this is a game best left on the shelves. No damage modelling at early levels (apparently it increases as you progress w/ full dmg at lvl 40 -- I'm only lvl 18, so I don't know what happens at 40). Moreover, there's no punishment for damaging your cars at early levels. Crash into a wall, wipe out an opponent by ramming into him, down shift to 1st gear while moving 140+ mph -- none of it hurts you (other than slowing you down temporarily). Forza blows out your engine for dumb downshifting, and even minor damage will dramatically slow you down in high-end cars in Forza. AI...oh boy, what AI. You hit them from the back, all they do is hit the brakes. You occupy the driving line, they pretend you're not there. And where is the difficulty level adjustment? The low levels -- way too easy, and even the intermediate level races are easy if you have the right car. Finding the right car can also be a challenge. For example, it took me about 10-15 visits to the Used Car Dealership before I could purchase a racing truck. Why shld we wait so long to find ANY car for a particular race, no less a good enough car that can compete w/ the other cars in the field. Previewing what cars you're racing against would also be nice. I love when I enter a race w/ a car that I think will be competitive (i.e., not too powerful but not getting overpowered by every car), but find out I'm racing against cars that top out at 150 while my car is breaking a sweat hitting 120. This problem is especially prevalent at the earlier levels. If this isn't enough to deter you from buying the game, there's more. For example, B-Spec races. B-spec races put a computer controlled driver behind the wheel while you issue commands. I love watching the already poorly designed AI racing for me when I can give it a limited number of commands -- four commands to be exact. And as another reviewer pointed out, these commands seemingly do nothing more than manage the temper of your driver. In the end, I basically end up giving two commands b/c they keep the driver's temper low and they don't affect how aggressive he is. The menu system is clunky, and it takes too long to go from the race screen to the garage to buy parts and vice versa. Rewards for completing races are pathetic. You usually get cars that you just beat. Why do you need a car that you can beat w/ a car you already own? You don't. Car variety is neither a strength nor a weakness. Yes, there are something like 1000 cars. However, a lot of them are just modified versions of a base model or a different production year. Sometimes production years will make a difference, where that's the case retaining the different production years would be wise. In other cases, like the difference between a 89 and 91 civic. are nearly nonexistent and add nothing to the car variety of the game. My biggest complaint about car selection is that there are ZERO Porsche cars. WHAT???? NFS: Porsche Unleashed continues to be one of my favorites simply b/c I'm a huge Porsche nut. I'm not saying we need every Porsche, but at least a few. After all, how do you feature 1000 cars, including Lambos, Ferraris, Audis, etc., but exclude Porsches (licensing agreements may be to blame, but man...). The music in the game is also decent, but why can't we adjust the volume of the background music (BGM) while in the race. And why is the BGM so low, even when the in-race BGM is turned to 130 and the sound effects are at 90. I want to hear the car's engine, but I also want to hear some background music, especially since some of the songs are good. The last complaint is the lack of 360 swivel view when driving, when viewing the cars in your garage, or when a car is presented as a reward. The car models are so beautiful, it's curious that the developers would deprive us of the opportunity to see the full beauty of the machine when we first purchase it or while we're smoking the AI. With such a long list of defects, one may wonder if there are strengths. Well, the graphics are nearly impeccable. The shadows are pretty awful, but the car models are very solid. Frame rates suffer at times, but not so badly nor so often as to make the game unplayable. Additionally, the interior view is very good -- when it's available (premium cars only). The tracks also look gorgeous. The physics of the game are very realistic. GT5's tagline, "Driving Simulator," says it all. The physics and graphics are, in my opinion, the saving grace of this game, if there was one, and there are some other strong points. The engine sounds are very well done. Cars sound like they are supposed to sound. The track variety is impressive, but fairly standard for race simulators. Many of the major real world tracks are there. What's more impressive is the variety of race types. Special events, "career" racing, and license events all add depth to this game. When you get tired of crushing the AI in A-spec, you can switch to one of the other modes to do something new. The one drawback of license races is that you are not awarded money for completing the events. You do gain experience and you're awarded cars, but money is a little tight in GT5, especially when you're trying to purchase a Lambo or Ferrari that costs millions of credits, but you're only winning between 8 and 14K credits per race at the lower and intermediate levels. Yet, there are races open to intermediate level players where the AI drivers are driving Enzos. Good luck rocking a VW GTI or even a BMW 135T against a Ferrari. It ain't gonna happen -- even if you drop a stage 3 turbo under the hood. Overall, spend 60 bucks (or 50 if you get it used) on something that's just more fun. In 2010, graphics of other racers are hardly so poor as to truly distinguish them from GT5, I'd rather play Grid, Forza, or one of the NFS games (other than NFS: Most Wanted 2 |
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