First question, you can eject disk 1 so that the game can install disk 2. 
How on earth have they been able to do that?  I thought it was impossible 
for the 360 to not reset when you ejected the disk.  Bet the hackers are all 
over the code already.

Anyhoo, the game.  Short review - if you liked FM2 you'll like FM3.  If you 
didn't then you won't.  It's prettier, it's got more tracks, it's got better 
handling, it's a better game but it's fundamentally the same underneath.

My first hour or so went something like this.

Excitedly rip off the shrink wrap and wonder what you're supposed to do with 
disk 2.  Put disk 2 in, get told to shove in disk 1.  Disk 1 goes in.  Some 
announcer bloke asks me if I want to install the other disk - he gets 
annoying from the second word.  Disk 2 back in, 1.8GB disk space used, 
announcer bloke tells me to put disk 1 back in.  Why can't I skip his 
annoying drivel?  Maybe FM3 owners can't read.

Right, here we go.  First race.  Audi R8.  Pick 'Serious' from the 'how ace 
are you at racing games' selector.  Race starts and I'm right at the back. 
Its the same track as the demo.  3rd place by turn 1.  First achievement 
pops on the way down to turn 2.  AI leader car makes a complete mess of the 
hairpin and goes really wide.  I'm right on him into turn 3 and past him by 
turn 4.  A lap and a bit later its all over.  11 seconds a lap faster than 
the AI.  Hmmmm.  Another achievement pops.

At last, time to get the first car.  I went for a Yaris.  Cranked difficulty 
up to hard.  Came 3rd in first race.  Hmmmm.  Next race, 3rd again.  Final 
race in the series and 2nd.  It doesn't help that you always start at the 
back.  Got some money now so it's off to the upgrade shop.  You can't do 
much with an F class car and keep it in F class, bit of weight reduction, 
improved suspension and an extra 3 (thats THREE) bhp.  Back to the racing. 
Hmm, still starting at the back.  Time for some touring car style racing and 
I bag my first win!  3rd in race two and another win in race 3.

I levelled up 3 times in that lot winning 3 new cars.  Had a look around the 
storefront and bought a new paintjob for the Yaris bagging an unexpected 
achievement in the process.  Had a look around the cars - a Veyron is 1.4M 
if anyone is interested.

Its definately more of the same but its been improved in every area.  The 
handling is definately improved - I can catch slides that would have meant a 
spin in FM2.  Money seems to come fairly easily.  I think I was up to 40K by 
the end of my first session which is enough to start upgrading cars.  The 
season style for the racing is quite a fun idea and its nice to have options 
for which events to do rather than just working from left to right like in 
FM2.  Not sure it'll win the game any new fans but its an improvement. 
Starting at the back all the time could become a bit tedious but it does 
mean you have to race for every position rather than get the best car and 
start on pole like in FM2.

Its good and I'll be playing it a lot more.  Might even venture online at 
some point and try and put some Americans in their place.  :-)

