LO2: Analysis Of Game Reviews In Different Media - Forza Motorsport 5

Video Review From The IGN Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnaH6YvG2PM


Written Review From http://www.trustedreviews.com
On one level, Forza 5 is everything it should be: the kind of launch title that makes you glad you’ve coughed up for a new console. It looks incredible, plays brilliantly, and ably demonstrates many of the virtues of Xbox One. If you have any kind of love for driving games and find it running in a store or get to play it around a friend’s house, then you’ll come away wanting both it and an Xbox One. In this respect, it’s arguably the best launch title on Xbox One or PS4, though fans of 
Killzone might beg to differ.

On another level, it’s slightly disappointing. You see, Forza Motorsport 3 was the first game to really break Gran Turismo’s stranglehold on the console driving sim, and Forza Motorsport 4 was even better. Being picky, we wished that it had had some of the thrills and spills of EA’s grossly under-rated Shift 2: Unleashed, but second for second, mile for mile, Forza 4 is the best driving game of the last generation. We can be sure that the same won’t be said of Forza 5. In isolation it’s a fantastic entry in the genre, but it’s simply not as good as Forza 4.

Why? Well, it really comes down to the career structure and the tracks. Forza 4 aced the former with its World Tour mode, which dragged you from track to track in a set order, but allowed you to decide which event you competed in on that track. Not only did this allow you to focus on the cars and events you liked playing, but it also kept you shifting from car class to car class if you liked. This – plus the generous dishing out of new cars every time you reached a new driving level – meant that you were constantly trying new things, and getting tangible rewards for your efforts. This was leagues away from the pedestrian championship grind of the Gran Turismo series. It was a case of bigger, better, faster all the way.

Forza 5 unwisely junks this idea, dividing its events into different car categories, covering compact sports cars, track toys, touring cars, exotics and the like, with each containing several lengthy series of races. All are unlocked straight away, providing you can afford a car to participate in them, and you work your way through them, only switching to a new series or new category once you’ve polished off the last.

The 2 reviews that I am looking at are in the red font above. 

Genre - Both reviews of this game have a similar genre, full of information and strongly based on opinion. The genre of the delivery of the report is informal and opinionated, the both reports have many points backed up by facts about the games and the companies that produced, developed and sold them. They also both consist of there authors opinions about the games and the consoles that they can feature the games on. The Genre of the game is action/ racing, but both reviews seem to be like a documentry of the game and the games content such as cars. I think this is well done and effective because if we look at TV shows such as Top gear that also do reviews on cars even though the cars is fast and its action style footage, the presenter seem relaxed and professional as well as having there own opinion whilst providing the facts.

Narrative - The narrative of these 2 reviews both start differently. The video review starts with the content of the game for example the cars or features on the game and even talks about well known voices that feature in the game such as the 3 Top gear presenters, but the written review starts with the author talking more about the consoles and how its only available on a certain one such as Xbox 360. On the written review the author goes onto to talk about comparing the previous games Motorsport 3 and 4 to the game in the review, and talks about how different things seem disappointing or not, this makes a difference to the video review becuase the written one contains opinion of someone that has played the game about previous or other games but in the video review it goes onto talking about the physics behind the game such as braking or acceleration and then onto choice of cars.

Characters - In this game there are no specific characters but the closest thing to that are the cars. The cars are most spoke about things in both reviews due to it being a racing game, the talk of cars feature a lot more in the video review, i think that because the video review focuses on the game it self and not the platforms or audience for the game. the author gives his opinion on the cars and the tracks in the game as well as details and facts about the amount and style of what you can drive. The written review does not go into as much detail about the cars them selves due to it being based more on opinion and a wider cover of information such as platforms and older games in the franchise.

Platform - The 2 reviews are both brief about the platform that it is played on,  in the video review the narrater briefly talks about how the game feels against an Xbox one controller but doesn't really talk about the platforms, i think that the video review consists strongly just on the content of that single game for example he talks about the cars, the tracks and the physics and controlling behind the driving. But on the written review the first line mentions the next generation consoles and then goes onto talking about how the game makes you want the next Gen console more and how the game has been a really good release for the Xbox one. One bad thing about the written report is that the author clearly hasn't done his research because the Forza franchise is exclusive to Xbox, both One and 360 and can not be played on the PS3 or PS4.

Appeal to target audience - Both of the reviews mention on how it is a successful game for Forza lovers and they will not be disappointed, in both reviews they mention on how features from previous games have come back in the newest games. Even though the video review talks about the cars and tracks a lot more, both reviews to mention that, the video review mentions on how the amount of different cars you can drive has gone down since Froza Motorsport 4 and I think that this could make a difference to target audince becuase the players will wont a varity of cars. But they also mention on the cars in detail for example the "iconic classics", "cutting edge current models",  "world famous race cars" and "hardcore open wheelers" such as the arial atom. I think this would make a difference in audience appeal due to the new cars on the game that have never been on before.

Personal recommendations - My personal recommendations on the 2 reviews is that i like the video review better, it comes across as more professional and entertaining due to gameplay on the screen as the narrater speaks, so you can physically see what the author is speaking about, I also think that even though the written one has wider information such as platforms and older games, it sounds to be based on opinion and not statistics or research, for example the video review goes into the game you are looking at, whilst the written one has not researched properly due to it saying a good release for PS4 and Xbox one, but any Forza fan would know that Forza is exclusive to Xbox.