Forza Racing Series Takes the F2P Arena
The popular racing series takes on the world of free-to-play gaming. Microsoft Studios recently released Forza Street, the F2P installment of the popular Forza racing game franchise. Unlike the Xbox exclusive Forza Motorsport series, Forza Street lets you enter the ultimate car racing scene in your computer device. Now fans of Forza series can experience action-packed racing anytime, anywhere.
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A Game Re-brand
The app may have the Forza name, but in reality is a rebranding of the Microsoft-released game, Miami Street. Forza Street took the core of the game and gave it a refreshed narrative with faster boot-ups, new animation, and upgraded car parts.
To make your gaming experience even better, Forza Street has added new languages. In addition to the English language, you can now switch the app language to German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish (Latin America). With this, you can play the game in the language of your choice.
The game also offers more gaming options. Gamers can take on one-minute races to win instant prizes, or race through an endless story with multiple paths to victory. Forza Street provides new contents every week, so you can take on fresh events, challenges, and stories, every time.
Forza Street also boasts a sizable roster of legendary cars, from classic muscle cars to modern sports and retro supercars. However, instead of the classic Forza method of upgrading your car, you can obtain new vehicles via loot boxes. Additionally, the game measures a car's power through the performance index. The higher the car’s PI, the easier it is to win the race. This means that a Mustang can beat a Japanese tuning car in a race as long as the number, engraved on the card, is higher.
Unorthodox Game Mechanics
Forza Street may come from a popular racing game but it's game mechanics differs with the other racing series that bears the name. The mechanics of the game is very similar to that of the popular mobile game, CSR Racing wherein the game use one button control scheme. You only need to accelerate by holding the spacebar or clicking your mouse. Once you hit a corner, you only have to let go of the space bar or the mouse, and the car will automatically create a turn.
The curves are highlighted to guide you as to when you should release the hold of your mouse or space bar. There are yellow brake zone, a red zone, and then another yellow acceleration zone. The goal is to brake and accelerate as close to the border between the yellow and red zones as possible to get a better lead. There is also nitrous that you can tap every so often to upgrade the performance of your car.
But, while playing may be simple, there is very little racing involved in the games. You don’t steer and break, and you don’t deliberately drift. More so, it has an annoying energy timer that limits your playing to a few races and requires you to wait in order for your energy bar to be filled. This lack of racing element and energy meter may cause for diehard arcade racers to find the game boring. Especially if you compare it to other racing games such as the Asphalt series and Street Racing 4x4 which offer more in-depth racing control and action.
Verdict
Forza Street provides a nice game visual with its new animation and movie-like action camera shots. It is also very easy to set up, and even lets you switch to the language of your choice. However, the game’s major drawback is that it tends to become boring after some time. The races are quite repetitive, and with no steering and drifting, players might lose interest in the game after completing five or so races. In the end, the game just not live up to its iconic Forza name.