-- 

WildCardZero

WCZ wrote:
> First question, you can eject disk 1 so that the game can install disk 
> 2. How on earth have they been able to do that?  I thought it was 
> impossible for the 360 to not reset when you ejected the disk.  Bet the 
> hackers are all over the code already.
> 
> Anyhoo, the game.  Short review - if you liked FM2 you'll like FM3.  If 
> you didn't then you won't.  It's prettier, it's got more tracks, it's 
> got better handling, it's a better game but it's fundamentally the same 
> underneath.
> 
> My first hour or so went something like this.
> 
> Excitedly rip off the shrink wrap and wonder what you're supposed to do 
> with disk 2.  Put disk 2 in, get told to shove in disk 1.  Disk 1 goes 
> in.  Some announcer bloke asks me if I want to install the other disk - 
> he gets annoying from the second word.  Disk 2 back in, 1.8GB disk space 
> used, announcer bloke tells me to put disk 1 back in.  Why can't I skip 
> his annoying drivel?  Maybe FM3 owners can't read.
> 
> Right, here we go.  First race.  Audi R8.  Pick 'Serious' from the 'how 
> ace are you at racing games' selector.  Race starts and I'm right at the 
> back. Its the same track as the demo.  3rd place by turn 1.  First 
> achievement pops on the way down to turn 2.  AI leader car makes a 
> complete mess of the hairpin and goes really wide.  I'm right on him 
> into turn 3 and past him by turn 4.  A lap and a bit later its all 
> over.  11 seconds a lap faster than the AI.  Hmmmm.  Another achievement 
> pops.
> 
> At last, time to get the first car.  I went for a Yaris.  Cranked 
> difficulty up to hard.  Came 3rd in first race.  Hmmmm.  Next race, 3rd 
> again.  Final race in the series and 2nd.  It doesn't help that you 
> always start at the back.  Got some money now so it's off to the upgrade 
> shop.  You can't do much with an F class car and keep it in F class, bit 
> of weight reduction, improved suspension and an extra 3 (thats THREE) 
> bhp.  Back to the racing. Hmm, still starting at the back.  Time for 
> some touring car style racing and I bag my first win!  3rd in race two 
> and another win in race 3.
> 
> I levelled up 3 times in that lot winning 3 new cars.  Had a look around 
> the storefront and bought a new paintjob for the Yaris bagging an 
> unexpected achievement in the process.  Had a look around the cars - a 
> Veyron is 1.4M if anyone is interested.
> 
> Its definately more of the same but its been improved in every area.  
> The handling is definately improved - I can catch slides that would have 
> meant a spin in FM2.  Money seems to come fairly easily.  I think I was 
> up to 40K by the end of my first session which is enough to start 
> upgrading cars.  The season style for the racing is quite a fun idea and 
> its nice to have options for which events to do rather than just working 
> from left to right like in FM2.  Not sure it'll win the game any new 
> fans but its an improvement. Starting at the back all the time could 
> become a bit tedious but it does mean you have to race for every 
> position rather than get the best car and start on pole like in FM2.
> 
> Its good and I'll be playing it a lot more.  Might even venture online 
> at some point and try and put some Americans in their place.  :-)
> 

What game are you talking about?


-- 
Alpaca popstars!
http://www.stanleyrumm.com

Gunther Gloop wrote:
> WCZ wrote:
>> Anyhoo, the game.
> What game are you talking about?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's talking about Forza Motorsport 3.

-- 
Gareth Halfacree
http://gareth.halfacree.co.uk

Gareth Halfacree wrote:

> Gunther Gloop wrote:
> > WCZ wrote:
> > > Anyhoo, the game.
> > What game are you talking about?
> 
> I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's talking about Forza
> Motorsport 3.

For a second, I thought of Front Mission 3.

-- 
qt

QT wrote:
> Gareth Halfacree wrote:
> 
>> Gunther Gloop wrote:
>>> WCZ wrote:
>>>> Anyhoo, the game.
>>> What game are you talking about?
>> I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's talking about Forza
>> Motorsport 3.
> 
> For a second, I thought of Front Mission 3.
> 

The only one I could think of was Football Manager, but I was fairly 
sure that wasn't it.


-- 
Alpaca popstars!
http://www.stanleyrumm.com

WCZ wrote:
> First question, you can eject disk 1 so that the game can install disk 
> 2. How on earth have they been able to do that?  I thought it was 
> impossible for the 360 to not reset when you ejected the disk.  Bet the 
> hackers are all over the code already.
> 
> Anyhoo, the game.  Short review - if you liked FM2 you'll like FM3.  If 
> you didn't then you won't.  It's prettier, it's got more tracks, it's 
> got better handling, it's a better game but it's fundamentally the same 
> underneath.
> 
> My first hour or so went something like this.

Open up the shrink wrap, slide the big box from the cardboard sleeve and 
marvel at the beauty of the box. It's the nicest game box I've ever 
seen. A stylish black card outer sleeve with an R8. Inside a matt black 
box, that opens from the middle, folding out, held together by magnetic 
snaps instead of clicks. Felt inlays, with the flash drive on one side 
and the keyring on the other side, with the game in the middle. Looks 
and feels very high quality. I love it. Kinda looks like this:
http://www.nidzumi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/forza-3-le-headline-580.jpg

Redeemed both codes, did the first race and won, getting 3 achievements 
in the process. Opted for the Fiesta as my first car. On hard difficulty 
I won the first tournament with a 1st, 1st, 2nd. Did some upgrades, won 
the second tournament in the Fiesta.

At this point it sticks me in a weekend event. I won the first race with 
the Alfa awarded for reaching level 2. Did a couple more weekday events 
with the Scorilocoliolioccco thing I won at level 3, upgraded to an A 
class beast, with a weekend race in between. Won the last weekend race, 
still with the Alfa, to end the first season. I've probably made >150k 
so far, but spent it all on upgrades, and only have about 3k left. 
Checked to see how much the Veyron cost so I know how much to save (why 
does the fastest accelerating road-legal car in the world have an 
acceleration stat of 8.0???), and retired for the night.

After about 2.5 hours play, I'm level 5, with a top car level of 3, and 
have 19 achievements worth 210G.

Thoughts? It's Forza. The interface is much nicer (if a tad confusing at 
times), and the graphics are much better than 2 (although if you 
believed for a second the claim Turn 10 made that this was the best 
looking racing game ever prepare to be disappointed. It looks 
exponentially better than FM2, but that's more down to how bad FM2 
looked than how good 3 looks, it doesn't come within a million miles of 
GT5, I'm not even sure it's any better than GRID or PGR4).

It's definitely an improvement, and a good game, but it is fundementally 
the same as the last one but prettier. There doesn't seem to be any way 
of installing the disc 1 content, oddly. And the close-up vroom-vroom 
thing at the start of each race gets very annoying very quickly. It was 
cool the first time. And the load times are fucking ridiculous. 45 
seconds from start race to the race loading seems about normal.


-- 

Zo
http://icookies.co.uk - My RE5 review now up

Gunther Gloop wrote:
> QT wrote:
>> Gareth Halfacree wrote:
>>
>>> Gunther Gloop wrote:
>>>> WCZ wrote:
>>>>> Anyhoo, the game.
>>>> What game are you talking about?
>>> I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's talking about Forza
>>> Motorsport 3.
>>
>> For a second, I thought of Front Mission 3.
>>
> 
> The only one I could think of was Football Manager, but I was fairly 
> sure that wasn't it.
> 

What gave that away, the racing game driving he was on about?  The 
mention of tracks and handling?  The Yaris, Audi R8 and Veyron?  ;)

-- 
[ste]

Zomoniac wrote:
<snip> Felt inlays, with the flash drive on one side
> and the keyring on the other side, with the game in the middle. Looks 
> and feels very high quality. I love it. Kinda looks like this:
> http://www.nidzumi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/forza-3-le-headline-580.jpg 
<snip>
> 

What capacity is the USB drive?

-- 
[ste]

[ste parker] wrote:
> Zomoniac wrote:
> <snip> Felt inlays, with the flash drive on one side
>> and the keyring on the other side, with the game in the middle. Looks 
>> and feels very high quality. I love it. Kinda looks like this:
>> http://www.nidzumi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/forza-3-le-headline-580.jpg 
> 
> <snip>
>>
> 
> What capacity is the USB drive?

2GB. Not of much practical use, but it was an extra £8 for 10 extra 
cars, some extra tracks, a flash drive, a keyring and a really sexy box. 
And apparently LE users get their own VIP servers for online, whatever 
that means. It's better than most LEs in that it just feels sexy and 
comes with some actual in game content, rather than a stupid tin with a 
making of DVD that nobody will watch.


