Forza 2 is a large racing game consisting of hundreds of cars and loads of famous tracks from around the world. Not only that, the Platinum Edition includes ALL of the downloadable content on a second disc. Now if your interest in cars and racing games is just for a quick arcade type thrill, Forza 2 Platinum does have an arcade mode, but it is fairly simplistic. The meat of the game is in the Career mode which plays like a Car Rpg, in that you can level up your driver, unlocking more races to participate in, and you can level up each and every one of your cars, unlocking more discounts on upgrade parts, of which there are thousands of parts.
Another interesting aspect of Forza 2 Platinum is the paint, and vinyl layer customization options allowing for each car to be a blank canvass for some truly artistic expression. Be it an original design, or a duplication of a real world vehicle, the tools provided by Turn 10 allow for some amazing feats of creativity.
There are some interesting quirks in Forza 2 Platinum, that are worth mentioning. Any vehicles that have automated spoilers/wings for some reason do not seem to function in the game. Also, some of the graphics when setup in the decal editor are not exactly the same when you race the car on the track. The menu system on Forza 2 is a bit on the confusing side at times, as there are a significant number of sub-menus. These quirks do not really detract too much from the game though.
For anyone that likes racing games, but does not do very well with them, Forza 2 has, under the Difficulty Settings, afforded a great deal of control in setting the game to your skill level. Not only can you select the difficulty of the AI drivers, you can turn off and on driving assists like anti-lock brakes, stability management, and traction control, making the more powerful race cars more manageable. The trade-off is that the more assists, and lower the AI difficulty, the lower the bonus cash you will earn, making progression slower. This is actually a nice compromise, thus making the game playable for gamers that are new to racing games, or lacking in the skill to play demanding simulations.
For the races that you just can't stand to run yourself, for whatever reason (long endurance races come to mind), you can hire an AI driver to race for you. Beware though, if you hire a top end driver, they will lay claim to 100% of your winnings, leaving you with only the bonuses. I found that you are actually better off to hire one of the low end drivers that will only take 55% of the winnings, and set the AI difficulty to "easy", thus leaving you with more cash in the long run. Setting the game up this way also makes it handy to have your AI driver earn money for your big ticket purchases, like say changing areas (can cost 2,000,000 credits), and some of the cars are not so cheap to purchase either.
A note here to any parents considering buying this game for their kids, the game itself is rated E for Everyone, so it is kid safe in that regard, there are no tobacco or alcohol advertisements on the race cars, or the courses. But, the disclaimer about online portions not being rated by the ESRB is on there for a reason, as most of the people you (or your kids) will race against are pretty foul mouthed (you can turn off the ability to hear the other racers in the Xbox settings), and there were quite a few naked girls painted on cars for sale in the online auctions. Racing online requires a "Gold" subscription to Xbox Live, but you can still view the online auctions with the "Silver" (free) subscription. Just something for parents to consider before granting unfettered online access to the younger racers.
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