Today I unexpectedly got a chance to play Forza Motorsport 5 on the Xbox One so I figured I'd come on here and give you guys a rundown of how things went and how I liked the One, it's controller, and Forza 5.
The Console!
So the first thing I need to say is this thing is really big. It's probably about the same size as the fat PS3, but it looks giant because it's so square. But! on the software side of things the OS seemed to work fine and was really quick to respond. Anyone familiar with the 360 or windows 8 will have no problem finding their way around.
The Controller!
I've been really wanting to try the new controllers out for a while now so this was pretty exciting! The controller was also the biggest surprise for me. I was sort of expecting just a slightly redone 360 controller because that's what we've been hearing, but that's not the impression I left with. For one, it's noticably smaller and it feels smaller than it looks. The handles are cocked out a bit more than the ones of the 360 controller so you hold it with your hands a little more inwards than you would a 360 controller. This angle makes it seem like you have less controller inbetween your hands and honestly that, plus the fact that you simply have less to hold on to took me a little getting used to. Luckily it only takes a minute or two to adjust and then it's plenty comfortable and all of the buttons work as advertised... Mostly. But as far as ergonomics to it's comfortable and probably wouldn't cause any issues unless you have really big hands.
Now, you might have noticed that I said that the buttons "Mostly" worked as advertised. That's because I found two issues with the layout. One that probably doesn't matter very much, and one that (depending on how you play) could be rather big. The little problem I'll talk about when I get to Forza so for now lets talk about the big one. The bumpers. As far as I can tell there are two ways most people hold a controller.
A. with one finger for each bumper/trigger combo
or B. With one finger for each top button.
If you're a "B" style gamer, than this probably won't end up being an issue for you. But if you're like me and you only leave one finger on each side to use the triggers/bumpers...this could be bad. If you play with four fingers than the angle your hands are at make it easy and intuitive to hit all four buttons no problem. But if you play with only two than the angle your fingers sit at means that they are resting on the part of the bumpers nearest to the center of the controller. The problem is that only the outside part of the bumpers work, they are on some sort of hinge at the center that means you can't push it down from there. So in order to hit the bumpers you either have to curl your fingers or press the button with the inside of your second knuckle. In Forza it wasn't really a big deal but I can't imagine trying to play a FPS or any other game where you use those buttons alot. It would be really uncomfortable.
The Game!
So, now that I've played around with the UI and gotten comfortable with the controller it's time to play Forza! Being a big fan of driving games and a fan of the Forza series I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The game menus all look great and the load times are short enough and they have some cool views of the car to keep you busy while you wait. I only had a couple of cars to choose from and I could only play on Laguna Seca so I took out the P1 to see how the game actually played. Let me start of by saying the graphics are really, really good. The texturing is really well done both on the cars and in the enviornment. The detail is better than ever and it seems to have lost a little (but not all) of that weird Forza shine of the older games. The only real downside to the way the game looks is the occasional weird lighting effect and some jagged lines that look out of place with a game that otherwise looks so prestine. Once the race started I first paused and took off the aides (except abs) to get a better feel for the physics. Here's where is becomes a bit of a personal preference. If you like the way Forza 4 drives that you'll like Forza 5, if you don't, you won't. The physics feel pretty much the same and if they made any changes I honestly couldn't tell you what they were. Just to be sure after doing a couple of races in the P1 I switched to the Focus ST just to make sure it was the game and not the car with the same results.
So speaking of feel that brings me to my other, smaller issue with the new controller. Actually, I'm not even sure if I can call it and issue, more of an observation. The rumble triggers are used in Forza 5 to let you know when you are losing grip or when the ABS has kicked on to let you know things are getting a little out of hand. But I was expecting a sort of slow swoosh of rumble as these things happened to let me know what was going on with the car and that doesn't appear to be the case. It's more of a sudden shudder from the triggers to let you know that you've already lost grip and are about to ie. It's more of a goodbye than a warning. Like I said not really an issue or a critisism. It just seems that the triggers are better suited to FPS trigger pulls than to racing game feedback.
So there you have it. If you guys have any questions please feel free to ask I'll answer as many of them as I can and if you have anything else you want to add or just feel like telling me that I know nothing feel free to comment.