-- 

Zo
http://icookies.co.uk - My RE5 review now up

Zomoniac wrote:
> 
> There doesn't seem to be any way 
> of installing the disc 1 content, oddly.

Press Y from My Xbox and select Install Disk. I just did it and it 
installs to HDD fine.

[ste parker] wrote:
> Gunther Gloop wrote:
>> QT wrote:
>>> Gareth Halfacree wrote:
>>>
>>>> Gunther Gloop wrote:
>>>>> WCZ wrote:
>>>>>> Anyhoo, the game.
>>>>> What game are you talking about?
>>>> I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's talking about Forza
>>>> Motorsport 3.
>>>
>>> For a second, I thought of Front Mission 3.
>>>
>>
>> The only one I could think of was Football Manager, but I was fairly 
>> sure that wasn't it.
>>
> 
> What gave that away, the racing game driving he was on about?  The 
> mention of tracks and handling?  The Yaris, Audi R8 and Veyron?  ;)
> 

I found it hard to read any of it because I had no idea what he was 
talking about. I scanned the text looking for an answer, but finding 
none asked the question instead.

My brain is not built for acronyms (argh! not THAT again!) you see.

  -Kevin.


-- 
Alpaca popstars!
http://www.stanleyrumm.com

"WCZ"  wrote: 
> Anyhoo, the game.  Short review - if you liked FM2 you'll like FM3.

I went round the shops today to see if any of the Bricks & Mortar stores
in Lancaster had broken the street date as the online retailers had
dispatched early. Sadly they hadn't. I'll be joining you all tomorrow
when they release copies. 

Gus. 
-- 
Sent from an overpriced iPod

WCZ wrote:
> Its definately more of the same but its been improved in every area.  
> The handling is definately improved - I can catch slides that would have 
> meant a spin in FM2.  Money seems to come fairly easily.  I think I was 
> up to 40K by the end of my first session which is enough to start 
> upgrading cars.  The season style for the racing is quite a fun idea and 
> its nice to have options for which events to do rather than just working 
> from left to right like in FM2.  Not sure it'll win the game any new 
> fans but its an improvement. Starting at the back all the time could 
> become a bit tedious but it does mean you have to race for every 
> position rather than get the best car and start on pole like in FM2.
> 

I'm in season 2 now and it lets me start in 7th place. I have a 
suspicion that it may have something to do with your driver level. We'll 
see though.

Grimbor

Grimbor wrote:
> WCZ wrote:
>> Its definately more of the same but its been improved in every area.  
>> The handling is definately improved - I can catch slides that would 
>> have meant a spin in FM2.  Money seems to come fairly easily.  I think 
>> I was up to 40K by the end of my first session which is enough to 
>> start upgrading cars.  The season style for the racing is quite a fun 
>> idea and its nice to have options for which events to do rather than 
>> just working from left to right like in FM2.  Not sure it'll win the 
>> game any new fans but its an improvement. Starting at the back all the 
>> time could become a bit tedious but it does mean you have to race for 
>> every position rather than get the best car and start on pole like in 
>> FM2.
>>
> 
> I'm in season 2 now and it lets me start in 7th place. I have a 
> suspicion that it may have something to do with your driver level. We'll 
> see though.
> 
> Grimbor


Seems I was right. When I reached Driver Level 10 I moved up to 6th on 
the grid.


Grimbor

On 2009-10-22 12:14:06 +0100, jochta  said:

> Zomoniac wrote:
>> 
>> There doesn't seem to be any way of installing the disc 1 content, oddly.
> 
> Press Y from My Xbox and select Install Disk. I just did it and it 
> installs to HDD fine.

Right you are. For some reason I pressed Y and got the first 3 options, 
then install to HDD appeared about 20 seconds later.

-- 

Zo