Forza 3 / Top Gear: The Game?
Last Updated on Monday, 01 February 2010 00:58 Written by Jak Dyehouse Saturday, 16 January 2010 01:50
Last week, I played Forza 3 for the first time since receiving it for Christmas. Exams and revision are partly to blame, but it's also because I've been enjoying the stellar Colin McRae: Dirt 2 so much, that I haven't been too motivated to start a career on another racer.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the second one, so I figured I'd enjoy this one as well. I popped it in, and indeed found it to be an enjoyable experience. Not quite as good as Dirt 2 granted, both the driving and the UI are a little too sedate in comparison, however I have found a new passion which has tickled the artist in me: photography and filming.
You see, Forza 3 allows the player to take photos and footage of their cars in action. I haven't tried the filming yet, but the photography is fairly in depth, with a selection of filters and effects which range from the standard "Contrast" and "Brightness" to the more technical "Aperture" and "Focus." Using these you can produce some interesting results...
It makes me feel like one of the producers on Top Gear, who fiddles with the visual settings in post-production in order to make it look moody. Slap a Boards of Canada song over the top, and you've got something vaguely artistic.
It also brings an interesting dynamic to the individual races: if you want to have more than one car in the frame, you need to work with the other drivers. Given that not only are they bots, but that they are also trying to beat you, it can become somewhat of a challenge, especially when you come to a hairpin corner at 70mph. Constantly switching from race mode to camera mode, checking to see if the positioning is correct, then swearing and switching back to race mode to move 5 metres along just to do it all again can become quite an experience, and eventually I tend to act less like the behind-the-scenes producer, and more like Jeremy Clarkson.
Not too much like him I hope, still, I wish more games had a similar system: makes finding the right pictures for these articles a darn sight easier I can tell you.
In other news: I'm going to attempt the impossible. At least it seems that way: I am going to make an ONMix themed car. I'll update you all with pictures when it's done, so you can all laugh and point out how Bob-omb's left eye is slightly too big, or his right leg is all wonky. I may auction it, or perhaps I'll keep it and give it away as a prize for a future competition...
The nature of the task ahead of me.
Share this article:
