Mom's Minute

Forza Motorsport 4:  One of the cars detailed, realistic, interior views!

Fortza Motorsport 4 was released on October 14, 2011. After playing this just released  video game on the Xbox 360, I must say that it aptly deserves its title as game of the year at E3!  When I first saw the graphics of the cars, the terrain, and all the other detailed, realistic views in this game, I could hardlly believe I was playing a video game!

Here is a picture of of one of the cars in the game  -- of which there were many to choose from! Can you believe these vivid, realistic graphics could be in a video game? I was thoroughly impressed! 

I also liked how the commentator described, in detail and gave a history of the car you chose to drive.  I found out that all the cars in this game did not have narrative,  introductory remarks about them.  But for the cars with descriptions,  the narrator did an excellent job in describing them.

Did you know you can play this game using the Xbox 360 Kinect?  Well you can! However, when I played this game using the Xbox 360 Kinect, I did not quite like the experience.  I did not feel as if I was actually controlling the car.   The car was moving down the race track, but all I was doing was using my hands for the turns.  Consequently, I did not get a feeling that I was actually driving the car.

My family member informed me that the speed is controlled automatically by the game, so all I had to do was to move my hands to steer the car. Even though I enjoyed looking at the scenery while racing the car in this video game, I will have to give my Kinect driving experience a thumbs down.

Once I switched from the Kinect to the Xbox 360 controller, it was a completely different story!  Now, at last,  I felt like I was racing!

I could control the speed of the car by pressing the lever and I controlled the turns by moving the top left lever on the controller.  I was so intent on making the car go faster, I tended to press my finger too much against the lever, which became temporarily a little painful, but subsided when I moved my finger from the lever.  My family member advised me that I did not have to push the lever with such force to make the cars go faster.  Another video game lesson learned!  

Regarding the racing numbers on the screen -- I liked the way the game compared my speed from my previous lap, and showed by minutes/seconds in green if I was going faster than before, and red, if I was driving slower.  

 My favorite part of the race track was the straight-a-way, where I could increase my speed substantially!

Here is the cover art of the Forza Motorsport 4 game. 

I also liked the engine sounds of the cars.  The exception was a Le Mans race car, which to me had a high-pitched engine sound instead of the deep sound from the other race cars I drove when played this video game. However, my family member informed me that this sound emulated  the actual sound made by race cars.  The good news is I made my best racing time using the Le Mans race car -- so far!

When my family member played (and won) the game, I found out that there is an option to drag race against other video game players online!  If you were not satisfied with the cars available, you could purchase a new car, of course at a price.  I was not crazy about this option until I was told that you could also change up  cars without having to pay for another car.

I had no trouble with the controls on this game, except for the times I drove the car into the side walls of the race track!  I was able to quickly maneuver the car and get it back on the race track. Overall, I believe I  controlled the cars a lot better than I expected.

On my Mom's Minute podcast show, I would tell you how much I would pay for this game.  So, here goes!

For this game, I would not pay the full price, even though I was totally impressed with the graphics. I did not like that all the cars were not given a description by the narrator.  Additionally, i did not like the fact that if you were racing against someone online, the other person could buy a better car than yours, and win.  So if you really wanted to win, you may be tempted to keep buying better cars, which could become expensive after a while.   

So for this game, I would knock off a few dollars from the full price and pay $52.99.  Probably not the full suggested retail  price, but I think this would be a fair price.

Other than my above few dislikes, I have nothing but good things to say about Forza Motorsport 4! 

As I mentioned in my previous news  to you about this game, I was anxious to see the graphics, for myself,  and to determine if the actual game would live up to its promise.

Take it from me, it did live up to its claims and more!

If you like racing games, you have got to get this game!  It is a must-have game that I highly recommend!

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Bye now,

Ms. H

"Ms. H equals Win!"